More Fire From Heaven

Well, I want to read to you this evening a very shocking story. It's found in your Bible. So if you'll open your Bible to Second Kings, chapter 1, as we near the end of this series on the life of Elijah, we come to this story in his life which seems at first glance unusual to put it mildly, shocking, maybe more accurate. Second Kings, chapter 1, and we'll begin reading in verse 1. 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 Bale Zibub, the God of Echron, to see if I will recover from this injury. Just a word of explanation. Ahaziah is the son of Ahab. Ahab is the king that we've been seeing prominent on the stage of Israel's history during the ministry of Elijah. He is the king that Elijah has confronted several times. Ahab is now dead and Ahaziah, his son, is raining and he's stead, and he falls, injures himself through a lattice, probably a fence-type structure, maybe around an upper portico of the palace. He fell through that and injures himself and the injury is so severe, he feels that he may die. He wants to receive some oracle or revelation from the gods as to whether or not he will live. So he sends to a pagan god Bale Zibub, one of the gods introduced by his mother Jezebel, look what happens in verse 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 Bale Zibub, the God of Echron? 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? Now obviously the reason he asked them that question is they have not had time to get to Echron and back to Jezreel or to Samaria. And so they've gotten back too quickly and he wonders why they haven't taken their journey. So in verse 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 men to consult Bale Zibub, the God of Echron? 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? You just imagine the look on his face as he says that. Who described this guy to me? I think I have seen this guy before. Verse 8, they replied he was a man with a garment of hair and a leather belt around his waist. The king said that was Elijah the Tishbite. He's had a few run-ins with Elijah himself. He's been a co-regent, a co-rainer with his father for a while before he began his own reign. So he's an adult, he knows Elijah, he has seen some of the interaction between his father and Elijah and he recognizes as they describe him who this is. Verse 9, then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of 50 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 50 men. Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men. Now let me stop right there for just a moment. The issue here is who is the authority in Israel? Who is running things in Israel? Is God the Lord or is some other God, Baal God? That is the very contest which has been played out on Mount Carmel as we've already seen with the prophets of Baal. A-hab did not learn the lesson? His son A-Haziah has not learned the lesson. When the king sends to a prophet and in verse 9, since to him this message, man of God, the king says, come down. That is a way of saying, I'm freezing for you Elijah, how I feel about this contest. Who is really in control? You see as God set up the theocracy, the rule of God in Israel, the king was not to function as the ultimate authority. The ultimate authority in the nation was to be God. And God's voice to the king calling the king into account was the prophet. The king was supposed to listen to the prophet. It was not supposed to be the other way around. The king was not the authority to tell the prophet what to do. The prophet was the mouthpiece of God if you will to make sure the king stayed in proper accountability. A-Haziah basically is saying, this is how I think things ought to run in Israel. I'm in charge. I tell the prophet what to do. That's really the contest here. So the strong reaction of Elijah is not a personal reaction. It is a theocratic reaction, a God rule reaction. It is a reaction that says, no A-Haziah, you have it wrong. You are not the ultimate authority in Israel. God is the ultimate authority in Israel. And the theocracy, the rule of God in Israel is set up so that the king is under authority, not in authority. The king is to be under the authority of God, administered through the prophets as they call the kings to account to be obedient to the law of Moses. A-Haziah has presented a major world view different from that which God wanted for Israel. This is not just a matter of Elijah getting upset and personally ticked off and saying, okay, I'm going to burn your guys to a crisp. It's not the deal here. The issue is who is God in Israel? That's the issue. And that's why God responds with the same show of His power that He did on Mount Carmel. Because the issue here is the very same as it was in Mount Carmel. Who is God? Who is Lord in Israel? A-Haziah is challenging God's authority and God will show He is the one in authority. That's why the fire falls from heaven. This is not a personal vendetta of Elijah against the king. This is not a personal animosity, a strike of judgment on the part of the anger of Elijah. That's not what this is about at all. Now look at what happens in verse 11. At this, the king sent to Elijah another captain with his 50 men. What does that tell you? A-Haziah has still not learned the lesson, has he? He still is challenging God. He is saying to God, I'll show you who's in control in Israel. Middle of verse 11, the captain said to him, Man of God, this is what the king says. Come down at once. Now this time it's not just come down, it's come down right now. You get down here