Captains of 50

Take your Bibles with me and turn to 2 Kings 1. 2 Kings chapter 1.

This is an interesting story. It's not a super well-known story. It takes place about 10 years after Elijah had that great showdown on Mt. Carmel and God sent fire down from heaven and shortly after King Ahab died in a foolish battle.

In chapter 2, Elijah is going to be taken into heaven, so as far as we know this story is kind of Elijah's last stand.

The story down into three parts, so what I want to to tonight is just read that part of the story, explain what happened, and then preach a few principles then move onto the next part.

So let's ask God's blessing on our study tonight and then we'll jump right into the first section.

Pray.

[!bible] 2 Kings 1:1-8 - KJV

1. Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.
2. And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.
3. But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?
4. Now therefore thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.
5. And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back?
6. And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.
7. And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words?
8. And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.

In this chapter Ahab is dead. So what is the nation of Israel, the Northern Kingdom going to do? They name Ahab's son Ahaziah as the new king.

And immediately there is trouble. Israel had this neighboring country called Moab - in present day Jordan - and they were sort of strong arming Moab into paying them tarrifs - I mean taxes. They had conquered them and they were getting as much as they could from them.

But when Ahab died, they looked at the new king and they thought "that ain't no Ahab" so they quickly said "we aren't paying nothin'!"

That's the first problem, but it wasn't the biggest. The biggest problem was this new king had an accident. Apparently he was leaning on some lattice, probably on an elevated porch of some kind, and the lattice gave out and he fell and injured himself. Apparently he was really bad and didn't think he was going to live.

Now, I was thinking about this, why would falling from a porch have him bed ridden? Why would he think "I'm not going to recover from this." I was thinking about this when I was shaving this morning and I had a thought.

What if I nicked myself, ever so slightly while I was shaving, and what if some bacteria was in the water that gave me some kind of staff infection? I would probably be looking at at least a week in the hospital fighting that off with antibiotics.

Remember when Brother Rincker got a scratch or something, and it was infected, he was in the nursing home for months.

So I tend to think that this king Ahaziah had a fairly minor injury, maybe he broke a leg or something, but he got some kind of infection and he was fighting that infection and he wanted to know "Am I going to live through this thing?"

But here is the thing: Ahaziah didn't go to God for answers and help. Ahaziah instead sent messengers out to Ekron - Philistine territory - to get "answers" from Baalzebub.

Baalzebub was the God of the Philistines and his name literally means "Lord of the flies" or "Lord of the dung." Ahaziah thought there was a good chance he was going to die, and what does he do? He sends for help from the dung god.

And as these messengers are heading to Ekron, about 40 miles away, the angel of the Lord comes to Elijah (yes, he's still around) and tells him to meet these people and tells him what to say.

So Elijah meets them and says:

Is it because there isn't a god in Israel that you go to Ekron? Thus saith the Lord "You will not recover from your bed but you will surely die."

These messengers hear this message and it is good enough for them, so they turn back and go see Ahaziah to bring him the news. And Ahaziah says "Why are you back so soon?"

And they say "Well, we were on our way and we met this man of God and he told us to tell you - is it because there is no God in Israel that you go to Ekron? You will not recover from your bed but you will surely die."

Ahaziah says "Who was this guy?"

"We don't know, but he was a hairy guy and he wore a leather belt."

(Now this probably doesn't mean that he was hairy. He probably wasn't Elijah the sasquatch running around. It most likely means that he wore coats that were made out of animal hair. In the New Testament, when John the Baptist is described, it tells us he dressed like Elijah, with coats of animal hair and a leather belt. )

And Ahaziah said "that's Elijah the Tishbite."

Now, let's stop here and talk about a couple of principles that we can see in this story so far:

First,

God is displeased when we look to other idols for help in our times of trouble.

Ahaziah's name means something. It means "Jehovah holds us" or "Jehovah takes care of us."

But Ahaziah is a believer in name only. Nothing about his life shows us that he was following God.

Ahaziah knew about God. He had to have, as king of Israel. He had to have remembered hearing about Elijah's great standoff with the prophets.

But still, when Ahaziah was sick, he didn't go to God - he went to the gods of the world for answers.

There are some people who claim to be Christians, who come to church occasionally, who would say "I believe like you do." But they aren't Christians at all. They are worshippers in name only and nothing about their life shows faithfulness to God.

