It
is one of the great paradoxes of the Christian life that our troubles are often
the path of our salvation. As long as things are going smoothly, we think we
have no reason to repent and seek salvation. But when troubles arise, we are
reminded that we are mortal; we begin to ask eternal questions, and seek
eternal answers. Sometimes God sends those very troubles to provoke us into
such self-examination.
How
we react, however, is up to us. Some of us are swift to repent; others slow;
some stand up and proclaim themselves captains of their fate – and their pride
swallows them whole. Here is such a man in Ahab’s son, Ahaziah.
(2 Ki 1 NIV) 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 men
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 was a man with a garment of hair and with 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?
You
might wonder how Ahaziah thought this Baal-Zebub would be of any assistance to
him. In the Philistine theology, this god was “god of the flies” – and
presumed to be responsible for healing! Perhaps they reasoned that flies being
attracted to an open wound had something to do with it.
God’s Attitude Towards Sin
If
we are to make sense of this passage, we must go back to one of the essentials
of the faith: God’s attitude towards sin (and our response to it).
Intolerance
In
our day, this business of fire coming down from heaven seems unbelievable – not
just because we are troubled by miracles, but because we can’t see how a kind
and loving God would roast 51 people at a time. If God made a habit of this,
it’s difficult to see how much of the planet would be left unburned. The
modern view is that God the nice guy would be “tolerant.”
We
have forgotten something: the holiness of God. He is perfect, unlike us. In
our imperfections we are well advised not to be judgmental of the imperfections
of others. It’s a very risky business for us. God will use our standard of
judgment on us, which is a good reason to be very forgiving. But that’s
because we are imperfect people who will someday stand before a perfect God.
He is holy and righteous, and he alone has the right to consume with fire from
heaven. We abhor the judge with dirty hands; we should fear the Judge with
clean ones.
How
difficult it must be for God to forgive! Indeed, difficult it is – for his
forgiveness was purchased for us at the Cross. The price was the life of his
only begotten Son, Jesus. Grace is not cheap.
Moral authority
Most
of us would like to plead ignorance to God’s moral authority – but we can’t.
We have a good example of that here. Elijah stops the messengers and sends
them back to the king. Why didn’t they just ignore him? After all, he has
nothing to do with this “god of the flies.” The reason is simple: moral
authority. Ahaziah knew it too; all he had to do was ask for a description of
the man, and he understood perfectly. He knew the lion by his claw – and so do
we.
Even
today, a man of moral authority stands out. He does not have to make his voice
heard over the roar; people simply know that this man carries with him moral
authority. This can be seen in the negative sense in our attitude towards
Christian leaders who sin; we hold them more guilty, because they proclaimed
the Word.
God opposes the proud
There
is a great truth shown in this passage: God opposes the proud, but gives grace
to the humble. Throughout Christ’s ministry the sinners heard him gladly, but
the self-righteous hated him. Why? The sinners knew what they were. If
you’re a prostitute, it’s a little hard not to notice, for example. You know
it’s wrong, but you find a way to justify it to yourself. But when Christ
comes, you can throw away the weak support of self-justification and stand
instead on the solid rock. To do that, you must humble yourself and admit who
you really are.
But
if you have pride, you are in what C. S. Lewis called the “complete anti-God
state of mind.” As long as you are proud, your own self-justification will
look stronger than anything God can show you. You will not change; you will
not become humble. And what can God do about that?
A season of repentance
Humility
“Humble”
is not a favored word these days. No one likes to be thought of as humble;
our society considers pride a virtue, not a fault. God, however, calls us to
be humble; why then do Christians not respond to Him?
-
Many
of us would – if we could do it in secret. As long as we could “save
face” in society, we’d be willing to do any amount of repentance in
secret. But isn’t this a false repentance? A false humility? This is
“wannabe” humility, not the real thing. Real humility results in action.
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One
reason we are not good at it: we don’t practice it. We do not
intentionally humble ourselves. We say, “I’ll do it when the time comes”
– not thinking that doing it now makes “the time” much easier. You play
like you practice.
-
Worse
yet, we have a lot of practice at using every other means of dealing with
our sins. God is our last resort when He should be our first.
God gives opportunity
See
how God responds to this. It’s really our problem, not his, but in his love
for us he gives us occasion to humble ourselves. He does that with Ahaziah
here. The man has a serious injury; his thoughts turn to one thing: “will I
live?” By providing him this occasion God has brought the man to asking
eternal questions. Unfortunately, he’s looking for answers in the wrong place.
