In 2 Kings 1, we have an amazing story regarding Elijah. It begins with the king of Israel sending messengers to seek advice on his health from a false god. The messengers are met by Elijah, who tells them that the king will die because he has sought advice from a false god rather than from the true God. The messengers tell the king, who sends soldiers to bring Elijah to him.
The exciting part of the story is that the soldiers sent to get Elijah are killed. God kills them at the request of Elijah. "If I am a man of God," Elijah says, "let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty [soldiers]." And fire comes down. This happens twice, a total of 102 dead soldiers. Ultimately, the third commander who is sent pleads with Elijah for his life and the lives of his men, God tells Elijah it is okay to go with them, Elijah visits the king, tells him he will die, and the king dies. End of story.
There are lots of questions, but here is one we need to consider. Look at the importance of a prophet of God. Elijah (and Elisha who follows him) have the power of life and death over people. Whether soldiers lived or died depended on their words. Their safety and their thoughts of safety were so important that men died.
When I come across modern Christians who claim the mantle of prophecy, who assert that they are "real prophets" and that "God is still making prophets like in the old days," I cannot help but disagree. Where is an Elijah or Elisha? Nowhere.
These modern prophets have no power like the old prophets. They cannot stop death or raise the dead. They cannot condemn kings and cities and have their condemnations come true. They cannot float axe heads, cleanse the waters of a city, or stop poison from working. All they do is hold large meetings, collect a lot of money, and tell people they are healed. They have no power. No one seeks them out when the nation is at risk. They are not "the horses and chariots" of their nations or of the church, as Elijah (2 Kings 2:12) and Elisha (2 Kings 13:14) were.
These modern prophets have no knowledge like the old prophets. They tell you what they think or suggest and claim that God "talks to" them through vague impressions they receive while praying. The old prophets had better knowledge, because God "made himself known" to them (Numbers 12:6-9) and His word was so clear that if any prophet were ever wrong about any prophecy, that prophet was killed because God's prophets are never wrong. Deu. 18:20-22.
Finally, they have no humility and no suffering like the old prophets. The modern prophet does not live with a widow while the nation around him suffers the drought he has brought about. The modern prophet is not hunted by the government and even foreign governments who send armies to destroy him. The modern prophet is not killed for his faith or dropped into a well or placed into a fiery furnace or dropped into a lion's den.
The old prophets were men of God empowered for lives of significance and service, for courage and knowledge and remarkable service to God. Their day has passed. We are in a New Covenant where such prophets are no longer among us.
We honor them, the old prophets of God, who were truly Men of God!
The exciting part of the story is that the soldiers sent to get Elijah are killed. God kills them at the request of Elijah. "If I am a man of God," Elijah says, "let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty [soldiers]." And fire comes down. This happens twice, a total of 102 dead soldiers. Ultimately, the third commander who is sent pleads with Elijah for his life and the lives of his men, God tells Elijah it is okay to go with them, Elijah visits the king, tells him he will die, and the king dies. End of story.
There are lots of questions, but here is one we need to consider. Look at the importance of a prophet of God. Elijah (and Elisha who follows him) have the power of life and death over people. Whether soldiers lived or died depended on their words. Their safety and their thoughts of safety were so important that men died.
When I come across modern Christians who claim the mantle of prophecy, who assert that they are "real prophets" and that "God is still making prophets like in the old days," I cannot help but disagree. Where is an Elijah or Elisha? Nowhere.
These modern prophets have no power like the old prophets. They cannot stop death or raise the dead. They cannot condemn kings and cities and have their condemnations come true. They cannot float axe heads, cleanse the waters of a city, or stop poison from working. All they do is hold large meetings, collect a lot of money, and tell people they are healed. They have no power. No one seeks them out when the nation is at risk. They are not "the horses and chariots" of their nations or of the church, as Elijah (2 Kings 2:12) and Elisha (2 Kings 13:14) were.
These modern prophets have no knowledge like the old prophets. They tell you what they think or suggest and claim that God "talks to" them through vague impressions they receive while praying. The old prophets had better knowledge, because God "made himself known" to them (Numbers 12:6-9) and His word was so clear that if any prophet were ever wrong about any prophecy, that prophet was killed because God's prophets are never wrong. Deu. 18:20-22.
Finally, they have no humility and no suffering like the old prophets. The modern prophet does not live with a widow while the nation around him suffers the drought he has brought about. The modern prophet is not hunted by the government and even foreign governments who send armies to destroy him. The modern prophet is not killed for his faith or dropped into a well or placed into a fiery furnace or dropped into a lion's den.
The old prophets were men of God empowered for lives of significance and service, for courage and knowledge and remarkable service to God. Their day has passed. We are in a New Covenant where such prophets are no longer among us.
We honor them, the old prophets of God, who were truly Men of God!