It really says something about us where we turn when we are in trouble. Do we turn to God for answers, or do we turn to the world?

Listen, I'm not saying you shouldn't go to the doctor. Please don't misunderstand me. But I am saying that you should go to God first. That whenever life brings you trouble, you bring that trouble to the Lord.

There was an incident about 4 years ago where I realized for the first time how sick Noah was. We had gone hiking - which was this thing that Noah and the older girls just loved to do with me. I knew he was excited about it. But we made it about a hundred feet and Noah just withered. He had to sit down. And I remember it was like this terror, like this cloud just went over my soul. I had the girls stay with Noah and I ran fast as I could back to my car - it was a couple hundred yards away - and I was crying.

But do you know what? By God's grace my first instinct wasn't "We need to get Noah to a hospital." My first instinct was "I need to talk to God about this." God was getting my attention.

Maybe you've had some incident like that where God really got your attention:

• Maybe it was a sick child.
• Maybe a loved one was suddenly gone.
• Maybe you got some really bad financial news.
• Maybe some relationship we put all of our hopes in goes away.

What does it say about us when we never bring our problems to God? When we don't "cast our care upon Him?" It tells us we don't believe that "he careth for us."

Why do you go down to Oprah, is it because there is no God in you? Why do you go down to the Psychiatrist? It is because you don't have a God to look to? Why do you drown away your problems with pills or with drink or with food? Is it because there is no God in you?

Think of this: Ahaziah was told by God that he wasn't going to live. He got some really bad news from God.

And you might think - that is judgment. God was judging Ahaziah. But I think you need to step back for a second.

How many of you know exactly when you are going to die? Anyone in here? It could be next week, it could be next century. You don't know. Almost no one gets to know you only have a few weeks left, or a few days left.

Ahaziah got that certain message from God. And I think that was mercy.

Here is my second principle:

God declarations of judgment are also acts of mercy, because there is always time to repent and turn to God.

Ahaziah could have turned to God. Ahaziah could have made it right. God was giving him time. God was being merciful to him.

But he didn't. He hardened his heart. He refused to acknowlege the truth.

Listen, if you have breath today - you have the opportunity to repent. You have the opportunity to get right with God. That is mercy - and you don't know how much mercy you will have left.

When I was a teenager I used to babysit a kid named Brandon. He lived in our neighborhood. His parents went to our church. When Brandon was 18, he was murdered by someone jealous of his girlfriend.

My kids used to watch a youtuber family. Two girls and the boys. Very, very normal athletic kids. They just found the boy dead. He was like 13. He had some heart condition no one knew about.

My point is it could happen to any of us at any time - and so if you have time - that is a gift from God - use it to get right with Him. God is merciful - but his mercy to us isn't infinite. At some point, you'll breath your last mercy breath and stand before God.

So get right with the Lord.

Ahaziah didn't do that. That is not how he responded to Elijah. His response was "Go get him." Not just "go get him, but send 50 soldiers to go get him."

I don't know that there are even fifty people here tonight. Imagine if we were all strong, buff soldiers with weapons and good posture and authority.

What does sending this group tell you? It seems like Ahaziah was worried about Elijah.

Let's keep reading and we'll see the second act of this story...

[!bible] 2 Kings 1:9-15 - KJV 9. Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down. 10. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 11. Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly. 12. And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 13. And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. 14. Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. 15. And the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.

So what happens here? Ahaziah sends these 50 soldiers plus a captain - 51 soldiers to get an old prophet. And the captain comes up to Elijah and says "Man of God - the king demands you come with me."

And Elijah just prays and says "God, if I am indeed a man of God, would you send down fire from heaven and consume these guys?"

And sure enough, God answers. Boom, fire comes down from heaven and just burns them up. I'm imagining a big black round spot on the earth where 51 brash soldiers used to be.

Now, you might read about that and think "that sounds a little harsh - weren't they just following orders?"

I get that. It was harsh. But I think it was God's way of getting the attention of his people again.

Another principle tonight could be...

God sometimes needs to act in judgment to get His wondering people's attention.

God poured fire down from heaven ten years before this at Mt. Carmel - and that woke the people up. But it's been ten years. They have a new king. Maybe they forgot about God.

This will wake them up. This will get their attention.

Church, I'm not saying that the only reason we deal with tragedy is because we are away from God. I don't believe that for an instant. But I do know that sometimes God uses tragedy to get through to us. Sometimes its his way of waking us up.

