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2KINGS
CHAPTER 1

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, inquire of Baalzebub 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 inquire of Baalzebub 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 inquire of Baalzebub 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.

Ahaziah, son of Ahab, was the king of Israel. He had a bad fall and became very ill from it. He wanted to know the outcome, and sent to the city of the Philistines to ask of "Baalzebub." Baalzebub was "king of flies."
Why would a man who knew about Jehovah send to inquire of a false god?
My! It is really amazing how people will drive past churches and evade the Bible, but they will ask psychics about their lives! People will do ANYTHING to feed their own pride rather than humble themselves before Almighty God.
God spoke to Elijah and told him to go and speak to Ahaziah's messengers before they got to Ekron. Notice that God said there was no God in Israel (verse 3). When people refuse the One TRUE God there is NO God for them.
Elijah told the messengers that Ahaziah would NOT recover. They went back to Ahaziah immediately and told him the news. At least these men knew when the REAL GOD had spoken!
Ahaziah realized that it was Elijah who had spoken.

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. 16 And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.

Ahaziah, in his pride and arrogancy, sent a captain with 50 soldiers to DEMAND that Elijah come in for questioning. This captain also came arrogantly demanding Elijah to come down off the hill and go to Ahaziah.
Elijah siad if he were really a man of God, then God would send fire down to destroy these men. And God DID!
ANOTHER captain and another 50 were sent. The same thing happened.
Friends, I pray that we Christians will UNDERSTAND the POWER of God that He gives to His people! Peter and the disciples understood it. They asked Jesus if he wanted them to do as Eliah had done. But Jesus responded that they should remember they were of the spirit of GRACE AND MERCY. ((See Luke 9:54-55))
Christians should UNDERSTAND the power, but should ACT in mercy and grace.
When Ahaziah sent a third party out, the captain had better sense than to DEMAND Elijah come down. He begged for mercy - and God told Elijah to go with him.
When Elijah came to Ahaziah, he repeated what he'd told the first messengers. Ahaziah would NOT recover. And the reason was because he did not have God, and would have nothing to do with God.
Friends, sin is a spiritual sickness that ONLY God can heal! Those who will have nothing to do with Him will certainly not RECOVER!

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?

So Ahaziah did die, just like God had said. Then Jehoram took over the kingdom of Israel.
This Jehoram, according to 2Kings 3:1, was Ahab's son and Ahaziah's brother. Ahaziah had no son.

Now, before we go on, we need to look at this book a little more. Second Kings is filled with the lives of Elijah and Elisha. They were mighty men of God, and served faithfully in Israel where idolatry was rampant.
This book records many of their deeds, and the flow of history would be somewhat distorted if we didn't look ahead at one aspect of history.
This Jehoram is the Joram in 2Kings 9:14. He was killed by Jehu, who was anointed by Elisha to be king of Israel.
After Jehoram was killed, Jehu destroyed the WHOLE FAMILY of Ahab's 70 sons! This fulfilled the prophecy that God had spoken by Elijah to Ahab (1Kings 21:17-26).
Now. Here's the reason for looking ahead to this item in history. Even when men refuse to follow God, and even when a country is filled with idolatrous people, God is STILL WORKING! And the events of history are laid out in His MASTER-PLAN.
As Christians in 2001, we should realize that God IS WORKING in the world today! And God is working out every situation according to His omniscience and omnipotence for the benefit of those who will be saved.

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."(Romans 8:28)