So Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. Because he had no son, Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. (2 Kings 1:17)

It Did Not Change The Mind Of God

Ahaziah was the eighth king of the northern kingdom of Israel. It had been just over eighty years since Solomon died, and the nation of Israel divided. All the northern kingdom’s rulers were evil, provoking the Lord with anger. Ahaziah had succeeded his father, Ahab, who filled Israel with great wickedness for twenty-two years. Like his mother and father, Ahaziah served Baal, worshipped him, and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger. He would only rule for two years before his untimely death.

While at his palace in Samaria, Ahaziah fell through the latticework of an upper room and was seriously injured. He sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether he would recover from his wounds. Ahaziah’s complete disregard and insult toward the Lord God of Israel was clearly evident as he denied any help from the prophets of the one true God. When Ahaziah sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the angel of the Lord told the prophet Elijah to intercept them and tell them the king would die.

When the messengers returned early, the king asked the reason. The messengers told King Ahaziah Elijah had said he would die, which infuriated the king. He dispatched a captain of fifty with his fifty men to arrest Elijah. Finding the prophet sitting on a hill, the soldiers demanded Elijah to come down. Instead, Elijah called down fire from heaven and killed the troop. Hearing of the deaths of his first guards, Ahaziah sends another army of fifty men to arrest Elijah. Again, the fifty soldiers and their captain are devoured by fire. A third captain and his troop are sent, but the third captain comes to Elijah and falls on his knees, pleading with him to spare their lives. The angel of the Lord tells Elijah to go with the captain, and Elijah obeys.

Ahaziah is in his bed, seriously injured, when Elijah arrives. The prophet again tells the king that because he sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, and did not seek the counsel of the prophets of the Lord, the king would die. Elijah leaves, and Ahaziah dies. Nothing changed from the first command of the Lord. Ahaziah tried to defy the will of the Lord by sending his army against Elijah, resulting in the deaths of 102 men. No army can stand against the will of the Lord. Ahaziah should have learned from his parents’ deaths (Ahab & Jezebel) that the word of God is true, and nothing can change that.

There are many Ahaziahs that believe they can change or ignore the word of God. Denying the Bible does not suggest it has gone away. Thinking that man came from green slime billions of years ago will not change Genesis 1. Indulging in the lusts of the flesh will reap the consequences of sin. What a man sows, he will reap. That law does not change. Ignoring the will of the Lord and the church does not suggest Jesus did not build His church. Failing to follow the word of the Lord cannot change the mind of God. Denying baptism as necessary for salvation will not allow a man to be saved by faith only. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; nothing will change that. There is no other way to eternal life. The Bible teaches there is one church, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and get ready for this one – only one God and Father of all, who is above all.

A man will reject the will of God and say he will do it his way. When men seek their own paths, they seek the ancient counsel of Baal-Zebub. Ahaziah ignored the word of God, but the word of God did not ignore Ahaziah. He rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord rejected him. After all that Ahaziah tried to thwart the will of the Lord, nothing changed. You can argue all day long until you are blue in the face about what the word of the Lord says, but at the end of the day – nothing changes. Why don’t you change – instead?