Friday, March 20, 2009
1 Kings 21:20 Elijah to Ahab: "You have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord."
JESUS AS HOLY KING
It is difficult to find any redeeming qualities in King Ahab. His marriage to the heathen Jezebel was the opposite of God-pleasing. And not only did he continue the "sin of Jeroboam" in leading the kingdom of Israel to worship the golden calves, he also promoted the worship of the idol Baal.
Even the great demonstration of the existence and power of the true God on Mount Carmel was not enough to shake Ahab from his wicked ways. Not much later we find him coveting Naboth's vineyard and subsequently having Naboth falsely accused of blasphemy. After the innocent man was convicted and executed, the king then claimed the vineyard he wanted for his own.
Elijah the prophet came to King Ahab there in Samaria with words of condemnation: "Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free" (1 Kings 21:21).
It is true that Ahab then "tore his clothes and . . . fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning" (1 Kings 21:27) -- but not much later we see him right back at his Baal worship as he prepares to go to battle with King Jehoshaphat against the Syrians (22).
Thankfully it is impossible to find anything but redeeming qualities in Jesus our King! He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth (Isaiah 53:9). Jesus perfectly fulfilled all that His Father in heaven demanded. His completely perfect life and death have taken all sin out of the way. Every sinner from Adam to Ahab -- to you and me -- now have access to heaven because of what Jesus has done!