In this case it was these 51 soldiers. As bad as that sounds, that's preferable to 1,000s dying in battle or a plague killing men, woman and children across the land.

Another principle we need to take from this is...

When we make ourselves complicit in rebelling against God - we are putting ourselves in danger.

These men may have been following orders - but they knew they were unrighteous orders. They knew that they were wicked orders. They could have disobeyed or at least went about it in a different way.

They came in pride and arrogance, and God wiped them out.

So what does Ahaziah do when the first 51 don't come back? He should have said "I'm listening now God." Instead he doubles down and sends another 51 soldiers.

These soldiers are even more rude. Their captain says "Man of God, come down NOW."

And what happens? Elijah does the same thing, he prays "God, if I am a man of God, send down fire from heaven to consume them."

And boom, now there are two charred circles on the ground.

So what do you think Ahaziah is going to do? Learn his lesson? No. He sends out a third group of fifty soldiers and a third captain.

How dumb? Is he just a glutton for punishment?

Another principle we can see here is...

When we set ourselves stubbornly against God, it is both stupid and self-destructive.

There is an old saying that says "insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results." Well, Ahaziah was insane. He also had a death wish.

He was determined to resist God and he was digging in his heels - and everyone who joined him in this rebellion was putting themselves in the literal blast radius.

Church, when God's people rebel against God - bad things tend to happen to them. When you join yourself to them - you might end up as collateral damage.

Who do you think you are that you can defeat God? That you can win in a tug-of-war against God?

Imagine if there was a lion in a cage in here. And I was like "I'm going to beat this lion up. Watch me, I'm going to beat this lion up." And I go and open the cage.

That's dumb. That's stupid. But do you know? If you stick around to watch, you aren't that bright either.

In the story, the third captain wised up. He took a different approach. He approached Elijah much more respectfully and bowed down to the earth and asked him to spare his life. The captian promised they wouldn't hurt Elijah. This time the angel of the Lord told Elijah to go with him and go to see Ahaziah.

Let's read the rest of the chapter and see how it ends...

[!bible] 2 Kings 1:16-18 - KJV 16. And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. 17. So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son. 18. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

A final principle we see here is...

God's message doesn't change.

Now Elijah goes down with this captain, walks right into the palace, stands before this dying king, and what does he say?

The exact same thing.

"Is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? Therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die."

Word for word. Nothing added. Nothing softened.

Ahaziah had time to think about this. He sent three groups of soldiers. A hundred and two men died. And during all of that time, he could have repented. He could have sent for Elijah and said "I was wrong. Pray for me. Help me get right with God."

But he didn't. And so when Elijah finally stands before him, the message is unchanged.

Listen, God's Word doesn't negotiate. It doesn't update based on how you feel about it. It doesn't soften because you've been through a hard time.

Some people think if they just wait long enough, if they just ignore it long enough, God will change His mind. "Maybe the Bible won't say that anymore in a few years. Maybe God will relax His standards."

He won't. His message doesn't change.

Verse 17: "So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken."

That's how the story ends. Not with a deathbed conversion. Not with a dramatic turnaround. Just "he died according to the word of the LORD."

What a tragic epitaph. Ahaziah - whose name means "Jehovah holds us" - died refusing to be held by Jehovah.

I want you to think about that third captain for a minute before we close.

He had the same orders as the first two. Same king. Same mission. He saw what happened to the others - verse 14, he says it himself: "There came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties."

He knew exactly what he was walking into.

But he did something different. He went up that hill, and instead of barking orders at the prophet, he fell on his knees. Instead of demanding, he begged. "Let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight."

And you know what? God spared him.

Same prophet. Same situation. Different outcome. The only thing that changed was the posture of the man approaching.

Some of you are here tonight and you've been approaching God like those first two captains. You come to church, but it's on your terms. You hear the Word, but you're not bowing to it. You're standing at the bottom of the hill with your arms crossed saying "Come down to me, God. Meet me where I am. Do it my way."

How's that working for you?

Tonight, be like the third captain. Humble yourself. Get on your knees - not physically, but in your heart - and say "Lord, let my life be precious in your sight."

If you've never been saved, come to Him tonight. If you've been running from Him, stop running. If you've been looking to the dung gods of this world for answers instead of the God of Israel - repent of that tonight.

Let's pray.