We
often think we can avoid these circumstances. Like Ahaziah, we think we’re
safe in our own homes. We design them to be our fortresses – both physically
and spiritually. We think that, somehow, here is a place where we can’t be touched.
We so often seek this security. It’s available – but not where we’re looking.
One
way or another, God will provoke us by circumstance. Ahaziah stayed home when
Moab rebelled. After all, his father died in battle; why risk it for the sake
of some rebellious vassal? So God provided him with an “accident” instead.
Season – long or short?
The
nasty question is this: just how long will God continue to provide these
“accidents?” As one writer put it, “Some sinners live long, to aggravate their
judgment. Others die soon, to hasten it.” We need to remember that – barring
the Lord’s return – we are all appointed to die.
God’s
love for man prevents him from forcing himself upon us. Therefore, he arranges
our circumstances providentially so that we are provoked into turning to him.
The sure grace of God
If
we do turn to him, his grace is sure. He will forgive. But let us not take
that grace lightly!
The price of grace
We
must remember that forgiveness is done at the expense of the forgiver. In this
lesson we have paid most attention to the sinner. We need to remember that God
is the one who pays.
God’s
forgiveness must match his holiness, for He is perfect in all things. His
holiness is perfect; so is his forgiveness. His forgiveness, therefore, is
complete forgiveness. What a blessing to know this! Not just a part of what I
have done, but all – forgiven.
Forgiven
– but at a price. The price of forgiveness for me may be very painful as I
forgive others. The price of God’s forgiveness is the Cross, which cost the
very life of his son, Jesus.
Now – or later
Most
of us know this. The temptation is, “later.” But is later better?
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Does
sin get better or worse with time? Does it grow and fester, or does it go
away?
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If
it does go away, does that mean that “our forgetfulness” equals “his
forgiveness?” Or does the eternal God still remember what we have
forgotten?
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Finally,
do you really have “later” at your command? Are you really so sure of
tomorrow? Or are you like the man who jumped off the building: each
floor on the way down people heard him repeating, “so far, so good!”
All of us need it
Perhaps
the most difficult thing for “good Christians” to realize is that they too are
in need of repentance. Let me share with you a story:
A
large prosperous downtown church had three mission churches under its care that
it had started. On the first Sunday of the New Year all the members of the
mission churches came to the city church for a combined Communion service. In
those mission churches, which were located in the slums of the city, were some
outstanding cases of conversions - thieves, burglars, and so on - but all knelt
side by side at the Communion rail. On one such occasion the pastor saw a
former burglar kneeling beside a judge of the Supreme Court of England - the
judge who had sent him to jail where he had served seven years. After his
release this burglar had been converted and become a Christian worker. Yet, as
they knelt there, the judge and the former convict, neither one seemed to be
aware of the other.
After
the service, the judge was walking home with the pastor and said to the pastor,
"Did you notice who was kneeling beside me at the Communion rail this
morning?" The pastor replied, "Yes, but I didn't know that you
noticed." The two walked along in silence for a few more moments, and then
the judge said, "What a miracle of grace." The pastor nodded in
agreement. "Yes, what a marvelous miracle of grace." Then the judge
said "But to who do you refer?" And the pastor said, "Why, to
the conversion of that convict." The judge said, "But I was not
referring to him. I was thinking of myself." The pastor, surprised,
replied: "You were thinking of yourself? I don't understand."
"Yes," the judge replied, "It did not cost that burglar much to
get converted when he came out of jail. He had nothing but a history of crime
behind him, and when he saw Jesus as his Savior he knew there was salvation and
hope and joy for him. And he knew how much he needed that help. But look at me.
I was taught from earliest infancy to live as a gentleman; that my word was to
be my bond; that I was to say my prayers, go to church, take Communion and so
on. I went through Oxford, took my degrees, was called to the bar and
eventually became a judge. Pastor, nothing but the grace of God could have
caused me to admit that I was a sinner on a level with that burglar. It took
much more grace to forgive me for all my pride and self-deception, to get me to
admit that I was no better in the eyes of God than that convict that I had sent
to prison.
A season of repentance
In
the Gospels it is recorded that Jesus’ disciples once asked if He wanted them
to call down fire from heaven.
Jesus rebuked them; he came to seek and save the lost, not to destroy. But
each of us faces death, we know not when. Even if we don’t, it is because our
Lord comes again – to judge the living and the dead. None of us is guaranteed
tomorrow. Now is our season of repentance.
Time
is short; eternity is long. Hell is hot – but Jesus saves.