2 Kings 1:10 – But Elijah answered the captain of fifth, “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.
Throughout the life of Elijah, we see that God is all-knowing. Over and over, the Lord speaks to His prophet, revealing specific details of individual people’s lives, then commanding Elijah to respond, usually by travelling some distance to deliver a word from the Lord.
The same is true with King Ahaziah, “…the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, ‘Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus says the LORD, You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.”’ So Elijah went.” (2 Kings 1:3-4)
God was going to do the very thing that, many years later, Jesus’ mother Mary would sing about in worship to the Lord, “…he has brought down the mighty from their thrones…” (Luke 1:52).
Attempting to stop Elijah, King Ahaziah sends 50 soldiers to stop him. Just as on Mount Carmel, God sends fire from Heaven to destroy them and protect His servant. Undeterred and unrepentant, the king sends another 50 soldiers, who likewise are consumed with fire from Heaven.
The king sends yet another platoon of soldiers, and their commanding officer fell on his knees to beg Elijah for mercy, which was granted, allowing his men to live. Today, this would be like calling in a military airstrike. These godless, pagan rulers continued to oppose God and His messenger, but God will ultimately and always get the final word.
Elijah calls himself a “man of God”. Look up other occasions to see who else has this title including Moses (Deut. 33:1; Psalm 90:1), Samuel (1 Samuel 9:6-10), David (Nehemiah 12:24,36), Elisha (2 Kings 4:7,9,16), and Timothy (1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Timothy 3:17).
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