right now is the idea. Okay? The same challenge of authority. Now I need to add a little bit of cultural background here. In that day in pagan religions, it was thought that if you could bring the man of God whoever had announced a curse on you and you could bring him in to kill him, that would send the curse away. Pagan religions believe that the curse would go to the netherworld with the prophet if the prophet was killed. So what A-Haziah is doing is a very pagan thing. He's saying, I want Elijah, I'm going to kill him. His curse on me that I'm going to die will pass with him. Okay? So there's a little bit more going on here than just a contest between these two men. There's a lot of theology going on here. Who is God in Israel? A-Haziah is challenging that. Does pagan religion really work? A-Haziah is trying to establish that. You see, that's the issue here. That's the reason for the response on the part of God. Verse 12, if I am a man of God, Elijah replied, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 men. Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his 50 men. So the king sent a third captain with his 50 men. Now let me ask you something. How would you like to be that third captain? I don't think I'd want to be- I don't think I'd want that assignment at all. No thank you, it's exactly what I'd want to respond. I don't want that assignment. But notice how things change. 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 50 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. Now I don't think this is just a guy begging for his life. I don't think this is a guy saying, this is what happened to the other two guys. I'm shaking in my boots, I'm scared to death the same thing is going to happen to me. Please let me off. I don't think that's all that's happening here. Did you notice how he addressed Elijah? He fell on his knees before him and he said, we are your servants. Where do you think this man is theologically? I think he's understanding more than his king does. I think he understands that the one in control in Israel is not Ahaziah, it is the Lord Jehovah and Jehovah speaks through his prophet. So that's the reason he says, we are your servants. We are placing ourselves under your authority. Now finally, somebody is getting it right in Israel. That's why Elijah responds the way he does or God instructs him to in verse 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. He told the king, this is what the Lord says, is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult? You have sent messengers to consult Belsabab, the God of Echron. Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed. You are lying on, you will certainly die. Elijah delivered the message to the king just like he had before to the troops who came to get him. Verse 17, so he, speaking of Ahaziah, 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 Jihashaphat, 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 king of Israel. Now this is quite a shocking story, obviously. The amazing thing about this story is that liberals, those who do not believe in the miraculous elements of the Bible, and those who are looking for any attempt to be critical of the Bible, liberals jump on this story as an example, they believe, of Israel's, the Hebrews, understanding of God. You see what liberals teach is that this is not really God's word come down to man. This is just something man wrote to do his best to explain how he understood God. And those Hebrews, back in Old Testament times, they had very limited understanding of God. In fact, they had a very crude understanding of God. And they saw God as kind of a cosmic bully who likes zapping people. That's what liberals teach about how the scriptures came to us. And so they see this as one of their best exhibits of that kind of God in the Old Testament, a God who just zaps people from heaven. Innocent troops who were just doing what the king told them to do, just zapping them from heaven. This is a cruel, harsh, crude, vengeful God, they say. Well, I think you have seen in our brief introduction to this story that there is another way of looking at this, if you understand a little bit more of the theology about what's going on here, between a hab, a hasiah's son, and Elijah. And the religious mood in Israel at the time helps us to understand why this shocking story happens. And why God steps in to judge as he does. But as a result of the controversy surrounding this passage, the fire has become the focal point of the story. And many people miss some very important lessons that we can learn from this shocking story. So what I want to do this evening is leave the fire behind for now. And let's learn some lessons from the major players in this story. First of all, there is a lesson we can learn from God in this story. And the lesson is this, he is absolutely holy. The lesson that we learn from God in this story is that he is absolutely holy. Only in this story and stories like it do we understand the depth to which God hates sin. And so what we learn about God from stories like this is that he has a right to judge sin. We need to be reinforced in our own thinking and our own hearts about who God is and how he views sin. Sin must be punished. It is abhorrent to God and it must be punished. You see, sometimes we get the wrong idea about God. Sometimes we think that God is all sweet and sugary and fluffy like cotton candy. And that he is a God who would never, never do anything to judge anyone. He is a God of love and he is a God of love. But if