A Real Prophet (Part C)

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. One person messes up everything. I had a friend years ago, much older than me, but he was a friend nonetheless and he would say, when someone did something goofy, you know, mess up the whole world. And I just liked it. It was emphatic. And it was messing up my world. And when you applied it, yes, this one person messes up the whole world.

Everything I can see. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of 2 Kings.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Now, here's Pastor Rick with the conclusion of his message called A Real Prophet in 2 Kings Chapter 1. Who else would send my messengers, have the audacity to interfere with the king's messengers but Elijah, a hairy man or a man in hairy garb. The Hebrew allows both. It leaves us wondering, is his, was it like his arms are all hairy, you know, or was he a hairy guy or is it his clothing? And we're kind of left up in the air. We know his clothing was. He's got the, you know, I believe he was hairy too because you can't eat locusts and bugs and stuff and not just get hairy.

That's my thinking. Anyway, he wore an untanned skin with the hair on the outside and not up against his body. And this garment was, became, he set a trend.

He set a trend for everybody. The prophets would emulate Elijah wearing this garb. In fact, the false prophets began to dress like Elijah.

And the prophet Zechariah calls him out. He says, and it shall be in that day that every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies they will not wear a robe of coarse hair to deceive. So they're not going to be dressing up like, oh look, I'm like John the Baptist, you can trust me. You know, I guess the equivalent today is wearing a collar.

Okay, you can automatically trust me. I'm wearing this and that's not true. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. And in that case the sheepskins were worn. But John the Baptist, again, Matthew 3. John himself was clothed in camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist and his food was locusts and wild honey.

I didn't need to put the wild honey and locusts in, but that's the good part. This part about the leather belt, you could just see John, you know, don't make me take my belt off. Like, you know, your dad used to say that, no? Anyway, don't make me take my belt off, boy. Okay, okay, calm down.

Do a little Tai Chi, relax. That would surely get the belt if you talk like that. I don't know, when my dad would look at me, I tried to shrink.

Try to be really small. Anyway, verse 9. Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men, so he went up to him and there he was sitting on the top of a hill and he spoke to him. A man of God, the king has said, come down. Okay, so this is a rifle platoon today. I mean, why a whole platoon to arrest one prophet?

You know what he did to the prophets of Baal? There were four hundred of them. Maybe they figured, you know, the crowd or maybe they would just show off, you know, it doesn't tell us, but it is to me overkill. I mean, fifty guys, they can't even grab one person. There's not enough space for all the hands. So, but Elijah's not fleeing this time. He's not running. He's sitting up on the hill because he's a real prophet and they're going to get a dose of that. He's learned his lesson, Elijah has with the Lord, and he spoke to him, man of God, the king has said, come down.

He should have said, please. That's not a little thing because when we get to the guy who does it right, you know, this man is, he's rude and this is the king's court. He's arrogant, he thinks he's got the authority and he doesn't have to speak nicely to them. And when he says man of God, he is, he's not saying I'm a believer and I'm respecting you.

He's actually mocking him. And there are people who still are this rude in the service of their ruler, Satan, even if they don't know that it's Satan. A descript, temporary title for Satan is the ruler of this world. And the whole world is under the sway of this, the filthy sway of this ruler. John chapter 12, Jesus said, now is the judgment of this world. And now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

And that process was beginning there. Incidentally, Satan was in the way of really people getting into heaven before Christ came. And when Christ came, he told the outlaw on the cross today, you'll be with me in paradise because I've cast that guy out the way. I mean, your sins are forgiven.

He's the one that introduced that to humanity and Christ is the one that blew it away. But people still die this way because they are rude in their service of their king and that's what's going to happen to this man and those with him. Manners count.

Don't you, you notice it right away. If you have any decency, you know, not everybody is raised in a good home. Not everybody has a good mother or a good father. But still they can learn decency just by the way they are made to feel. So if you're not raised to be polite and all of a sudden people are treating you politely, you can learn and say, you know what, I like this better and I'm going to emulate this. And it is disappointing to see rude Christians. Many times in ministry people have interrupted me speaking to somebody because they thought what they had to say was more important than whatever the other person and I were talking about.

