If I am a Man of Gof

 2 Kings 1:5-10

 

August 14, 2021

 

 

 The messengers returned to the king, and he said to them, “Why have you returned?”  And they said to him, “There came a man to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you, and say to him, Thus says the Lord, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’”   He said to them, “What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?”   They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty men with his fifty. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’”   But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

 

When a king sends you on a mission he expects results, and Ahaziah the king is not happy with the message they returned with.  He identifies the source of the message and sent a captain of fifty men to bring back one unarmed man, sitting on top of a hill.

 

Are we missing something, why not just one soldier to take him to the king, it seems that weak men in leadership roles like our current President, always overplay their hands.  The captain shows up and being a military man expects

 Elijah to come with him, for he is under the authority of the king.  He is polite to Elijah and addresses him as “O man of God the king says ‘Come down’” What the captain does not understand is Elijah is also a man under authority, and like the captain, he does what he is told.

 

Elijah, tell the captain “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

 

What message is there for God's Church, could it be we do not have a clear understanding of Authority, that we enter into the Christian army, and are to be about our Father's business?  God is our Commander in Chief, and we are to be willing to do as He tells us, and seek only His face.  Our weapons are mightier than any military, but we have few Elijah in our ranks.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice