New Days, Old Demons: A Study of Elijahናሙና

Will Jesus Burn Evildoers Like in the Story of Elijah?

What is happening in the northern and southern kingdoms in the days of Elijah is similar to a fast-spreading wildfire. The flames of Hell were spreading with the worship of Baal, consuming God’s people, destroying places in which God was worshipped, and even overtaking every aspect of the government and culture. Although the evil King Ahab was dead, King Ahaziah continued in the same demonic direction as his father. This family has learned nothing for generations, and the children do evil and invite demons just like their parents without pause or repentance.

Even though the demon god Baal (along with his spiritual consort Asherah) was completely defeated on Mount Carmel, King Ahaziah was determined to lead his people in the continued worship of Baal. This threatened the future of that region, much like a forest fire that has ravaged a forest is contained except for a few hot spots that need to be put out or risk starting yet another raging wildfire.

In this scene of Elijah’s life, Moab rebelled. The Moabites were a people previously subdued by King David, who obtained their freedom after the death of Solomon. They would be a problem for Judah, the southern kingdom. The backdrop is that king Ahaziah is seriously injured and seeks out help from “Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron”, also known as “lord of the flies”, curiously also the same title of a well-known book. The name this demon refers to “was a localized form of Baal worship” and some sort of “a health god”.

God’s anger is stirred because He is willing to hear and answer prayers, as we see throughout the life of Elijah. Here, King Ahaziah is not praying to God, but instead choosing the demonic counterfeit, namely witchcraft. Through divination, sorcery, and fortune telling, people seek to get answers and help from the spirit-world and, in so doing, engage with demons. God’s people are expressly forbidden from such witchcraft. This tolerance of the demonic was a longstanding problem. Centuries earlier when God’s people took possession of this region, the people they defeated were into every sort of demonism. God commanded His people to drive the evildoers out of the land, which they did not.

Attempting to stop Elijah, King Ahaziah sends 50 soldiers to stop him. Just as on Mount Carmel, God sends fire from Heaven to destroy them and protect His servant. Undeterred and unrepentant, the king sends another 50 soldiers, who likewise are consumed with fire from Heaven. The king sends yet another platoon of soldiers, and their commanding officer fell on his knees to beg Elijah for mercy, which was granted, allowing his men to live. Today, this would be like calling in a military airstrike.

Deism is the false teaching that a god made the universe but then left his creation alone and has no dealings with it, a bit like an absentee landlord. With a god absent, deism teaches that the world runs by natural laws that a god established to govern his creation. Subsequently, miracles are impossible because the universe is a closed system, and a god does not intervene in his creation or overrule his natural laws. This is a commonly held belief and explains why scenes like the fire strike from Heaven to protect Elijah are often rejected as myth or dismissed as primitive ancient suspicion. However, the worldview of the Bible is that there are two realms – seen and unseen – that form one reality. God rules over both, and these two worlds originally were together as one.

Before that day, the Bible reveals one final day of judgment by fire. The fire that judged and consumed the soldiers of Ahaziah is a foreshadowing of the White Throne Judgment and sentencing of evildoers to Hell. Just like king Ahaziah and his soldiers were judged with fire, Hell is “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).

Some people wrongly believe that Satan rules Hell. However, when King Jesus returns to put down all kings (like Ahab and Ahaziah), He will sentence evildoers to Hell. Since Jesus is Lord over all, He also rules and reigns in Hell. Jesus Christ is both Lion and Lamb (Revelation 5:5-6). In Heaven, God’s people experience Him only as Lamb. In Hell, everyone else will experience Him only as Lion. Revelation 14:10-11 says, “…he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night.”

Do you struggle to embrace the spiritual worldview of the Bible? Why? Why not?