And you just notice this. These men were on another level of rudeness. I'm not saying if I could I would have brought fire down on those people. I may have opted for a lesser punishment. Like make their shoes disappear.

They have to walk out there barefooted on the hot asphalt. All right. I guess you really want to see the fire. I'm trying to be nice.

Okay, coming back to this. So when this captain says, man of God, as I mentioned, he's not an ally with the prophet and he is mocking the prophet. Elijah, his reply will bypass the captain's rudeness. And let's go to verse 10. So Elijah answered and said to the captain of 50, if I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 men. Fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his 50.

And that is, you know, I've always loved the way he introduces his action or if I'm a man of God. And then boom, he did not need a jawbone of a donkey to deal with these guys. This is not the first time lightning has taken out opponents or those on the wrong side of God. It was Dathan who got together a little committee to challenge Moses and his authority. Incidentally, the rod of Aaron, you know, it wasn't very big. The rod of Aaron was not a staff.

Probably about, well, not quite four feet. You say, how do you know that? I have it in my garage.

No. Because it was put in the Ark of the Covenant. And we know what size the Ark of the Covenant was. And I don't think anybody would have said, we've got to cut it in half.

I don't think anybody would have done that. And my point is, so when, I was going to preach on this, but now here I am. You've blown it. So when he puts the staff down and it swallows up pharaohs, magicians, serpents, you know, you think of Charlton Heston and these giant snakes. They're probably little, you know, the snake doesn't have to be big to kill you, especially if he shoots you.

Okay. But it's true if he could shoot you. Anyway, so you know, the rod, these snakes that they're dealing with, they don't have to be big snakes.

And I think that's important because those kind of things to me, those are questions that I need to satisfy in my head. Anyway, the challenge of Dathan was against this authority of Moses. And that rod spoke of the authority of Moses and the grace of God also. Nadad and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, when they, you know, mingled man-made fire with God's fire, God struck them and that was it.

And so this is yet a third time where God is using fire, well third and fourth. And Elijah, he's not being a hot-headed prophet intolerant of the innocent people. He was appointed to proclaim the favor or disdain of God and to administer justice and he is doing just that.

He has the right to condemn and to punish because he is an enforcer. And he was the embodiment of the law of God while he walked in Israel, one of absolute awareness and action of God. In other words, if Elijah saw it, God saw it. That was the statement being made.

He's the embodiment of these things. This is what God did to his prophet and this is what we're looking at. Verse 11, then he sent him to him another captain of fifty with his fifty men and he answered and said to him, man of God, thus says the king, come down quickly.

So this guy's more rude than the first guy. They likely thought it was a fluke, coincidence. Lightning struck and killed, you know, all I had to do was hit close enough and get them all. So this fifty-one, the first fifty-one, they're dead. Some time has to pass. Word has to get back to the king.

Somebody's got to collect the fifty-one bodies not to think that they just left them there to the scavengers. They could have but not likely. Anyway, this second officer commands Elijah more forcefully than the first. You would think they would remember Mount Carmel, that Elijah could call fire. There was precedence for this but they didn't believe these things. And so they came in the name of the wrong king to the wrong prophet and they were again rude and arrogant and it was their choice.

And we know it was their choice to be rude and arrogant because the third guy gets it right. So verse twelve, so Elijah answered and said, if I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, consume you and your fifty men. And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. If I was in your range of this and that platoon and I heard the prophet say that, I would have dove for cover because I'm not with them.

I'm changing teams. Anyway, James and John, the disciples of Jesus, they had been on the Mount of Transfiguration and they saw Moses and they saw Elijah, the law and the prophets, embodied right before them, the Mount of Transfiguration. And they wanted to imitate Elijah and call down fire on the enemies of Christ. And Christ, see, he really educates him. There's a rebuke in it, yes, but there's an education, too. Instead of just saying, no, I'm not like that, he says, you know, you don't know what spirit you are of. And it's in Luke's Gospel, chapter nine, where Christ corrects them.

