New Days, Old Demons: A Study of ElijahSample

Why Do Good Things Happen To Bad People and Bad Things Happen To Good People?

In this scene from Elijah’s life, the time has come for God to straighten things out with King Ahab. Ahab was not content, despite his family ruling over the nation of Israel for generations as evil dictators, living in a lavish castle, and owning more land than he could ever need. This truth just goes to show that enjoying our life has a lot more to do with the attitude in us than the possessions around us.

One day, perhaps peering out a window high atop his towering palace, the king saw a piece of land that he did not own, and suddenly he began breaking the 10th commandment by coveting, which led to his wife breaking the ninth and sixth commandments against bearing false witness and committing murder, all so they could break the eighth commandment, all of which was set in motion by them also breaking the first and second commandments by worshipping other gods and making idols. His sense of unlimited entitlement would be the beginning of his end.

Here we see the common pattern of the Jezebel spirit weaponizing God’s Word, twisting it as Satan did with Adam and Eve, along with Jesus. Completely defiant of God’s Word having any authority in her own life, she falsely and wrongly judges and condemns Naboth, who did not do what her lying plot convicted and condemned him for! Make no mistake, Jezebel was very religious, and the most dangerous people are those who are religious and weaponize the Bible to abuse people by the Jezebel spirit. She is lying and committing murder, all to steal a piece of land, while publicly pretending to honor the Lord.

We see a common pattern in a demonic and dysfunctional marriage. Sadly, many passive men with the Ahab spirt are married to controlling and domineering women like Jezebel and have the same twisted relationship. Over and over, the marriage between Ahab and Jezebel is more like son and mother than husband and wife. He is passive, pouty, and pathetic. So, she takes over, calls the shots, rules the roost, and he goes along with it, likely because he’s afraid of her, and he often gets what he wants without having to work for it, as is the case with Naboth’s field.

God had simply had enough with this couple and the demons working in and through them and their day of death and judgment is sealed. Furthermore, unlike most kings and queens who are honored in death, this royal couple of crooks will have wild unclean stray dogs licking up their blood on the land where they shed Naboth’s blood. God’s prophecies through Elijah were later fulfilled exactly as promised.

The Jezebel spirit was and is a murderous spirit, and is guilty for the taking of many godly lives from the days of Elijah (including the prophets of God she slaughtered, to the innocent Naboth) to our own day. When confronted by Elijah for the evil done for him by Jezebel, Ahab demonstrates for the first time what the Bible calls “worldly sorrow”. This counterfeit of real repentance does not grieve the sin, or the offense against God and others, but instead the consequences the sinner must pay for their sin. In this way, people with “worldly sorrow” falsely appear to have a heart change, but their heart remains selfish and unrepentant. They don’t regret who they are or what they have done, but instead merely mourn the price they pay for who they are and what they do.

Elijah and Naboth were godly people and, during their lifetimes, bad things happened to them. They were poor, lied about, hunted for death, and suffered greatly. For them, life on earth was as close to Hell as they got, and now they are spending forever in Heaven.

In this life, good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people, because the presence of evil and the demonic is very real in this life. The Bible is clear: for the believer, this life is our temporary Hell until we get to our eternal Heaven. For the unbeliever, this life is their temporary Heaven until they get to their eternal Hell. Just as there was a massive, swift judgment of reversal for Ahab and Jezebel, so to it will be when the real king, KING JESUS, returns with His Kingdom to rule and reign in justice and truth!

Why is God’s holiness, judgment, and wrath really a loving thing for His people?