TEXT: II Kings 1

SUBJECT: Life of Elijah #10: Fire from Heaven

Elijah is one of the Bible's most compelling figures. The study of his life, therefore, is a risky affair. It's so easy to exaggerate the man's importance while overlooking or minimizing the One who was in him, our Lord Jesus Christ. We must beware of this in searching the Scriptures, for "they are they which testify of Me" affirmed the Savior. And so they do. II Kings is no less about Christ than the Gospel of John. Both are "written that [we] may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing [we] may have life in His name". May the Lord "open the Scriptures to us...and "expound the things concerning Himself".

Our chapter is a straight, easy-to-follow, narrative. It begins with Ahaziah succeeding his father, Ahab, to the throne of Israel. Shortly thereafter, he has an accident that threatens his life. Will he recover? He doesn't know, of course, but he believes the god of Ekron holds the future in his hands. Men are dispatched to inquire of Baal-Zebub. But they don't get that far; they're confronted by a man wearing a hair coat and girded with a leather belt. He commands them to return with this message: "Thus says the LORD: You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but will surely die". The men are duly impressed and rush back to their king bearing the bad news. Ahaziah knows who told them: it can be no one but his father's old nemesis, Elijah the Tishbite.

Fifty men are sent to arrest him. Commanding him to come down from his perch, they are incinerated by fire from heaven. Another fifty arrive; they suffer the same fate. At last, a humbler company arrive. They request the privilege of his company at the king's palace. Elijah consents. At the royal bedside, he has nothing to say but what he's said before: "You will surely die". The prophecy comes to pass. Ahaziah dies. Elijah returns to his place. The Word has triumphed again.

What was the Lord Jesus up to in these frightful events? Two things come to mind: He was "resisting the proud" and "giving grace to the humble". Let's look at each in turn.

King Ahaziah was no stranger to the LORD. With his own eyes, he had seen "the wonderful works of God". Had it been so long ago that He closed the heavens with the word of His power? Or re-opened them with the same word? Had the stunning events atop Mount Carmel faded from memory? How could they be forgotten? Ahaziah had heard the people--and knew they were right: "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!"

Deep down, the king knew Baal had no answers. If the gods of Ekron were so mighty, why had they been often subdued by the LORD God of Israel? Why hadn't they shown themselves worthy at Carmel? Because they were unworthy, of course.

Ahaziah was not uninformed; he was dishonest. In the words of Paul, he "held down the truth in unrighteousness". In Elijah, "light had come into the world", but Ahaziah "loved darkness more than light, because [his] deeds were evil".

The king had ample opportunities to seek the LORD while He may be found. His sickness should have humbled him; it had the opposite effect. The Word might have broken him; he only grew harder. Ahaziah was a proud and rebellious man, resisting the offers of mercy to the end. He paid for it. Dearly. "Because [he] despised the LORD's reproof, [he] must eat the fruit of his own ways and be filled with [his] own fancies". He had planted a poisonous crop; now he must dine on it.

Ahaziah's pride was also found in his army. Over a hundred men died for it. How dare they speak so insolently to the Lord's prophet! Hadn't they read: "Touch not My anointed and do my prophets no harm"? Yes, they knew it, but like their master, they didn't tremble before the Word. But one minute with Elijah made them wish they had! But it was too late. "Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation".

Elijah was not a cranky old man, but a minister of Divine justice. Ahaziah and his men died because they deserved to die and to suffer "the second death". On that day, our Lord Jesus "resisted the proud".

The Incarnation did not change Him in the least. Was a man ever harder on pride than He? What did He call the self-righteous men of His day but "White-washed tombs full of dead men's bones". This sounds bad enough to us; it was far worse in the context of First Century Judaism. For touching a dead body made a man unclean, and disbarred him from the Divine presence. An unclean Jew had no more access to God than a Gentile! He was excluded!

Now, at God's Right Hand, our Lord Jesus still loathes every variation on human pride. He swears to "Resist the proud"; never will He change toward them. Therefore, it's high time the proud change toward the Lord Jesus. How? By humbling themselves, of course. By renouncing their self-righteousness. By refusing to rule as the Gentiles do, with swaggering power. By esteeming others better than themselves. Ahaziah was openly defiant of Christ; the Pharisee who thanked God he wasn't as other men are, was no less so. We must carefully examine ourselves. If we share Ahaziah and his men's pride, we'll no less share their fate. The Word is irrevocable: "God resists the proud".

Three military companies came out to Elijah. Only one returned. Which one? The one that "humbled [itself] under the mighty hand of God". Its captain fell to his knees before the LORD's prophet; he admitted the others had received a fitting punishment for their pride; he sought mercy for himself and for his men. He received it. Not because Elijah had softened, but because "the angel of the LORD" told him to note the captain's humility and grant his request.

Our Lord Jesus was behind the prophet's consent. For, like Elijah, He is open to the humble--always open to them. No matter how badly they have conducted themselves before, if they but prostrate themselves before Him, He will favor them with His grace.

Manasseh received mercy when he humbled himself. Never was a king more vile than he; the consequences of his pride were catastrophic to his people. Yet, by humbling himself under the mighty hand of God, he was "exalted in due time". His story is told in II Chronicles 33:1-2, 12-13.

Later, the most abhorrent sinners found that grace in Jesus Christ. Think of Zacchaeus the cheating and traitorous Publican; of Mary Magdalene "out of whom He cast seven devils"; of the woman taken in adultery; of the murderer on the cross. The worst sinner, if he but humbled himself before the Lord Jesus, was received with joy.

This is the one thing needful: Brokenness before the LORD. "A broken and contrite heart [He] never despised". It is high time, therefore, that we abhor our pride (especially as it masquerades as godliness) and come before the Lord as the Publican did--beating our breasts, crying "God be merciful to me the sinner".

In the passage before us, therefore, our Lord Jesus was acting in His customary way. He was "resisting the proud" and "giving grace to the humble". He is doing the same today. Right now, He is "resisting the proud"--wherever he may be, including the pew and the pulpit. Right now, He is "giving grace to the humble"--wherever he's humbling himself. The drunkard, face down in the gutter, if he humbles himself, will receive grace. So will the preacher in the pulpit. May the Lord fulfill His Word in us,

"But on this one will I look:

On Him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,

And who trembles at My Word".