Expository Sermon on 2 Kings 1 – 3
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue Seventh-day Adventist Church 7/5/2025
©2025 by Maylan Schurch
To watch this entire worship service, click the link just below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1UdEkMCEtU
Please open your Bibles to Second Kings, chapter 1.
Most of you know that since January I’ve been encouraging you to read through the Bible using our chronological Bible reading plan. Most often, during my Sabbath sermons, I will preach from a passage or chapter or more which is in a particular week’s reading, which you can find in your bulletin in the “Join the Plan” announcement.
If you’re following along with this reading plan, you know that we are right in the section which describes the nations of Israel and Judah, and how some of their kings were righteous and some of the kings were not. And to bring the idol-worshipers to their senses, God would every once in a while allow nearby nations to invade.
And because of these invaders, there would be a period of time where liberty was restricted. There would be a lot of trauma, a lot of raiding marauders. The people would finally turn back to God and ask for His forgiveness and beg for His help, and the Lord would come to their rescue.
As I was reading through this week’s Bible passages, I suddenly thought, “What does liberty look like to God?” There are parts of the world today which have not had liberty for decades. Right now the General Conference gathering of the Seventh-day Adventist church is happening in St. Louis, Missouri. There are delegates who have come from all parts of the world. Some of those parts enjoy liberty, others not so much.
As I read through the first few chapters of Second Kings, I started making notes on what I think liberty looks like God. To God, liberty isn’t always the absence of trouble, because He defines liberty differently than we do.
Last night I was putting the final touches on this sermon, and I had my home office window open to get the cool air. And the darker the sky became, the more explosions I heard. It sounded like a war going on, and I was glad it wasn’t. And my heart goes out to people from countries where the sounds of war are tragically too common, where social events take the form of people gathering on hotels roofs to watch incoming missiles fly over.
What does liberty look like to God? And, no matter what is happening in my life, how can I seek and find God’s liberty? Let’s just start with second Kings, chapter 1, and see what we can find.
2 Kings 1:1 [NKJV]: Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.
As you can see, we’re plunging right into the middle of a story. Part of the reason is that the books of First and Second Kings were at one point joined together into one book. If you look back at the last chapter of that first Kings, you’ll see that Second Kings One just carries on the story.
Just a bit of background. Moab is the country right across the Dead Sea east of Judah and Israel. Until the death of King Ahab, Moab had been intimidated by Israel. But once Ahab died, they decided that this was a good time to rebel.
But we don’t hear about Moab right away, because the new king of Israel, a man named Ahaziah, has just suffered an accident. Watch what happens. And remember, this man is king of Israel, and “Israel” was the name God changed Jacob’s to late in Jacob’s life. The name “Israel” means “God contends.”
But notice what the injured King Ahaziah does.
Verse 2: Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria, and was injured; so he sent messengers and said to them, “Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury.”
Remember when the Pharisees accused Jesus of performing miracles by the spirit of Beelzebub? That’s that same heathen deity. And even though King Ahaziah’s own name means “Yahweh has grasped my hand,” the king has decided to put his trust not in God’s hand but in Baal-Zebub’s.
And this is not a good decision. But I believe that this teaches me the first part of what liberty looks like. If you taking down sermon points, here comes what I would like to call Sermon Point One.
What does liberty look like?
To God, liberty looks like choice.
Choice is important to God. Think of what God could’ve done. God could have used His power to suppress the worship of Baal. He could have wiped all heathen idols and idol-worshipers off the map. He could’ve sent plagues to do this. He could have totally removed choice from the matter.
And of course He could’ve done this back in heaven, too. God could have banished Satan at the devil’s first mental thoughts of rebellion. But of course this would’ve caused questions among the other angels, and then an icy chill of fear. Ugly as the results might be, God knew that choice is better than choice-lessness. God created minds that must be satisfied.
Some of you know a whole lot more about “AI” than I ever will. But every once in a while I pick up concerns about just how far, and how autonomous, artificial intelligence might become.
But God’s dilemma was far more important. Do you give people choice — true choice — or don’t you?
To God, then, liberty looks like choice. God, of course, is not neutral. God has strong opinions. He cares which choices we make. He does His best to persuade us that we should choose Him and His presence, and His plans, and His help.
And when Ahaziah ignores God and turns to Baal, God doesn’t yawn and shrug His shoulders and say, “Well, that’s the way it goes. So much for him.”
No, God takes action.
Verses 3 – 4: But 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 departed.
Think of how differently things could have turned out for Ahaziah if he had remembered what his name meant. His name means “Yahweh grasps.” There were other major Bible people who humbled themselves, turned to the Lord, and were healed. King Hezekiah was seriously ill, and he turned to the Lord, and he was healed.
So, in God’s eyes, what does liberty look like? It looks like choice. All through the Bible God calls people to choose. Joshua said, “Choose you this day whom you will serve.” Elijah challenged the people to stop hobbling, limping, stumbling around between two opinions, but to make a choice between this same Baal and God. Jesus would throw out choice-challenge whenever He had an audience, and at one point He even burst into tears while approaching the Jerusalem who had so often rejected Him and His Father.
So what should we do, now that we been reminded that God gives us the liberty of choice? We need to thank Him for it. We need to exercise that right. We need to walk warily through our world, avoiding the temptation to just “go along to get along.” We need to find out what God’s plans are, what His will is, and choose Him over everything and everyone else. We need to make the right choices.
