The Man of God

            There is an interesting record about the prophet Elijah in the first chapter of the book of Second Kings, not inferring that this is the only interesting record about him, but this one really has grabbed my attention lately. I have read this story many times before where he calls fire down from heaven to consume the king of Israel’s military officials, and each time I have given it some thought because of the circumstances surrounding it, but after reading it again after sometime I find myself going back and looking at it over and over again.

            I am intrigued to know why and how the circumstances unfolded, as they did, when Elijah was visited by King Ahaziah’s military to escort him back to the king. The questions that have been running through my mind are: Why did Elijah just not submit to the king’s command to come down off the top of the hill so the first captain and his fifty men, or at least the second captain and his fifty men, could bring him back to Samaria to answer to the king (2 Kgs. 1:9, 11)? Did he not end up going to see and answer the king in the end, after the third captain came to him (2 Kgs. 1:15)?  I also wonder why Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume the first and second captain and the men under their charge, being that they were ordered to come and retrieve him for the king; I thought that this was a very violent way to act with the lives of those who were only following orders from the king of Israel. Elijah eliminates these servants of the state like something we would see in some video war game; they were standing there hopefully waiting for a positive response from the prophet than in one second their lives were extinguished like as if a military drone released a missile from above the clouds to take them out. I also wonder how this mighty power from heaven came in a split second of time, immediately after Elijah spoke it, and why this act was performed just because Elijah said it would. I don’t think we see this kind of thing happening in our day, if we did, these people would be in high demand, especially from the military world. These questions, I guess, were what kept bringing me back to read about this incident in the life of this prophet.

            The events that led up to Elijah’s encounter with the kings military was that King Ahaziah, who was the son of the now dead evil King Ahab, fell through the lattice-work of the room that was on the top of his residence in Samaria. When he fell he injured himself so severely that he believed he was going to die, but instead of consulting the prophet of the Lord, Ahaziah, sends his messengers to consult the god of Ekron, called Baalzebub — Baalzebub means ‘lord of the fly.’ While Ahaziah’s messengers were on their way to consult the priests of Baalzebub the angel of the Lord tells Elijah to meet them and say: “[Is it] not because [there is] not a God in Israel, [that] ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron” (2 Kgs 1:3b, KJV)? He then leaves them with the message that the king is going to die (2 Kgs. 1:4). This is why Elijah was then faced with the circumstances that surrounded the fire that came down from heaven.

            Fire coming down from heaven was a spiritual sign that frequently accompanied this prophet’s ministry. In the eighteenth chapter of First Kings, Elijah called fire down from heaven by the words of his mouth, in verse twenty four, upon the altar built that would test to see who the real God of Israel is. Was Israel’s God, the Lord, or was Baal the God of Israel? Read this chapter and you will see that fire came down from heaven and consumed the altar with its sacrifice prepared by Elijah, along with the wood, twelve stones, and even the soil under the altar. Even in spite of the twelve jars of water that Elijah told the people to pour over the altar, to fully soak all that the altar contained, everything was fully consumed; the fire even licked up the water that overflowed into the trench around the altar.

            As we see the situation Elijah faced with the soldiers, calling down fire from heaven by the words of his mouth, as he did with the incident of the prophets of Baal, Elijah seemed to have the ability of God to do powerful performances in the realm of the supernatural. In addition, we see in the eleventh chapter of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the two witnesses of the Lord who prophesy for 1,260 days during the seventieth week of Israel (the seven year tribulation period) who have the ability to release fire from their mouth to devour their enemies. This fire does not literally come out of their mouth but is released from heaven by the word of their mouth, just like the prophet Elijah could. Some in the contemporary Church believe that one of these two witnesses is the prophet Elijah who will come back to earth from heaven in the seventieth week of Israel. Their reason for having this idea is because Elijah was caught up from the earth via a whirlwind and never died physically (2 Kgs. 2:11), and because these two witnesses in the Revelation have the ability, like Elijah, to call down fire from heaven to consume their enemies, they believe that one of these witnesses may possibly be the one and the same prophet from the Old Testament — I though am under the conviction that these two witnesses are two individuals who were born after Israel was re-established as an independent nation in AD 1948; or at least they were born in a period of time to be among those who witnessed Israel’s rebirth. These two individuals will function as Old Testament prophets in the same spirit as Elijah and Elisha (read Rev.11:3-12), since the seventieth week of Israel is focused primarily on the redemption of the nation of Israel.

