Fire Falling From Heaven (2nd Kings 1:10)

Introduction

Alright, there it is, the graphic. I have to admit, sometimes Graceway Media is where I get all of these. Sometimes I’m looking for something and I run across something else, and I thought, oh, that would be pretty cool. And so I downloaded it, stored it away, and I said, I’ll get to it at a future time, and here we are. So, what in the world is this going to be about? Looks somewhat frightening. If you can guess where I’m going with this lesson, you get Tony’s gold star. It is a worthless item. But I will give it to you anyway. Thank you, Daniel. You never say amen, ever. And that’s when I get it. Wayland, give me some lessons. Okay. Alright, well, the graphic sort of looks like something pertaining to the end of the world.

And that certainly is a quite frightening subject. We read from 2 Peter chapter 3 last week. The present heavens and earth, by his word, are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. We’ve never seen anything like that. Well, if we did, it would be a bad thing. You want to be gone when this happens. But it is going to happen one day, and we’ve never seen anything along this scale, and this day certainly will come, no matter what the scoffers and those who think biblical events are not true and not real. This day’s coming, and we’re closer to it than we’ve ever been. Should be contemplated on a frequent basis. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

And so, what do I mean when I talk about fire falling from heaven? If that’s not what it’s about, if it’s not about the end of the world, what is it about? And immediately you thought, some of you did, this was your answer. Elijah, and I did have to admit that I somewhat misled you by the verse that I attached to the lesson. You might have noticed a reference to 2 Kings chapter 1. At least three of you read that or noticed that reference that Mary got me doing this with the bulletin. Add a reference that she could put next to the sermon topic. And I didn’t give her a specific verse. I think I just said 2 Kings 1. And so if you saw that, you thought about Elijah.

And what a great story that is. Fire literally came down from heaven. It’s one of those spectacular Old Testament stories that I’ve envisioned in my mind many times. We have a wicked king, Ahaziah, son of Ahab. And he is sick and he inquires not of the God of Israel, but he inquires instead of Baalzebub, the God of Ekron. And of course, Elijah finds out about this and meets him along the way, or meets his messengers along the way. Is there not a God in Israel? But you would consult a false God. And so when the report is given about this man who met them along the way. Whoa, was he hairy? Yes, it was Elijah the Tishbite. They were known by the description they gave of him that it was the prophet Elijah who troubled the kingdom of his father.

Actually, it was his father who had troubled the kingdom of Israel. But let’s bring him in for an audience. And so a captain and 50 men are sent to retrieve Elijah. And he calls down fire from heaven and consumes them. You think about that. 50 individuals consumed with fire from heaven. Another 50 is sent. Stubborn Ahaziah sends another 50, expecting a different result. How many times again have you seen fire? Well, he brought fire down from heaven at Carmel, did he not? With his father Ahab. And so again, fire comes down and consumes that 50. Stubborn Ahaziah sends another 50. What is that? You got an endless supply of soldiers or what? But the captain of the third 50 wises up and makes an appeal for mercy from the prophet Elijah.

And then he finally comes down from the mountain. The end of the story. Well, Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord, which Elijah had spoken. The word of the prophets, the word of the Lord always comes true. As it did with Ahab and so many others. So it did with Ahaziah. Well, that’s not what I want to talk about either. Okay. You’re thinking Lucifer, right? Isaiah 14, fallen from heaven. That’s not a reference to Satan. It’s a reference to the king of Babylon. But there is something similar about Satan falling from heaven like lightning. Okay, lightning and fire, it’s in the same realm. As Jesus said, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning, and that had to do with the 70s power over the demons.

And he said, nevertheless, don’t rejoice over this ability that you have, but that your names are recorded in heaven. So Luke 10, 18, that’s somewhat similar to the idea. Satan falling from heaven like lightning. I’m not talking about that either. Perhaps James and John, if that was your guess, trying for the gold star. Perhaps you thought James and John. Maybe they were thinking in Luke 9 regarding those villages that would not receive them. That in the spirit of Elijah they would bring down fire and consume them. And Jesus said, You do not know what kind of spirit you are of. The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And if you thought about that’s not what I’m talking about either.

Okay, it’s got to be something out of the book of Revelation. And certainly, there are several references in the book of Revelation to fire coming down, and it’s not always associated with the evil doings of the devil. Sometimes in judgment, it is equated with fire for the purpose of getting men to realize their condition and repent. And so that would be a very good guess. But that’s not it either. Actually, I’m going with the graphic as it was designed, and that’s what really caught my attention the most was this text. Luke 12, 49 through 53. I would like to be able to say I immediately knew what that text was about when I saw the graphic. But I don’t have a perfect memory of the New Testament, especially the Gospels.

