2 Kings 1:9-18
"9 Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty men with his fifty. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’” 10 But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
11 Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty men with his fifty. And he answered and said to him, “O man of God, this is the king's order, ‘Come down quickly!’” 12 But Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
13 Again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and entreated him, “O man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, be precious in your sight. 14 Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty men with their fifties, but now let my life be precious in your sight.” 15 Then the angel of the Lordsaid to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king 16 and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?—therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’”
17 So he died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son. 18 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?"
In the contrasting pictures presented here of Ahaziah and Elijah we may find much food for thought. To the bitter end, Ahaziah persists in his passionate opposition to the Word and will of the Lord. One would have thought that the awful pronouncement of the prophet would reduce him to a cowed silence, but no, he hurls defiance at the Almighty, and spends the last miserable days of his existence in a renewed attempt to set at nought the purpose of God. There comes a time, it seems when men lose all fear of God and become possessed by a terrible frenzy that finally dashes itself in pieces against the impregnable rock of the divine will. Sin, when it is finished, brings forth not only death, but a madness that is very, very frightening to see. In contrast, look at Elijah. In him we see the calm dignity that is the ripe fruit of faith and faithfulness in a believer's life. In a right relationship to God human life enters into its own, as it were, and comes to its highest and fullest realisation in the purpose and intention of God. He is unperturbed by the attempts of the king's officers to apprehend him, for the God that answers by fire is with him, and His angel stands by him (15) to guard him and be his strength. It is this hidden and secret upholding that is the heritage of the faithful and the explanation of the calm and the self-possession which characterise the true man of God in time of crisis.