Holiness Vindicated

“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.”
—2 Kings 1:9-10

One of the greatest, most effective tools for a Christian is the power of a holy life. The term “holy” means “separate,” “sacred,” and “whole.” Elijah, though just like us (James 5:17), was nevertheless holy. His holiness can readily be seen in his interaction with the servants of Ahab’s son, King Ahaziah.

Ahaziah was severely injured after a fall at his home (2 Kings 1:2). Being a superstitious man, he sent messengers to inquire of the false god, Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron. The name literally means “lord of the flies,” which is either a deliberate slight by the divine narrator for the normal title “Baal-zebul,” which means “Baal the exalted” or “Baal of the master height.” Or it simply means “lord of the flies,” a veiled reference to the power behind such a false god—Satan. Whatever the case, Ahaziah sought the assistance of this local deity, the god of Ekron (Ekron was a city about 25 miles west of Jerusalem).

As his servants were on their way, an angel of the LORD appeared to Elijah and told him to go to meet the king’s messengers 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? Now therefore thus says the LORD, You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die"—2 Kings 1:3-4.

After being confronted by Elijah, the messengers returned to deliver his message. Ahaziah wanted to know who it was that sent the message, but the messengers didn’t know his name, only what he was wearing. They responded, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist” (2 Kings 1:8). Ahaziah was very familiar with such a description and he knew it was Elijah. Rather than repenting as his father Ahab had done, he sent fifty men to capture and kill him.

Once he ascertained his location, the captain found Elijah on top of a hill and said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down’” (2 Kings 1:9). But Elijah’s response is telling: “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” And then the miraculous happened: “fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty” (2 Kings 1:10). Undeterred, Ahaziah sent another contingent of fifty men, repeating the same words as the time before, and yielding the exact same result (2 Kings 1:11-12).

Determined to get Elijah no matter what, Ahaziah sent a third contingent. But this time, the captain of the fifty men took an entirely different approach. He said,  

“O man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, be precious in your sight. Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty men with their fifties, but now let my life be precious in your sight" (2 Kings 1:13-14).  

He recognized that Elijah was a man of God and he approached him with reverence and fear. The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him" (2 Kings 1:15).  Elijah went down and met with Ahaziah declaring,

"Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is 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 shall surely die'"—2 Kings 1:16.

And just like his father before him, Ahaziah died according to Elijah’s word (2 Kings 1:17). Elijah’s interaction with King Ahaziah, as well as his calling down fire from heaven on his men, is clear evidence of the power of a holy life.

This power reveals itself in a myriad of ways, and in Christ one instance stands out. It takes place on the night before His crucifixion, when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples, just as Roman soldiers arrived seeking to arrest Him. The apostle John records that the soldiers asked for Jesus (John 18:5), and He responded, “I am He" (John 18:5). John describes what happened next: “When Jesus said to them, ‘I am He,’ they drew back and fell to the ground” (John 18:6). Why? What was it about Him that made them fall back? His strength? His person? Or the power of His life and words? I think they fell back because they came face to face with a power they had never seen before. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power” (1 Corinthians 4:20).

Think about those who came into contact with the awesome display of God’s holiness! Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, as the train of His robe filled the temple (Isaiah 6:1). The seraphim—the angels of six wings with two wings covering their faces, two covering their feet, and the remaining two enabling flight, continually circled around the throne of God day and night saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" (Isaiah 6:3). At seeing such wonder, such majesty, and such holiness, Isaiah can’t help but disdain himself and say,

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"--Isaiah 6:5.

There are several instances when God’s holiness is trod asunder and God responds accordingly.  Moses failed to uphold the Lord as holy when he struck the rock twice at Meribah, after God had told him simply to speak to it and water would come out (cf. Numbers 20:8-13; 27:14). Such a failure to uphold His holiness in the presence of His people resulted in Moses’ being denied entry into the Promised Land. Others weren’t so lucky. Nadab and Abihu, priests and sons of Aaron, offered unauthorized fire before the Lord in their sacrificial offerings, which resulted in their being burned alive (Leviticus 10:1-2). Or consider Uzzah as the Ark of God was returning to Jerusalem from the Philistines. Because he ignored God’s procedures for the Ark’s transportation, he was put to death (2 Samuel 6:3-7). Ahaziah and his men took the same road as so many before them—disregarding God’s law and His Word, and they all lost their lives because of it.

God is holy and He desires that we approach Him as holy and conduct ourselves as holy, because without holiness “no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). What about you? Are you living a holy life?  Or do you disregard the things of God?  Do you, like Ahaziah, foster superstition, and look to things that are not gods at all for your future? Do you look to your horoscope? Do you dare God to judge you by intentionally disobeying and disregarding His Word?

I hope that we all seek to live holy lives that are honoring to God. We may not be able to call down fire like Elijah did, but we can make sure that we are living in such a way that God is our advocate in our time of need.  And we can know that when we do, God will bring glory to His great and glorious name. Amen.