You may say, well, weren't the soldiers just doing their duty and obeying their commander? Yes, but that did give them no right to ridicule the prophet, to be rude and commanding, and it gave them no right to sympathize with a known idolater and the king. And again, that comes out, but we go back to Proverbs 29, 12, where I tried to introduce the spirit of the people surrounding this wicked king. If a ruler pays attention to lies, all his servants become wicked. And the ruler paid attention to spiritual lies and his servants became wicked. But they didn't have to be that way, and this is what, again, the third one illustrates, verse 13. And he sent a third captain of 50 with his 50 men, and the third captain of the 50 came and fell on his knees before Elijah and pleaded with him and said to him, man of God, please, let my life and the life of these 50 servants of yours be precious in your sight. Well, they say that insanity is to do the same thing with the same results repeatedly.

Why would you send a third? I mean, it's a suicide mission, because they're insane with their arrogance. Arrogance blinds people. It's just going to force his will on him in some way. Anyway, this man was put in a very difficult situation. To obey Ahasuriah, the king, would have meant death for him. To go to arrest Elijah would have meant death for him. So you know on that march to Elijah, he's going over in his head, now, let's see, please, pretty please, sugar on top of the cherry. I mean, he's going all sorts of scenarios. I think when he gets there, he just, it just comes out. He's a better man. And his platoon is there marching and probably was very quiet. One guy, did you get your will and testimony?

Too bad we don't have videos. And he came and fell on his knees. Well, because Elijah is now in superhero status, and rightfully so, and he pleaded with him, man of God, please let my life and the life of these 50 servants of yours be precious in your sight. So this captain, he's not only wise and polite, he's considerate of the life of others.

Life's not cheap to him. He intercedes on behalf of those with him. And I would think that, you know, the proverb that says when the ruler pays attention to lies, all his servants become wicked.

Well, the other, it goes the other way too. When a ruler does not pay attention to lies, the servants are not wicked. And I think that this was a righteous platoon. Well, I've seen that in the military where you had certain platoons that just, man, I want to be in that platoon or I bet you want to be in mine because of the leadership. The leaders were right on. There were officers and gentlemen, and not all of them were, but many of them were.

And you got in a bad group, man, it was tough. But anyway, this man is an officer and a gentleman, evidently, verse 14, and he says, he's not finished, right? He doesn't know where this is going to go.

Elijah's just sitting there looking at him. Look, fire has come down from heaven and burned up the first two captains of 50s with their 50s, but let my life now be precious in your sight. So 102 men dead because of one rotten man, the king.

Ecclesiastes 9.18, wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. One person messes up everything. I had a friend years ago, much older than me, but he was a friend nonetheless, and he would say, when someone did something, Google him, mess up the whole world. And I just liked it. It was emphatic, and it was messing up my world when you applied it. Yes, this one person messes up the whole world.

Everything I can see. Well, there are people like that. Anyway, Obadiah, we know he saved 100 men. Well, Elijah cooked 102 of them. Jezebel was unable to protect the 400 prophets of Baal from one prophet of Yahweh, and this king was unable to protect 102 souls from judgment when he should have been able to. Evil people, they lose souls.

They never protect them. Luke 15, likewise I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. And that's what it comes down to, because earlier Jesus said, when there were those people that suffered a natural disaster and those that were killed by the government, they said, well, these men wicked in Christ said, unless you likewise repent, unless you likewise repent, you too will perish. You have to stay focused on the eternal things, is what Christ was saying. But let my life now be precious in your sight, the bottom of verse 14, the sanctity of life.

Not common in the ancient world, and in many countries to this day and with many people, life is cheap. But it wasn't with this man. Verse 15, and the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, go down with him, do not be afraid of him.

So he arose and went down with him to the king. Now that language tells us that the other two men gave Elijah the impression they were going to hurt him. And so he's explicitly told, this man will not hurt you.