So now let’s go back to Ahaziah’s sickroom. He has sent off his messengers to go to those who claim to speak for Baal-Zebub. But God’s angel tells Elijah to meet those messengers and send them back to the king with God’s message. So as the king is waiting there, those messengers finally show up, quicker than he thought they would.
Now keep in mind, Elijah has flatly told the messengers that the king will die. That seems pretty final. But over in 2 Kings 20, another prophet, Isaiah, tells another king, Hezekiah, that his only illness will be fatal. Elijah tells him to get his affairs in order, because he will die.
But Hezekiah doesn’t just settle back and wait. Instead, over in chapter 20, here’s what happened:
2 Kings 20:2 – 6: Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. And I will add to your days fifteen years . . . .
And this shows Hezekiah’s attitude. Hezekiah made the choice to wrestle with God, as Jacob wrestled with God. And God changed His own mind.
But back in second Kings 1, notice Ahaziah’s attitude.
2 Kings 1:5 – 8: And when the messengers returned to him, he said to them, “Why have you come back?” So they said to him, “A man came up to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you, and say to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’ ” ’ ” Then he said to them, “What kind of man was it who came up to meet you and told you these words?” So they answered him, “A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
And in the next few verses Ahaziah refuses to humble himself the way Hezekiah had. Instead, he sends out SWAT team after SWAT team to try to capture Elijah.
So the bottom line? Make choices God approves of. Hezekiah had a habit of doing this. And in his life-or-death crisis, Hezekiah could confidently reach out to the Lord for help, trusting that God cared.
What else does liberty look like? We find another example in the next chapter, 2nd Kings 2. This is a fascinating story.
Elijah’s ministry is coming to an end. But the Lord refuses to let him die. Instead, God has other plans.
2 Kings 2:1 – 2: And it came to pass, when the LORD was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, please, for the LORD has sent me on to Bethel.”
Now something very interesting is going to happen. Here is a prophet of God, and he has made a request to his assistant Elisha. You would think, wouldn’t you, that Elisha should simply nod his head and obey?
But watch what happens:
Verse 2: And it came to pass, when the LORD was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, please, for the LORD has sent me on to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they went down to Bethel.
Whoa. What’s this? Is it subordination? Disobedience?
Not at all. Notice something about Elijah’s command. It’s not really a command, it’s a request. We know this because Elisha uses a little two-letter Hebrew word. It’s the word “nah,” and one of its meanings is “please.” Maybe it was this word which gave Elisha a clue that this was not an ordinary command. We’re not sure.
But one thing is for sure. Elisha understands that this is going to be an important journey. And he also senses that he must not stay behind. Elijah has chosen him to be the prophet who will take over from him, and something seems somehow final about this trip.
And in the next few verses, Elijah keeps making that same “leave me” request, but keeps saying that little word nah, (please) and Elisha keeps refusing the opportunity to stay behind and go back and take over his dad’s farm.
Verses 3 – 9: Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent!” Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, please, for the LORD has sent me on to Jericho.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they came to Jericho. Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?” So he answered, “Yes, I know; keep silent!” Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, please, for the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So the two of them went on. And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan. Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water; and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” . . . .”
Again, here is a chance for Elisha to back away from what he has been trained for. Elisha could have thought to himself, “You know, this role of the nation’s spiritual leader isn’t as glamorous as I thought it was going to be. In fact, it’s dangerous. I think I’ll just ask Elijah for a very successful farm, and go back into agriculture.”
But Elisha sets his jaw and plunges ahead further into the will of God.
Verses 9 – 14: And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.” So he said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.” Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over.
What does liberty look like? What does liberty look like to God?
Here comes Sermon Point Two.
To God, liberty first of all looks like choice. And second, liberty looks like the right choices plus passion.
I’m on the personnel committees of both our Adventist schools. And when we interview for new teachers, passion is one of the things we look for. The person must be qualified, have taken the training, and ideally have had some experience, but often times it is passion which seals the deal.
One of the joys of being a part of this congregation is that a good number of you have passion to see the glory of God enhanced. I’m not going to start naming names, but the Lord has given you talents, and He has also given you a zeal, a passion, for putting those talents to use, making things better for the rest of us.
If you are relatively new here, we may not know you as well as we do others. But you have talent, and you have passion, and just be patient with us until we discover what those talents and that passion are. Don’t force it – just let it happen. I can tell you stories of people who have come to me with ideas, and I give them some advice on how to present the ideas, and those ideas will take off skyward if it’s the Lord’s plan.
And Elisha accepted Elijah’s mantle, and went forward and had perhaps even a greater ministry than Elijah did. Elisha did miracles which Elijah never did, maybe never could have. Elisha nurtured the young men who attended the school of the prophets, something Elijah never did. Elijah seemed to have been a loner, and the Elisha more of a social person, more of an influencer.
Whoever you are – however you feel called to serve, please continue to seek the Lord’s will in everything you do for the church, and everything you do in life.
Be like Jacob, wrestling with the angel at midnight, who said, “I will not let you go until you bless me.”
Be like Joseph, who when he was tempted by a woman offering another kind of passion, was far more passionate about following God’s will and keeping himself pure and holy.
There are other liberty-stories we could have talked about here in Second Kings. But as you read through the stories, and the ones beyond, keep an eye out for the liberty a gracious God gives us, the liberty to make right choices and to grow our passion for His will.