we emphasize that part of God's nature to the exclusion of His holiness, we come up with a theology that basically says sin doesn't really look too bad. God just excuses it. Sinners really aren't that bad. They're not depraved and totally in sin, they're just kind of sick. And if we nurture them and help them and help them to do better, sin is not really that bad. And sinners really aren't that bad. That's the kind of theology you come up with if you forget that God is holy. And then we begin to smile at sin in our own lives when we forget that God is holy. And he has a right to judge sin. That's a wrong view of God. God is holy, the Bible teaches very clearly and he cannot and will not tolerate sin. It is good to be reminded of one who is so holy and his holiness is so pure that sin is absolutely abhorrent to him. It's good to be reminded that God is a God that cannot even forgive us unless the sin is dealt with. The only way forgiveness can ever come to you or to me is if the sin is dealt with and thankfully by his grace it is in the work of Christ on the cross. But God cannot forgive just by saying, well we'll forget this sin. We'll just sweep this sin under the rug and act like it never happened. Sin must be judged, God is holy, sin is abhorrent to him, it cannot be tolerated and it must be judged. He has a right to judge sin. If we ever lose sight of that then we find stories like this to be more shocking than our sensibilities can endure. But when we understand who God is and how holy he is and how infinitely dark and black sin is in comparison to the holiness of God then we understand a little better. God's right to judge sin. God's right to judge a haziah and his messengers. I would go a step further and say this, not only is he right to judge sin only he has the right to judge sin. Only he has the right to judge sin. Now let me begin with a couple of qualifications of that. I understand the concept of church discipline or separation that has to do with biblical commands of discerning what sin is and withdrawing from those who would engage in a lifestyle of sin. I understand those things and in those senses we have a right to make those kinds of judgments. But let me hasten to say that ultimately God has this sole prerogative to judge sin. God is the judge of human hearts and lives, not us ultimately. And we need to learn to let him do it his way rather than taking it into our own hands and helping him out understand he can take care of sin. He will judge sin. There's a very interesting story in your New Testament that some of you probably have already thought about. It's found in Luke 9. So if you hold your place in 2nd Kings and let's just look quickly at Luke 9. A story that happened with the disciples and Jesus as they're traveling from Galilee down to Judea. And they're walking through the area of Samaria, which if you know anything about New Testament history and background you know the Samaritans did not think very favorably of the Jews. And the Jews did not think very favorably of the Samaritans. There's a lot of historical and religious baggage there between the two of them. In Luke 9, verse 51, as the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him. But the people there did not welcome him because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples, James and John saw this, they asked, Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them? But Jesus turned and rebuked them and they went to another village. Now the interesting thing about this story is that it comes on the heels of the transfiguration. It's right after the transfiguration. Remember the transfiguration? Jesus takes Peter, James and John up to a mountain where they see Jesus in his glory as he will appear at his second coming. Do you remember who else they saw with Jesus on that mountain? Moses and who else? Elijah? Ah, they just seen Elijah. And so no doubt James and John are thinking about Elijah. Maybe they've even talked with Jesus about Moses and Elijah and refreshed their memory about their Old Testament ministry. And as they're walking down the road, they're walking through Samaria. They come to a village to stay the night. And because these people are headed to that dreaded hated city of Jerusalem in the Samaritan's eyes, the Samaritans do not want them to stay in that city. James and John's first response is, let's pull an Elijah on them. Man, let's call down fire from heaven on these people. They've just been thinking about Elijah. They've been talking about Elijah and they think this is appropriate. This seems like the same situation. And Jesus rebukes them. Now why did he rebuked them? One of the other gospels that says that he told them, you don't know what spirit you are of. And Jesus went on to another village rather than make that a point of contest. Why did Jesus rebuked them when they were simply suggesting, let's do what Elijah did? Well, I don't believe Jesus was saying that God was wrong in the Old Testament to do that. Obviously, he would not be saying that. God was right to do what he did in the Old Testament. And I don't think it's as simple as some try to make it. Like, you know, the God of the Old Testament was more judgmental and the God of the New Testament is more loving. I don't think there's that kind of dichotomy in God. I don't think there's that kind of difference in God. God hasn't changed. So I don't think it's that simple. I think what Jesus is telling them is that judgment is God's prerogative. And in this instance, in this case, it is not the