And so I run over to Luke chapter 12, and I thought to myself, these are verses we don’t talk a lot about. But have some helpful information for us. Luke chapter 12 and verse 49. This is where the person who did the graphic came up with the idea.

And how I wish it were already kindled. Metaphorical, but still a severe term to speak of what is about to happen. And he wishes it had already happened. And he goes on to say, but I have a baptism to undergo. And how distressed I am until it is accomplished. And then this question.

Yes. No. Here Jesus says no. I tell you no. But rather divisions. For from now on, five members in one household will be divided. Three against two. And two against three. They will be divided, father against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. I don’t know if he left out very many relationships. In the description of this division that is about to come. The reason why I think talking about this text has some benefit is most people reading this text might be puzzled that Jesus actually said it. That this is a part of the red letter section of the New Testament, and that Jesus would even ever say anything along these lines with this kind of implication.

1. Isn't Jesus the Prince of Peace?

And what of its meaning? In our circumstances. I just want to make four points about this very briefly tonight, and I do intend for it to be briefly. And the lesson from Luke chapter 12 will be yours. The first thought about these verses that comes to mind is, but wait a minute. Isn’t Jesus the Prince of Peace? And the answer to that question, of course, is yes. And thus the song.

And of course you might remember Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6, an old testament prophetic utterance that deals with the coming Messiah and his new government, the hope of men. It says, a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, Isaiah 9 and verse 6. The government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal Father, Prince of peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of his peace. The Prince of Peace. But what does that mean? What are the limits of said peace? You might be thinking, but you haven’t gotten the gold star already tonight. Did anybody get the gold star? I didn’t think so. Nobody says they got the gold star.

But you might be thinking, maybe get half a star if you recall the statement that is made at Jesus’ birth. What was the statement in Luke chapter 2 that relates to this particular point? The heavenly host, a multitude praising God, said, glory to God in the highest. Again in Luke chapter 2 and verse 14. Glory to God in the highest. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men. Now I quoted it the way you most often hear it quoted around the holidays. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men. That might seem to suggest that Jesus was coming. He came into the world as an infant, would grow into a man for the purpose of providing peace for absolutely everyone. That’s not what the proclamation was intended to be. The newer translations actually take the Greek and look at it somewhat differently.

I didn’t read the end of the New American Standards rendering of this. Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace among men, with whom he is pleased. And the reason why I like that rendering is because that fits the rest of what the Bible says, both in Isaiah 9 and verse 6, and what the rest of the New Testament says about the subject of the peace that Jesus came to provide. What is the nature of this peace? Turn over to Ephesians chapter 2. In Ephesians chapter 2, I thought immediately of this text, as I was thinking about Jesus as the Prince of Peace, Paul is talking in Ephesians about Jew and Gentile, two vastly different cultural entities and groups that really didn’t have a lot in common and who didn’t get along with each other that well.

And one of the things that happened in Jesus’ death on the cross, and this is the reason why I’m preaching this lesson tonight is it follows on the heels of this morning’s thoughts rather well. One of the things that happened, and you’ll see that in point number two. One of the things that happened when Jesus provided salvation on the cross is he brought together these groups that had enmity between them, Gentiles and Jews. And he talks about the Gentiles in verse 12. They were formerly called uncircumcision, verse 11, and he says, You were separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise. The idea of being separate from Christ, I think goes back to those Old Testament prophecies that were given to the Israelites, not the Gentiles, though the blessings of which pertained to them, as we’ll see momentarily.

They were strangers to the covenants of promise. They were not God’s chosen people as Israel was, having no hope and without God in the world. But now things have changed. You who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. There it is. Prince of peace. For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. So he’s brought two groups where there was enmity and hostility and brought them together in peace with one another. Turning weapons into peaceful instruments, as Isaiah talked about the blessings of the coming Messiah. All of those things are true about what Jesus came to provide. But that does not mean that all men will experience the blessings of this peace.

To so conclude would be to discount passages like Luke chapter 12, the one that we just read. God’s peace is for those who seek peace. And what Jesus did on the cross was to provide an avenue that we could be at peace with God. But the barrier of our sin, the sin that tainted us in relation to the perfect holiness of God, that we could now come into God’s presence and be at peace with him and be at peace with others who would be at peace with him. All others from every nation. And we talk about this all the time. In every nation, he who fears God and does what is right is accepted of him, Jew and Gentile. Acts chapter 10, verses 34 and 35.

So then, we the recipients of peace should then seek peace and pursue it. 1 Peter 3, verses 10 and 11 say, and for those who are kingdom citizens, it says in Matthew 5 and verse 8, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Just as God provided peace and brought union where there was division between himself and men in regard to sin between two rivaling ethnic groups, we too are to be peacemakers and healers, as God was, with as many people as we can, as God’s desire for peace is universal.

