And Elijah said to King Ahaziah, "This is what the LORD says: Is there really no God in Israel for you to inquire of His word? Is that why you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die." Sermons
I. MAN RUINED THROUGH THE CONDUCT OF OTHERS. The messengers which the king sent to Elijah - fifty each time on three different occasions - were all, except the last fifty, destroyed by lightning. This awful judgment came upon them, not merely on their own account - although, like all sinners, they had forfeited their lives to eternal justice - but as messengers of the king. Throughout the human race, in all races and times, there are found millions groaning under the trials and sufferings brought on them by the conduct of others. In this world the innocent suffer for the guilty; the "fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." II. MAN EMPLOYED AS THE EXECUTOR OF DIVINE JUSTICE. These hundred men, messengers from the king, were struck down by Elijah at the command of God. There was no personal vengeance in the act. Elijah was used as the organ of Heaven. God's plan in this world is to punish as well as to save man by man. How was Pharaoh punished, and the Canaanites, etc.? By man. Sinful nations are punished, often by worthless kings and ruthless despots. III. MAN STEPPING INTO THE PLACE OF THE DEAD. The King Ahaziah dies; Jehoram steps into his place. "So he died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead." "One generation cometh, and another passeth away." Places, positions, and the various offices of life are no sooner vacated by death than they are stepped into by others. Thus the world goes on, and the dead are soon forgotten. The greatest man on earth today is but a mere bubble on the great river of human life; he sparkles for a moment, and is lost forever in the abyss. - D.T.
Go down with him, be not afraid. The age of the Mosaic Law, which shed its empire over the times of Elijah, was preeminently the era in which those awful and splendid attributes of the Divine character — God's holiness, justice, righteousness, and severity against sin — stood out in massive prominence; as some of us, from the ancient capital of Switzerland, have seen the long line of Bernese Alps, rising above the plain in distant and majestic splendour; cold in the grey dawn; or flushed with the light of morn and eve. It was only when those lessons had been completely learnt, that man. kind was able to appreciate the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. That there was no malice in Elijah is clear from his willingness to go with the third captain, who spoke with reverence and humility. "And the angel of the Lord said, Go down with him; be not afraid of him. And Elijab went down with him unto the king."I. THE MEEKNESS AND GENTLENESS OF CHRIST. The only fire He sought was the fire of the Holy Ghost. "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what will I if it is already kindled." He strove not to avenge Himself, or vindicate the majesty of His nature. "He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself." II. THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF GOD EVER CONDONING DEFIANT AND BLASPHEMOUS SIN. We have fallen on soft and degenerate days when, under false notions of charity and liberality, men are paring down their conceptions of the evil of sin, and of the holy wrath of God, which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. III. ELIJAH'S FULL RESTORATION TO THE EXERCISE OF A GLORIOUS FAITH. In a former time the message of Jezebel was enough to make him flee. But in this ease he stood his ground, though an armed band came to capture him. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.). People Ahab, Ahaziah, Baalzebub, Elijah, Jehoram, Jehoshaphat, JoramPlaces Ekron, Moab, SamariaTopics Baal, Baalzebub, Baal-zebub, Ba'al-ze'bub, Bed, Certainly, Consult, Death, Die, Ekron, Ekron-is, Enquire, Forasmuch, Hast, Inquire, Leave, Lying, Messengers, Question, Reason, Says, Speaketh, Surely, Thus, Whether, Whither, ZebubOutline 1. Moab rebels2. Ahaziah, sending to Baal-Zebub, has his judgement by Elijah 5. Elijah twice brings fire from heaven on those Ahaziah sent to apprehend him. 13. He pities the third captain, 15. and, encouraged by an angel, tells the king of his death 17. Jehoram succeeds Ahaziah Dictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 1:16 5092 Elijah Library Whether the Sin of those who Crucified Christ was Most Grievous?Objection 1: It would seem that the sin of Christ's crucifiers was not the most grievous. Because the sin which has some excuse cannot be most grievous. But our Lord Himself excused the sin of His crucifiers when He said: "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do" (Lk. 23:34). Therefore theirs was not the most grievous sin. Objection 2: Further, our Lord said to Pilate (Jn. 19:11): "He that hath delivered Me to thee hath the greater sin." But it was Pilate who caused Christ to be crucified … Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether it is Lawful to Curse an Irrational Creature? Answer to the Jewish Rabby's Letter. An Address to a Soul So Overwhelmed with a Sense of the Greatness of Its Sins, that it Dares not Apply Itself to Christ with Any Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and Ungodly Men. The Assyrian Revival and the Struggle for Syria A Prayer when one Begins to be Sick. Kings Links 2 Kings 1:16 NIV2 Kings 1:16 NLT 2 Kings 1:16 ESV 2 Kings 1:16 NASB 2 Kings 1:16 KJV 2 Kings 1:16 Bible Apps 2 Kings 1:16 Parallel 2 Kings 1:16 Biblia Paralela 2 Kings 1:16 Chinese Bible 2 Kings 1:16 French Bible 2 Kings 1:16 German Bible 2 Kings 1:16 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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