Maybe, you know, abuse him. Look what they did to Christ when they arrested him. Who was going to stop him?

So here's Elijah. He knows the voice of God. These 51 men lived because they were fortunate to have the right command. And that's true on an individual scale, a family scale, a church, a government. It's just a law of life. If you have a good leader, you've got a good chance to do some damage to hell.

One man saved 50. James, brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, which presupposes he can't turn, some don't turn back. For those who don't believe that, you know, one's saved, all he's saved, and you know what? I believe there's truth in that, but not how it's being presented. Anyway, let him know that he who turns one sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

I like it, and I know the believers do. Abraham tried to save a whole city, was not able to. Jonah tried not to save a city and succeeded.

What a life. 2 Corinthians 6, that we give no offense in anything that our ministry may not be blamed. You could not charge Elijah with recklessly just slaughtering people, innocent people.

That is not what happened. He has a blameless ministry. Verse 16, then he said to him, thus says Yahweh, because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal's bub, the god of Ekron.

Again, that name being used in a derogatory way. It's not how the Philistines likely refer to, you know, Baal's a bull. Anyway, here in verse 16, is there because no god in Israel to inquire of his word, therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you should surely die. So the prophet is now telling him to his face. Yeah, that's what I said.

I sent you a message just to say, and I'm going to say it again to you. And he delivers the message that God gave him to deliver. The king knows that he just lost 102 men. You would think, two thirds of his company gone. You would think that he would, you know, parlay.

Like, can we work out a deal here? How about I repent? But he does not. Verse 17, so Azariah died according to the word of Yahweh, 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. So he was only king for two years, incidentally. And again, as I mentioned, he was Ahab's son, and so Ahab's other son, Azariah's brother, will become king. Now, two kings here named Jehoram, the king in the north and the king in the south. The translators are going to refer to the king in Judah as Jehoram and the one in the south as Joram, to try to help us out with that. It would, you know, if you had two men named John, maybe one is Jonathan or Joe, Joseph, some sort of distinction is made.

So the translators are looking out for us, and we're happy about that. If you want, compile a list of errors they've made, and when you get to heaven, if you still have the list. Right, anyway, verse 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?

I like how they word these things. Are they not written? It's poetic and not prose, but it got worse for Azariah, of course, his sins. His sins were written in God's book of remembrance, and this is another message that, you know, there used to be a time in history where people had fear of the consequences of rejecting the gospel, and that just really seems to me not so much happening nowadays. Isaiah 65, verse 6, Behold, it is written before me, I will not keep silence, but will repay, even repay into their bosom. So this is the history written into Ahaziah, and God is saying, well, I'm keeping a written in history too. Malachi, chapter 3, verse 16, Then those who feared Yahweh spoke to one another, and Yahweh listened and heard them. So the book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear Yahweh and who meditate on his name.

And Paul told that to Timothy, give yourself entirely to the word, meditate on these things. So we have here in this 18th verse the mention of a separate volume that chronicles the life or the reign of this king and other kings. It's, again, a separate book. It's referred to here as the book of chronicles of the kings of Israel. Well, that informs us that the biblical book of kings that we're studying now is intended to be more than a historical document. God is not trying to say, I want to tell you all about the history of the Jews. God is saying, I'm going to tell you about how I work with evil people, and I'm going to use the history of the Jews to do this. So in case I've confused you, you have this book of kings, the chronicles of the kings that is not biblical, it's just a historical document, a record of what happened with the kings in Israel. Then you have the book we are reading in our Bible, the books of kings and chronicles of Samuel. They are handpicked by God and authored.

He's the editor of the whole thing. And the distinction is it is spiritual. It's not common information. It's not carnal information. Carnal is not always evil.

It just means it's not what God wants or what God's not doing it. God made this book of kings spiritual, and therefore it is scripture, and therefore we are to extract as many lessons and insights from it as possible to apply in our lives to the glory of Christ, to salvation of souls, to the strengthening of fellow believers. 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.