2. They Reject the Right Way

Though that peace is rejected by so many. And that leads me to the second point about this text. An interesting word choice is found in Luke chapter 12. One of the reasons why everyone does not experience the wonderful provision of God’s peace is because they reject the right way. And because they reject the right way, they rejected the one who came to declare and show the right way. As we talked about the tragedy of his suffering this morning, here is one who only had good intentions for every single person. Here were the beloved objects of his creation. I’ve always loved Matthew 23. I think we do an injustice to Matthew 23 when we just read the part about you bunch of snakes. You know, we look at the religious leaders of the Jews, those guys were bad to the core.

How shall you escape the sentence of hell Jesus says about them? You brood of vipers. And he really lets them have it. You know, I think we just like it when people get told who deserve it. We have a very strong sense of justice. And if that doesn’t describe you, just spend some time with my wife Sherry, because she has the strongest sense of justice I think I’ve ever seen. She loves it when justice is served. And so we get excited about that. He’s telling those Pharisees off, but why is he doing it? Because just as a mother hen would envelop her chicks under her wings. So Jesus would want to do with these rebellious children. But he said, they are unwilling. And thus their house is being left to them desolate.

And not only is their house being left to them desolate, because such a confrontation in Matthew 23 with other events that are unfolding, this is going to precipitate his baptism. Now I want to say something about one thing we learned, and this might not be the first text you go to when you’re talking to people about baptism for the remission of sins. But it is a very helpful text to show us the intense nature of this term. Jesus is about to undergo a baptism, and we described that baptism this morning. It was intense, it was overwhelming. It was a submerging and plunging into great suffering. That’s how this Greek term, baptism, was used to describe things other than the means of salvation that is so often used for in the New Testament.

And so we hear of a baptism of fire. John spoke of Jesus providing a baptism or overwhelming of the Holy Spirit that would come to guide men, but he also spoke of the judgment that would come, the baptism of fire. Unquenchable fire that would be cast upon God’s enemies. So we learned something about the very nature of baptism. It wasn’t a little sprinkling of some tough times that Jesus experienced, but an immersion into the most intense kind of suffering.

3. So Many Are Unwilling to Listen

Something else came to me as I read this text in Luke chapter 12. What is this conflict all about? How can people reject the prince of peace? Why is it peace on earth among men with whom God is pleased? Because so many are unwilling to listen to the provisions and instruction of the Christ. Even hearing things about how family are going to respond to this message had to be a difficult and troubling concern. And we might want to just gloss over that and say, whoa, family first. You know, I’ve got to have relations with my family that are good and healthy and vibrant. Can’t be anything that stands in the way. Family’s everything. No, it’s not. Physical family is not everything. In fact, when his own family thought he had lost his mind.

And we’re standing outside, they want to talk with you. I think the implication there in Mark chapter 3 was that they’re really concerned about what you’re doing. Jesus continued on with his audience and says, Everyone who hears the word of God, that is my mother and my brother. Speaking to us about the priority of spiritual family, even above physical family. And the reason why I chose these words is because it’s a familiar refrain. Throughout the entire New Testament. We’re getting ready to talk about marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Going to be an interesting quarter on Wednesday nights in the fall. I’ve never taught that here. Taught about marriage, divorce, and remarriage from the pulpit, but never a whole class where I allow you to talk. But we’re going to do that.

I don’t know what everybody believes about marriage, divorce, and remarriage. We’re going to have to get on the same page on the subject. But it’s always intrigued me in Matthew chapter 19. After a long discussion on this subject with first the Pharisees who came to test him, and then his disciples who said, Wow, if it’s like this, maybe we shouldn’t marry in the first place. That’s a very powerful verse. You know what that says? They got it. They saw how strict Jesus’ teaching was here. I wonder if we get it. I wonder sometimes if my brethren here and there get it. How strict is Jesus’ teaching about divorce and remarriage? He says, They said, the disciples said, well, maybe it’s better not to get married. And Jesus had some more to say.

And then he concluded it with these words. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it. Now tell you what he wasn’t saying. If you didn’t want to accept it, no big deal. No, it’s a big deal. But he wasn’t saying you got options here. You read something in the scriptures, you don’t like it. Now you can toss this aside. Not do it. Obviously, that’s not what he’s saying. But like he says, in regard to what the Spirit says to the churches. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. Well, I got an ear. He wasn’t talking about whether you physically have ears. Most people do. But whether you have a disposition to listen. If you have a disposition. And he was talking to Christians.

He wasn’t talking to those who were outside the way of truth and were seekers, perhaps. He’s talking about those who are already in Christ. He says, Are you still of a mind to hear? And of course he makes this statement, he who has ears to hear, let him hear in regard to the parable of the sower and the four types of soil. And he says it time and again look, you may not be able to accept this. And if so, that’s your deal. There’ll be consequences. The Bible talks about that very plainly. But sometimes when you’re talking to people, and we think, boy, why didn’t they embrace that? Why didn’t they, why didn’t they sign on to that? They’re just not of a disposition to listen.