appropriate response. Now, for whatever reason, we leave that up to God. But let's remember, this is not the same issue that Elijah was facing with a king of Israel who is challenging the very authority of God, Jehovah God, in Israel's whole pattern of who is in charge in Israel. The story in the gospels is not the same story. It's not the same issue. And so in this scene, it is not appropriate to call down fire from heaven. In the story of Elijah with the national issue at stake of who is in control, it's a different matter. And there are strong object lessons as to who's in control. So it's not the same issue in the gospels. So I think what the Lord is teaching us is that now is not the time. It is not right for you to take judgment into your own hands. There's another issue that I think plays into this, especially for us today. Before God's revelation was complete in his word, God did move more openly to reveal truth and to correct certain situations. Now that his revelation is complete in his word, we know that God is going to set the record straight. God will judge all men someday. And he leaves his judgment, the Bible calls it storing up wrath, he leaves his judgment till that time, at least open displays of judgment on a regular basis. And so I think what the Lord is teaching us is that God is a holy God. He has the right to judge sin, but only he has the right to judge sin. We let him judge sin. Now as I said before, that does not rule out clear cases of discipline or clear cases of discernment and withdrawal separation if that is needed. Doesn't rule that out, but it does say I have no right to judge human hearts of sin. That is God's place to judge. And ultimate judgment comes from God and God alone. The teaching of God's word is that God will judge all things in its proper time in his time. So God is absolutely holy, has a right to judge sin, only he has a right to judge sin. I do not have the right to call down fire from heaven. God will take care of that kind of judgment. Second lesson I think we can learn from this story is this, from aheziah, a parents greatest influence is his example. It's another lesson we learned. The lesson we learned not from God, but from aheziah. Now aheziah was given a good name. This is an interesting fact about his life. In fact, all of Ahez children were given good names. People named their children in that day with significance and meaning. You know what the name aheziah means? It comes from a Hebrew word a-haz and in the name for God, Yah, Yahweh. It literally means Yahweh has a hold. Yahweh holds and you think why would aheziah name a child? Yahweh holds you. Well obviously we know ahez' history. He is what we would call it a synchristist. He tries to bring all religions together. If you want to worship God, that's okay. If you want to worship Bale, that's okay. If you want to worship some other God or pagan deity, that's okay. Everybody just do what you feel is right in your own heart and we'll all meet someday in the same place together. That's bringing all religions together and saying all religions are equally valid and no matter who your God is or your conception of God is, then that's okay. That's the way Ahez operated. He brought in Bale worship to compete and to cooperate in his mind with the worship of Yahweh and probably he named his children as kind of an olive branch to the Yahwists in Israel, the ones who still worship the true God. To say, you see I haven't really abandoned Yahweh. Look at the names of my children. And so his naming of his children was not with any clear conviction of who God was but kind of as a trying to make peace with those who thought he was going too far in worshiping Bale. But whatever the case, Aheziah was given a good name. The problem is Aheziah developed a bad character and he learned it from his father. Now there are several things that Aheziah did. The Bible says that he multiplied sin at the end of 1 Kings, chapter 22, verse 51, the verses just before the ones we read in 2 Kings. The Bible says Aheziah, son of Ahez, became king in Jerusalem in Samaria in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord because he walked in the ways of his father and mother and in the ways of Jerobo and son of Nibbath who caused Israel to sin. By the way, that was through idolatry. Verse 53, he served and worshiped Bale and provoked the Lord the God of Israel to anger just as his father had done. So he multiplied sin in Israel, idolatry, false religion. He denied the true God of Israel. Not only that, he disparaged God's servants. As we see, he treated Elijah as just someone he felt he could order around like some kind of pest that just needed to be swatted, send a group of men out there, arrest the guy, get him to come down, we'll kill him. We'll break the curse. That's the way he treated God's messengers. So he multiplied sin. He disparaged God's servants. By the way, that is a dangerous thing to do. He learned that from his daddy also. Now, I want to just say something and there are some things I can say now that maybe I can say a little more boldly than I might have earlier. It is a dangerous thing to disparage God's servants. Now, please understand what I'm saying. No preacher is the equivalent of an Old Testament prophet. Nobody has that position in the church today who's receiving direct revelation from God and communicating it to God's people. But there is a principle here. Aheziah learned his distaste for prophets from his father. The way Aheb treated the prophet of God, Aheziah learned it from