A Real Prophet (Part A)

This first target was true religion, true beliefs concerning God. And of course he's been attacking that ever since.

It worked so well for him the first time it's worked after that. According to Genesis 4, he came as a murderer through Cain. His second target was human life through religion. It was a religious target. A religion can be dangerous stuff because of Satan. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of 2 Kings chapter 1 as he begins his message, A Real Prophet.

A brief introduction. Of course, to the Jews it was one book of Kings. But the scrolls would have been so large they had to separate the material. Now we have two books of Kings, same with Chronicles and Samuel. The books of Kings from about 970 years before the birth of Christ to about 560 years before his birth was compiled by many godly men and also through the captivity. 1 Kings covers about 125 years of history. We are in this first chapter about 70 years after the nation was divided, split. This second book, the first one covers 125 years. The second one covers about 270 years. So a lot of history going on here. At the end of this chapter we have a note about all of that.

This total of 390 years thereabout of history. Now God is careful not to put dates in the scripture so that we could pinpoint it was on this day that Elijah did this because I think he knows that there would be men that would create burdensome holidays on the people and create shrines and that is not what he is after. One of the great lessons from this second book of Kings as in the first book of Kings also I think is summed up in Proverbs 29 verse 12. If a ruler pays attention to lies all his servants become wicked. Now when Solomon wrote that he is speaking about the court of a king. People lying to the king, trying to manipulate him. But the Holy Spirit of course takes everything into the spiritual realm and here we have kings that have followed the lies of devils concerning God and the people who join them become wicked. We see that in this chapter. We will see 102 of them slain by the prophet and those kings in this northern kingdom they loved lies about God.

They loved to follow man-made gods. So God produced prophets who loved the truth to counter them. Elijah was the dominant prophet in the first book of Kings and he is dominant in the first two chapters of the second book but then Elijah becomes the prophet to deal with. And as we look at Elijah of course doling out the judgments with fire in this chapter, Elijah was more of a man of grace and yet he is no nonsense too. When they were mocking him he dispatched two bears to deal with the adolescence and we will get to that of course much later. Perhaps a good alternate name for the books of Kings would be, can you believe these guys?

That would have been a good name for it or at least a subtitle to the title. So here we are first chapter verse 1, Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. What we read last week that Ahab was at a venture, an archer took a bow and arrow and fired the arrow and it hit Ahab between the armor and it ended up killing him of course and now his son Ahaziah comes to the throne. So this is a new administration and Moab was subdued by King David. They're rebelling because they were being oppressed.

The northern kingdom was really laying on the taxes making them a tributary kingdom. We won't get to the actual military response until chapter 3 but we go to chapter 3 briefly, look at verse 4 and there we get an idea of the oppression that they were under from this kingdom. Misha king of Moab was a sheep breeder and he regularly paid the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams and so he was cutting into their economy. The Jews were living high on the hog you could say or high on the lamb and the Moabites wanted to get out from this.

Well this is how everybody was doing it back then. So this king though Ahaziah, he's not going to live to respond to the rebellion. His son Jehoram will, Jehoshaphat will join with him in this alliance and then the Edom king and that's when these three kings are out in the desert about to starve.

So that's just a little bit of background what's going on. In verse 2, now Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and was injured. So he sent messengers and said to them, go inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury. Well evidently he had a rooftop area that was petitioned with, had a lattice, perhaps even a lattice sort of a rail, a fence that would keep you from falling off.

You say well what did he do? Did he just lean on it or a balcony, a balcony type environment? Did he lean on the rail and you know it just collapsed and he plunged to the ground? Was he dancing and twirling around? Men should not be doing that near a lattice up on a rooftop. Anyway, the lattice of course was nice, it let sunlight in, it breezes in, give you some degree of privacy but this one did not support his weight.

It crashed through it and the details are left out. We read of nothing good happening to this king, it's just going to get worse for him. He made his choice and his gods did just what his gods can do, nothing for him except doom his soul. And it says here, so he sent messengers and said go inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron.

It's almost like somebody just speaking gibberish, Baal-Zebub. Anyway, he's dying to cling to these baseless pseudo deities. He's sending his servants 40 miles one way just to find out from these prophets of a non-existent god, this spiritual inquiry and it is spiritual but it's the wicked side. His spiritual injury of course is worse than his physical injury. According to Genesis 3, Satan came as a liar in the beginning and his first target was true religion, true beliefs concerning God.

And of course he's been attacking that ever since, it worked so well for him the first time it's worked after that. According to Genesis 4, he came as a murderer through Cain, his second target was human life through religion. It was a religious deal. Religion can be dangerous stuff because of Satan and of course Cain was exalting himself, angry with God and angry with the godly too.