And sometimes those people will be people who are very close to you. That’s the subject of this particular context. But before I move to that and the final point, I want to go to Matthew chapter 9. Because I think this pertains to all of us. There have been a lot of occasions when I’ve been reading the scripture throughout the years, and I’ve come to some conclusions and drawn some conclusions and inferences, and had to make some attempted change in my life. I’m still learning. I think that’s a process that goes on our entire lives. But I’ve always loved Jesus’ words in Matthew 9. When he says to the Pharisees, in regard to their complaint that he was eating with these low life, tax gatherers and sinners.

It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. Now Jesus wasn’t saying the Pharisees were healthy. But as long as they perceive themselves as healthy when they were sick, they couldn’t come to him for healing. You have to first acknowledge your lack of wellness. And that’s what the tax gatherers and the sinners that they despised were willing to do. They were willing to listen to him. They had ears to hear, and thus he spent time with them.

But then this.

Sure, God wanted sacrifices from his people, but he did not want sacrifices apart from the right kind of heart. And the book of Malachi talks about that explicitly.

For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. And look you’re in that group. Sinners only hope. We talked about that this morning. But I want to go back to that phrase.

But go and learn what this means. That tells me a few things about coming to a knowledge of the truth. That you don’t get there in a moment. Your mind may process the information. You may connect the dots. Jesus said these words. Those words make sense. You may even have some concept of what those words mean. But it is another step entirely to take those words and say, now, this is what these words mean in my thinking and conduct. And to get there from I know what he said, I know what these words mean, and to get them into your behavior, you may have to pull it over for a bit. You may have to spend some time really grasping the concepts. Jesus said this, and it means this in my behavior and life.

When he said, but go and learn what this means, I think he’s saying the same thing as he says.

Are you of a disposition to embrace the master’s will at every turn? Boy, I’d like to say, sign me in. Write my name on the dotted line. Absolutely yes. That’s why I had Reagan lead the song. Because I need to be reminded.

4. Not Peace for Absolutely Everybody

Are there areas where we’re holding out on the will of the Lord? Are we saying Prince of Peace control some of my will? Or Prince of Peace control my will. As I flow into this last point. The reason why I wanted to preach this context. Everything in the New Testament isn’t love, joy, peace, forgiveness, salvation, happiness. For absolutely everybody.

Oh, yes, Jesus loves everybody. He wants everybody to be saved, to be forgiven. He wants them to have peace. And he wants them to enjoy his joy.

But he doesn’t just dole it out. Indiscriminately for everybody, because we think they’re pretty nice folks. I bet these Pharisees that we read about, well, maybe not them, but most everybody that opposed Jesus probably had some good qualities to them in everyday, normal neighborly affairs. They weren’t the dregs of society. They wasn’t, they weren’t the deadbeat lowlifes. They just opposed heaven’s way. In significant areas. But we want, we think these things come to everybody, and the fact is it comes to very few. And Jesus wants his disciples to know something very important. People that you love very deeply. People who are extremely close to you. People that you may regard more highly than most others in your town, your community, or on the planet. Some of those people will not sign on to be my servants.

And to allow me to be their Lord. And he knows that’s going to be difficult. Because he says it more than once. In fact, he says it in these terms in Matthew 10 on another occasion. I did not come to bring peace, but to bring a sword.

This isn’t an anomaly. Luke 12 is not an anomaly in the text.

So why? The opposition. Why the division? Because I’ll tell you what men don’t like. Even if it comes from people that they care about and love. They don’t like to hear that they’re wrong.

They don’t like to just, and maybe it’s not you telling them that they’re wrong. Maybe they don’t like to come to the conclusion that you think that they are wrong. You don’t have to be mean about it. And I don’t encourage that. But by the simple implication that you believe there is sin on their account, and their lives are not right before God, and significant changes are needed that in and of itself bring this kind of division.

And there’s a cost.

The baptism that he underwent.

James and John. We were discussing this at our Bible study Tuesday night. Their mother even got involved in the act. Who put who up to what? They all three were complicit. Are you able to drink the baptism? Are you able to drink the cup that I’m about to drink? Jesus says. And he goes, You will. Indeed, you will. Don’t be shocked. When members of your own family will not choose to walk the path that you’ve chosen. So I want to tell you something about our Lord. His message pierces to our very souls. To our very motives and affections. And to surrender our will to his will be an obstacle that some simply will not choose to hurdle. They will choose poorly. Because he who commands the fire will one day destroy the world and all ungodly men with it.

Conclusion

Who reject his will. And we preach to urge you not to be numbered in that group. We sing a song of encouragement if anyone needs to respond.