King Ahaziah fell down through a wooden screen in his palace, and he was badly hurt. Oh, he groaned, maybe I’m going to die.
Because of him, a great many other people had died, but it’s different when you face these things yourself. What would you do if you thought you were about to die? Call the hospital helpers, of course. Now, I think you really know that your life is in the hands of God. He’s the One who gave you life in the first place.
Ahaziah sent messengers to the god of Ekron, named Baal-Zebub, to ask if he would get better and live or would he die? The messengers never got there. A man of God, named Elijah, met them, and he had a message from God, the true God, the One who is in control of your life and mine and the king’s too. His message for the king was, You will certainly die.
And God has a message for you. He has said, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). That sounds frightening, and it is! Since you are a sinner, how will you face the judgment? Read the next verse: “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (vs. 28). That sounds like an offer of escape, and it is! If you will come under the shelter of the blood of Christ, when you face death, the judgment for your sins will be behind you—not before you! This message for you is much better than the message that King Ahaziah heard.
The king didn’t like what his messengers told him, and he asked who this man was. They said, He wore hairy clothing and a leather belt. Then the king knew it was Elijah the prophet, and he thought to himself, I’ll get that man! He sent a captain and fifty soldiers who brought a command to Elijah. The king says you are to “Come down.” But Elijah’s answer was something that you or I can’t say: Let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men. And that’s exactly what happened!
God won’t do that to you ... not right now. Instead, the message to you is that the way is still open, but come to Him NOW! The fire will come, and it will be everlasting fire. God hasn’t changed, and neither has His message.
When the king heard what happened to the first group, he sent another captain with a second group of fifty soldiers. They were just as bold, and they were burned up too. Then he sent a third captain with another group of fifty soldiers, but this captain believed what he had heard. He fell on his knees before Elijah and begged, Please let my life and the lives of these fifty soldiers be precious in your sight.
Have you ever knelt down before God and asked Him that your life might be precious in His sight? Actually you don’t need to ask Him, because He has already proven this is true—when He gave His only begotten Son to die for you. He wants you in heaven because you are precious to Him!
God told Elijah to go with this man, and he went at once to the sick king. But his message to the king was not good. You turned to the god of Ekron and not to the true God. You shall certainly die.
The god of Ekron, whoever he may be, does not decide your eternity. It is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who will welcome you to His home in heaven because your sin debt is paid, or He will send you to a lost eternity because you refused Him. Which will it be?
“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).
You may read this story for yourself in 2 Kings, chapter 1.
MEMORY VERSE: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” Hebrews 9:27-28
ML-06/03/2012