That's going on here, this contest in this chapter and it's going on in our life, in this culture, perhaps unlike ever before. There's always been this war, it's just this one is so ridiculously, the cultural wars that we're facing now is just so ridiculously dark and satanic. How can you deny the spiritual activity of Satan? Anyway, he attacks the view of people in the home, of Christians, that's the story with Cain and Abel also. Home is supposed to be the school for character, or one of them, the dominant one, the first ones, that's ideally speaking where we learn to love, we learn to listen, we learn to obey, we learn to help, it's where we learn to be responsible before God, before men and self, ideally speaking. There are many homes that don't have this and they often produce people who are indecent or they produce Christians who know this and they depart. Fortunately, I think, many of those children raised in godly homes who stray come back and I would like to, I believe that that number is larger than lower.

I think it's a lot larger than what we might think. So if you have children who are prodigals, who are wasting away their spiritual influence, don't give up, keep at it. Satan knows this and so he raises up those who have the ability to be used by him in a very special way as he did with Cain. He has a bond with these types of people and he produces heretics and pagans through the lack of accurate information, just giving them inaccurate information concerning God. So where I'm going with this, there are these Philistines up in Ekron that serve these fake gods and there are these Jews in Samaria that are interested in them. Later we'll read of a king who conquers the people, the pagan people and says, you know what, I like their god, I'm going to have their god be my god.

He's just insane. Yahweh gives you the victory and now you're going to, again, throw it all away. Anyway, he says, ask whether I will recover from this injury. It's interesting, he asks for a prognosis, it's puzzling, is it not?

He's not asking for a cure. It's just, that's what he asked and this is how it's reported to us, verse 3, but the angel of Yahweh said to Elijah, the Tishbite arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, is it because there is no god in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Well, it is God's prerogative to interfere with anything in humanity, anything in creation, it's his creation and I like that God knew to send Elijah on this mission.

Knowing what's coming, Elijah was the guy, not Micaiah, nothing against Micaiah or against Obadiah or other men of God, but Elijah's the one for this mission. Now at times, the angel of Yahweh is an appearance of Yahweh himself in human form. Other times it is a messenger, a created being sent by Yahweh. It's not always clear, it's not clear here if this is Yahweh himself or a messenger.

It really, both are appropriate, it's just exciting when we know that this is, you know, again, one of my favorite ones is when the Lord appears to the parents of Samson, Manoah and his wife. It's just such a human interaction, you know, he panics and she's like, what are you panicking for? Well, if we see God, we're going to die. He said, well, you just saw him and you're still alive.

It doesn't make any sense, it's so husband and wife-ish. So, anyway, arise and go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, now this reminds us of Philip, God saying to Philip, leave Samaria where there's this great ministry going on, we'll get this in Acts chapter 8, and I want you to go to the desert where there's only one guy. And Philip gives no lip, he goes right to it and leaves the 99 for the one. And whenever the Lord leaves the 99, it means he leaves the 99 in good care.

It would be reckless, cruel, and ungodlike to just, well, I don't care if the 99 gets slaughtered, I really want this one back. Because it just would be senseless theology. Anyhow, it reminds us of that. In Psalm 31, the psalmist is struggling, but he's getting hold of his faith. We read, I have hated those who regard useless idols, but I trust in Yahweh. That's the kind of thing that people need to hear from us Christians. Jonah, even Jonah, I am a Hebrew and I serve the God of Hebrews, you know, even though he was all messed up, he's still, this is who I am. I'm just having a little spat right now, having a tough time with God right now, but that was his identity. He didn't cover that part up.

It would have been a good time to do it though. Psalm 31 again, verse 14, but as for me, I will trust in you, O Yahweh. I say, you are my God. Well, this is what's lacking from this king, and this is why a real prophet is being sent to intercept these messengers going to fake prophets. May God do that with us, may God send us to intercept those who are going to the wrong place to get information about God.

Maybe they're going to a mosque, or maybe they're going to a kingdom hall, and maybe God can send us to intercept them. Anyway, he asks this question, and he's saying in this question, let me just be clear about this. Because no God in Israel, because there's no God in Israel, you're going to inquire of Beelzebub, the God of Ekron?

I just want to make sure this is what's happening. Of course he knows what's happening, but he's doing his work as a real prophet. He's exposing this nonsense. The meaning, of course, having no gods before me is what Yahweh has commanded. You're not to acknowledge that there are alternate powers in the universe that you can appeal to without exciting my wrath. That's what God is saying. Exodus 22 verse 20, he who sacrifices to any god except Yahweh only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

So the people were to enforce this commandment, but instead, most of them trampled it throughout their history. And of course, whenever we look at the problems that befell Israel, we find them in the church, alive and well. We can never look down at Israel and say, can you believe those Jews?

You can say that, but you'd be wrong. You have to say sinners. Sinners in the hands of a loving God, what are they going to do? Because no God is in Israel, are you going to Beelzebub? Are you consulting alternate ideas of God? And a God of Ekron, a people who you're supposed to have, you should have pushed these people out, because I warned you that if you didn't, they would be an irritant to you and they would convert you. And so it is a complete insult to God, an absolute denial of his identity.

