1 Kings 16:29-33; 21:1-29 – A Lost Cause?
A very small, mousy man was hired as a bartender in the Old West. The saloon owner advised him, "If you ever hear that Big John is coming to town, drop everything and run for your life."
The bartender worked for six months with no problems. Then one day a cowboy rushed in shouting, "Big John’s a-comin’!" In his hurry to get out, he knocked the small bartender to the floor. Before the bartender could recover, in came a giant of a man with a black, bushy beard. He rode in through the swinging doors on the back of a buffalo, using a rattlesnake for a whip. The man tore the doors off of their hinges, knocked over tables, and slung the rattlesnake into the corner.
"Gimme a drink," he yelled as he split the bar in half with a pound of his massive fist. The bartender nervously pushed a bottle toward the man. He bit off the top of the glass bottle with his teeth, chugged the contents in one gulp and turned to leave. Realizing that the man wasn’t hurting anyone, the bartender asked if he’d like another drink.
"Ain’t got no time," the man roared. "Big John’s a comin’ to town."
Today, as we continue our Sundays through the life of Elijah, we come to a pretty mean hombre, King Ahab. Ahab was the man Elijah called the troubler of Israel. In fact, Ahab’s own word for Elijah was “enemy”. Ahab and Elijah were very much at odds with each other. And just for a few minutes, I’d like to look at Ahab’s life, and perhaps get a glimpse of God at work. Maybe we can learn how to be a bit more like God as we see how God dealt with a man like Ahab. READ 16:29-33.
So Ahab was the son of Omri. Now, Omri did not take kingship by family rights. No, the previous king, Zimri, died after 7 days in office. Zimri had killed the previous king, and word got out about this assassination. Omri, the commander of the army, rose up against Zimri, and out of fear, Zimri burned himself alive in the royal palace. And Omri became the king, eventually passing the throne to his son Ahab. This was a disgraceful method of becoming king, and his whole life continued that same pattern. The Bible says Ahab was more evil than any of the kings before him. Idol worship, manipulation, sacrifices, marrying a non-Jew… and we come to the story in 1 Kings 21.
This is actually a sad story. We can see the king and queen, puffed up with pride. Time and again God had spoken through His prophets, and yet, Ahab and Jezebel were still running the country. You can see why they thought they could do it whatever they wanted. After all, even God Almighty couldn’t or wouldn’t touch them. Let’s read 21:1-3.
So you see what’s happening here. Naboth has a prime piece of land, carried on through his family for years, perhaps one of the original land grants of a couple hundred years before. The man had no price. He could not be bought or sold. He remained true to his heritage, and ultimately, to God, because land grants were meant to be considered a gift of God, not to be bought or sold.
So the reaction of this strong, proud, arrogant is… pouting. V4-6. You understand that it’s not just the poor who want more. It’s the middle class like you and me. And it’s the rich as well. Contentment is not about how much money you have or don’t have. Contentment is a condition of the soul to be happy with whatever you have.
Well, Jezebel didn’t see any need why her hubby had to pout. After all, he was the king. Why shouldn’t he have whatever he wants? She devised a simple but effective plot: v7-15. Naboth was simply framed for trumped-up charges, and died because of it. Granted, Jezebel did the planning and execution, but Ahab fully accepted the prize: Naboth’s coveted vineyard.
This did not sit kindly with the Lord. He gave a message to Elijah: v19. The fact that Elijah actually found Ahab seemed to surprise the king, v20a, as if he was hidden from God’s sight, as if God was unable to find him. Rather, no sin is hidden. Whatever you do in secret, God sees anyway. And I find Elijah’s words interesting: v20b. Elijah knew where Ahab was because of his sins. His sins pointed him out. And the prophet gave the king the words of God: v21-24. Harsh words. A condemnation from God. The natural result of sin. It’s the same as we try to teach our kids: “If you do this, this will happen.” God had spoken.
And the writer of 1st Kings, Jeremiah perhaps or another prophet, wants to remind us who Ahab is, just in case we forgot: v25-26. Wow. Case closed. One nasty guy. No hope at all for him. The man who defied the Law, defied God, killed prophets, and followed in the ways of his horribly evil wife, this same Ahab was the worst king Israel ever had. Notice the wording of v25 – “who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD”. This chapter contrasts Naboth, who would not sell, to Ahab, who indeed did sell. He sold himself to evil. It’s a vivd description.
Yet, something about Ahab stands out from many of the other evil kings. This one repented – v27. Of all people, this one changed his mind. Changed his actions. Changed his attitude. The phrase, “went around meekly” or “went softly”, is just the opposite of the walking around proudly, haughtily, and full of himself. This man really did repent. God said so – v28-29.