            Having written all this I am still curious to know the answers to my questions above: Why did Elijah just not submit to the king’s command to come down off the top of the hill so the two captains and their fifty men could bring him back to answer the king for the word he prophesied over him, did he not, in the end, go with the third captain to see and answer the king? Could it have been that when these first two captains came and instructed the prophet to ‘come down off the hill’ that Elijah was offended that they did not show him, the man of God, any respect? No, I cannot see that being the reason why he would completely obliterate them off the face of the earth with fire from heaven; that does not reveal the character of the Lord God Almighty.

            I believe it is more plausible that it had to do with the kind of spirit that these first two military officials came in as they were giving orders to the man of God, the same man of God who was taken up to heaven in a miraculous display of God’s power in chapter two, of Second Kings. You see, the first two captains came to Elijah in a spirit of arrogance and pride, like that of Israel’s leader, King Ahaziah. The manifestation of this spirit of darkness and its attitude was not only trying to usurp authority over Elijah, but it was likewise attempting to usurp authority over the Lord, in whom Elijah was a faithful servant — Elijah and every prophet from the Old Testament were official representatives of the Lord and his kingdom. To show disrespect to them was to disrespect God to his face. The third captain did not come to Elijah in the same spirit of King Ahaziah, like the first two captains, but rather he came in a spirit of repentance and humility, prove being his falling on his knees before the prophet and pleading for his life and the life of the fifty soldiers under his command (2 Kgs. 1:13). This is why God directed his messenger angel to accept the spirit in which this third captain came in, this being, the angel of the Lord said to Elijah: “Go down with him: be not afraid of him” (2 Kgs. 1:15, KJV).   

            I was also curious why Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume these soldiers, being that they were only carrying out their orders from the king; whom I would assume would discipline his servants if they did not carry out what he had commanded. As I wrote in the second paragraph, I thought that this was a very violent way to act with the lives of those who were only following out the orders from the king of Israel; but as I continue to write it is becoming clearer to me.

            The fire that Elijah called down from heaven may seem like a violent act to the natural mind, but there is a spiritual reason behind this act. The captains came to Elijah in a spirit of arrogance and pride, even contempt, which I wrote is also directed against the Lord God of Israel. This type of spiritual activity is of the Devil, for he came in this same spiritual attitude to try to overthrow God from his throne (See Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:12-17). King Ahaziah and his father before him, King Ahab, were possessed with the same spirit of the Devil, which led them to have no respect for the Lord whatsoever; this is why they worshiped Baal. Consequently, these same captains and their fifties came in the same spiritual activity as their king to demand that the man of God would come down off the hill. Therefore Elijah judged these men as God’s representative, just as the two witnesses in the book of Revelation, who are God’s representatives like Elijah, will judge anyone who makes any attempt at hurting them: “And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed” (Rev. 11:5, KJV) — The two witnesses, in the seventieth week of Israel, will judge those who approach them with contempt, by calling down fire from heaven with the words of their mouth to completely destroy any human vessel that allows the spirit of the Devil to function through them to bring them harm. The people in Israel will attempt to harm these two witnesses because they belong to God, and because their unrighteous cause is really directed at the Lord of Hosts.

            The act of calling down fire from heaven is not a violent act on the part of God Almighty, but an act of judgement on human vessels that willing give themselves over to the same spirit that drove Satan to rebel against God: “Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud” (Psa. 94:2, KJV). These human vessels that were consumed by the fire of God through Elijah, and the ones who will be judged by the two witness in the Revelation, are judged with the fire of God that comes down from heaven against their human vessels in this life, but one day their spirit and soul will be judged before the white throne judgement (See Rev. 20:11-15).

            Remember how I wondered how this mighty power from heaven came in a split second of time, like a drone missile being fired on its target below from above the clouds in the air, and why this act was performed just because Elijah said it would? Well, it is all clear to me now. The reason Elijah could perform such a fantastic sign is because of the authority he possessed from the heavenly realms, just as the two witnesses will have the same spiritual authority. The hand of God was upon Elijah that is why the captains who commanded fifties were right to call him a man of God; saying that the hand of God was upon Elijah is to indicate that the Spirit of God was upon him. This is how he could stop the rain and the dew for three years by the power of his words (See 1 Kings 17:1); and he could speak the word of the Lord and the widow at Zarephath would not run out of flour and oil until the rain came again (See 1 Kings 17:14). In the same chapter it is recorded how he healed the widow’s son who passed on, and he did this by lying on the boy’s body three times and crying out to the Lord; and the Lord healed him.

            Elijah did all these marvellous works because the Spirit of God was upon him which enabled him to access the power of God’s kingdom, but the man of God first had to believe that he could do these things: “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mk. 11:23, KJV). I think my questions have been answered now.