But lost people, they really are truly lost, and we have to remember that and not be too hard in our heart, firm for sure against their error, but to remember that spiritual blindness is a very real condition, and those that have it don't know how to get out of it on their own. And again, to consult alternate, pseudo-alternate gods is the equivalent to saying that the voice of God is inadequate, or I don't believe it is true. And of course that's one of the first, the Bible's not true, the Bible has this contradiction in the Bible, and they don't know what they're talking about, and many times they don't even want to believe what the truth is. All idolatry in Scripture, according to Scripture, is regarded as devil worship, and the righteous Jews understood it that way. And so does Paul in the New Testament, it's continued in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 20, it's worth reading because it's a lamentation in Paul, it's love, it's like I've led you to Christ.

What are you doing? Rather the things which the Gentiles sacrificed, they sacrificed to demons and not to God. When he says sacrifice, they're religion, they're going to church, they're a version of religion. And so he says they sacrificed to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

So it's not just something that's cute and passive, it's something that's very real. I brought up in Leviticus 17, and Deuteronomy 32, and Psalm 106, and other places of the Bible. Now originally this name, Baal-Zebul, now this is a little tricky, so I'm going to try to breeze through it. Originally Baal-Zebul referred to Baal the prince, or the ruler, their god, it was Lord. But the Israelites disdainfully referred to him as Baal-Zebub, the god of flies. Now some will argue and say, well he was rightly the god of flies because the people believe that flies carry disease, but he was lord over those flies that carried the disease.

I don't think that is really what's going on, and I'll tell you why in a minute. I think that the Philistines called him Baal-Zebul, but the Jews, the righteous Jews, and the ones that are giving us the scripture, they are lampooning him in writing out these sarcastic statements. They say, no he's not Baal-Zebul, he's Baal-Zebub, and the phonetics are very close. By the time we come to the New Testament, it became a solid term, Baal-Zebub, for Satan's gods.

Satan's created gods, these fake gods. And so we have a third, from Zebul to Zebub to Zebel. Now when you get to, which means lord of the dung hill, so they've moved, he's the lord of princes, the ruler. Baal is ruler, and the Jews came along and said Baal is lord of the flies. But by the time Christ had come along, they were saying Baal is the ruler of a dung hill. And this is biblical sarcasm.

So Matthew chapter 12 verse 24, now when the Pharisees heard it, they said this fellow does not cast out demons by Baal-Zebub. But the original, the Chaldean, it's a parody. And it is Baal-Zebel, the god of the dung hill, and that's how it was understood.

And I don't know, I hope I didn't confuse you with all that. The bottom line is, because there's a lot of twists and turns with the language. Even to this day, etymology is tricky stuff. You know, you can come up with, well where did that word come from?

And you can end up with two opposite or contradicting opinions, and both of them may have some grounds for their opinion. Well, it's the same with this name. But knowing the Jews as we know them, knowing the language that they use concerning these idols, it is certainly right in line with how they treated these demonic gods. And so, bottom line is, the Philistines did not call him Baal-Zebub. They called him Baal-Zebo, but the Jews said, we're not going to call him, he's not lord of anything to us, but flies.

And then later, yeah, he's worse, he's the dung hill. Anyway, verse 4, and therefore thus says, Yahweh, you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you should surely die. So, Elijah departed. So, God gets to Elijah, he says, I want you to go to this king, and I want you to tell him he's not going to survive. And he's not asking for this, but I'm giving it to him nonetheless.

Death won't be the worst thing that happens to this man. Idolatry was the sole source of the fall of both kingdoms, north and south. They're separated by a hundred years or so, but it's serious, very serious business. And I don't know, again, if we make this clear, the Jews, or the Christians in the days of the apostles, they really didn't have to deal with idolatry too much in the Jewish people. That had been kind of beaten out of them through the captivity. And they never really got back into direct idolatry.

They got into other things, though, and just corruption was one of the large ones. And so, in the New Testament, you know, in the gospels, idolatry's really not the issue. It's them recognizing Christ without corruption, you know, trying to cover up their corruption. And Paul, then he goes to the Gentiles, then idolatry becomes an issue again, because they were all over. We will get to, you know, Satan's gifted children. We get to Philippi, and there's the little girl going before Paul and Silas saying, oh, these are the ones that have come to show us the way of salvation, and just began to irritate Paul.

He says, something about this little girl that is really bugging me. And he figures it out, it's demonic. God was, you know, Satan, hell has gifts too.

And she was a gifted corruptor, an unauthorized distributor. So, if, you know, if you come out with a product and everybody loves it, and then people are making counterfeits of your product and leaving you out, you know, you understand, that's a problem. Well, make it spiritual is a bigger problem. People trying to counterfeit God, use his name, but really, if they get to tell about God, and are received, what are they going to tell about God?

Well, because they are Satan, enemy, and they're going to do damage. Thanks for joining us for today's edition on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

We trust that what you've heard today in the book of 2 Kings has been something to remember. If you'd like to listen to more teachings from this series, go to crossreferenceradio.com. Once more, that's crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. Our time is about up, but we hope you'll tune in again next time as we continue on in the book of 2 Kings. We look forward to that time with you, so make a note in your calendar to join Pastor Rick as he teaches from the Bible right here on Cross-Reference Radio.