Which is quite surprising for us. For all he had done, for who he was, for him to be forgiven seems unfair. Now, for those of us who enjoy seeing justice done, Ahab still died. Ahab was killed in 1 Kings 22, slain by a stray arrow in a battle. He died in a chariot, spilling his blood all over it. The chariot was taken to Samaria to be washed down, and the local dogs licked up the water and blood from the cleaning. A fairly gruesome death. Galatians tells us that a man reaps what he sows. If you plant pumpkins, you likely won’t get parsnips. If you sow corn, you likely won’t get cucumbers. And if you sow a sinful life, you will reap the consequences. Not that how you die is necessarily the measure of how you lived. The great missionary Jim Eliot, who said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he can never lose,” was killed by cannibals.
No, Ahab’s death was not necessarily a judgement of God either. This man found forgiveness, even when all his life he lived and ruled without God. He lived his whole life as a mess-up but he still died right with God. The beginning and the end of his life were shameful. Such is the consequences of sin. But he had an a-ha moment when God was pleased with him. And that made all the difference. And folks, you and I need to be on the lookout for people like Ahab – people whose lives have been scarred and marred by their foolish actions over the years. We need to keep giving out grace so that when people get their a-ha moments, we won’t turn them away.
Dallas Willard, in his excellent book, The Divine Conspiracy, writes about what the church would look like if we were as inclusive as God is: “If I, as a recovering sinner myself, accept Jesus’ good news, I can go to the mass murderer and say, ‘You can be blessed in the kingdom of the heavens. There is forgiveness that knows no limits.’ To the pederast and the perpetrator of incest. To the worshiper of Satan. To those who rob the aged and weak. To the cheat and the liar, the bloodsucker and the vengeful: Blessed! Blessed! Blessed! As they flee into the arms of the Kingdom Among Us.
“These are God’s grubby people. In their midst a Corrie Ten Boom takes the hand of the Nazi who killed her family members. The scene is strictly not of this earth. Any spiritually healthy congregation of believers in Jesus will more or less look like these ‘brands plucked from the burning.’ If the group is totally nice, that is a sure sign something has gone wrong. For here are the foolish, weak, lowly, and despised of this world, whom God has chosen to cancel out the humanly great.”
Let’s look at this from a different angle. We call ourselves a holiness church. We believe that Jesus forgives and cleanses and changes. We believe that we really can be holy on earth. But what is holy? Holiness is essentially Christlikeness. It’s acting like Jesus would act, doing what Jesus would do. Now remember, Christ is God. And God forgave Ahab. So, to be holy means to be forgiving. If you want to call yourself holy, you had better get this: being holy means forgiving others.
Now, I have pondered long and hard about this next thought: If God only forgives those who ask, why do we have to forgive everyone, even if they don’t ask? That’s a good question. And the best answer I can come up with is this: God always forgives. Even when we don’t ask. But the transaction isn’t made until we accept. God has already done all He can do to forgive. Whenever there is forgiveness lacking, it is not God’s fault. He’s done everything He can do. The problem is that people don’t always accept it. Forgiveness is to be offered to all without exception.
You and I need to show grace to those who are horrible, and show forgiveness to those who are horrible to us. No matter what they’ve done. We are required to forgive. It’s in the contract. Failure to forgive is a sure way to fail in being forgiven. But how people respond is up to them. Whether they accept our forgiveness is up to them. If they want to be bitter, then they can. That’s between them and God. But it is up to us, church, to forgive. To show grace. To be compassionate to people who don’t deserve it. After all, the furthest each of us is away from seeing the next undeserving soul is a mirror.
Former televangelist Jim Bakker speaks of events that occurred immediately after his release from prison: When I was transferred to my last prison, Franklin [Graham] said he wanted to help me out when I got out-with a job, a house to live in, and a car. It was my fifth Christmas in prison. I thought it over and said, "Franklin, you can’t do this. It will hurt you. The Grahams don’t need my baggage." He looked at me and he said, "Jim, you were my friend in the past and you are my friend now. If anyone doesn’t like it, I’m looking for a fight."
“So when I got out of prison the Grahams sponsored me and paid for a house for me to live in and gave me a car to drive. The first Sunday out, Ruth Graham called the halfway house I was living in at the Salvation Army and asked permission for me to go to the Montreat Presbyterian Church with her that Sunday morning. When I got there, the pastor welcomed me and sat me with the Graham family. There were like two whole rows of them-I think every Graham aunt and uncle and cousin was there. The organ began playing and the place was full except for a seat next to me. Then the doors opened and in walked Ruth Graham. She walked down that aisle and sat next to inmate 07407-058. I had only been out of prison 48 hours, but she told the world that morning that Jim Bakker was her friend.”