him. There is a principle that goes something like this. If you have fried preacher every Sunday for lunch, you will give your children spiritual indigestion. You know, that's a biblical principle. It's found the book of Hezekiah somewhere. I think, but it's in there somewhere. It's true. Every preacher does deserve accountability and honest criticism and correction. None of us are above that. But be careful how you talk about spiritual leadership in front of your children. You will teach your children to disparage God's servants. Even if in isolated instances, very rare, I might add, you're right. You were supposed to laugh, right there. But, okay, that's... You are correct. No doubt at times in saying, I think the preacher is wrong here. There are no doubt cases where that's true. Be careful how you talk about that in front of your children. The best place to talk about that is to the pastor. Come to the person with whom you have an issue you feel needs correction. If you are constantly talking about negatively spiritual leadership in front of your children, they'll turn out like Aheziah. They won't want anything to do with the church. Aheziah learned his disparagement of God's prophets from his father. Third thing, he disregarded God's judgment. Not only did he multiply sin, he disregarded God's servants, but he disregarded God's judgment. God sent him a very clear object lesson with the first group of 50 soldiers that were struck down by God's judgment and he did not recognize that. Brazenly sent another group of 50. And when they were struck by God, Brazenly sent another group of 50. He would not learn. He would not learn. This regarded God's judgments. I think the very simple lesson is this. All of the words you say to your children, all of your good intentions, all the provision of them being in church ministries, all of the surrounding them with Christian things, all of those together will not weigh as much as your example before them. And so your example before your children will weigh more than anything else you do or say or the church can do to influence how your children see the things of God. Aheziah is a good example in the Bible, even though he had a good name, a name that supposedly lifted up Yahweh, Jehovah. He developed a bad character and he learned it from his father. The lesson we can learn from Aheziah. And then quickly, I'll just mention this, the lesson we can learn from Elijah, God blesses a faithful stand for truth. There's no question his stand was needed. In a time when sin abounded apostasy was rampant, God was challenged, his stand for the true God was needed. But his stand also endangered him. It endangered him very clearly exposed him to ridicule and misunderstanding. And it will you too. If you take a clear stand for truth in a culture that says we must pluralistically recognize all religions and all gods as being equal. If you take a stand for the true God, sometimes you will be mocked and ridiculed and called narrow and simple-minded. Your stand may endanger you at least in that way. Let's not forget our brothers and sisters across the world where a faithful stand for the true God not only exposes until a little mockery or ridicule, but the loss of life is a huge potential in many parts of this world for people who take a stand for the true God. Let's not forget we have many brothers and sisters tonight who are taking a stand for the true God that endangers their lives. And then his stand was protected. He was protected from a haziah and a haziah's henchmen. And he was unable to proclaim his message to the king himself. God delivered him to proclaim his message where he wanted him to. And Elijah recognizing that did not back down one inch from his message. Notice his message when he was in the presence of the king was the same as his message to the 50 men who came to getting. No change at all. No backing down, no watering it down. You had a faithful stand for truth. See there is absolute truth. And that truth is found in God's Word. And in this day of shifting values and the teaching that there are no absolutes, truth is whatever you find in your own heart. And in a day where we are being taught and that is being shouted at us, we need to be people who stand for truth, the truth of God's Word. And not back down and be ashamed of that. I think those are some of the lessons that we can learn from this story. So don't get lost in the smoke in this passage. And all the fire that is falling from heaven. Don't get lost in that. That is not the main issue here. The main issue is we have a God who is so holy he cannot tolerate sin. We have a wicked king who learned that example from his father. And we have a godly prophet who took a stand for truth and would not back down from it. Those are the lessons to learn. Will you bow in prayer with me please? Father, we are grateful for the truth that you have given us in your Word. And we pray that we will ever seek to understand your Word better, to learn its truth more deeply. And then to live out its truth in the pages of our lives. Father, I ask that you would continue to guide us as a church. I pray that Johnston Chapel will always be a church that listens to your voice and that stands for your truth. Not in an ungracious and unloving and obnoxious way, stands very firmly but very Christ-like and graciously for your truth. I pray, Father, that we would set the right kind of example for our children so that they may learn what it means to be followers of you. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.