Slaughtered

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

SLAUGHTERED

1 Kings 18:40-46

40 Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away!" They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there. 41 And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain." 42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. 43 "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked. "There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, "Go back." 44 The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'" 45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46 The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

NIV

There are two stories here, one about the fate of the ungodly, the other about the power that came on Elijah. We will deal with the so-called prophets of Baal first, then tomorrow about Elijah and the power of the LORD that came upon him. The fate of those four hundred and fifty so-called prophets of Baal was to perish by being slaughtered. This Hebrew word carries the meaning of being beaten, as with a hammer, or like a bull is slaughtered for a sacrifice. That would mean they were cut to pieces, slain. We could say they perished from the face of the earth. That may not be the exact fate of all who worship false gods, or who have made idols out of the things of this world, but they will perish, first from the face of this earth, and second from the presence of God. There is a major difference in theology over what it means to perish. One school of thought is that all the ungodly will spend eternity in torment in hell, or if they take the revelation given to John about the lake of burning sulfur, then as hell or Hades is thrown into that lake, so then are all the ungodly thrown into the lake of burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb and the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. This does make it sound as if the ungodly will live for eternity or have eternal life in torment within the flames of the lake of burning sulfur. The other school of thought comes from the words of Jesus as recorded by John. Jesus said that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. This indicates there are two fates: one is to perish, and the other is to have eternal life. Interestingly, the Greek word Jesus used, translated as 'perish,' is apollumi, which has a direct meaning to be fully destroyed, to put out of the way entirely, abolished, put an end to, ruin, to be put to death. It is only in the metaphorical sense that it is seen as being given over to eternal punishment. Yet James used this word to mean to be blotted out, to vanish, or perish. What we know is that whatever it means to perish is awful, miserable, and a horrible end to life. Although the devil will indeed be thrown into the lake of fire where the beast and false prophet are, and the three of them will be tormented day and night forever and ever, the people whose names are not written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, which is their second death. The first death would be of the body, the second would be of the soul; that is what it means to perish, just as those so-called prophets of Baal perished, ceasing to exist. However that is defined, we do not want anything to do with it. We have rejected anything false, or would or could be an idol, or made into an idol, and worship the one true God and Him alone. We have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and we have the confidence that our names are written in the book of life. However, it is not because of us or anything we could ever do; it is because of Jesus and what He did. We never need to be worried about being slaughtered, as those who served Baal were. We have the peace of Jesus within and the assurance of eternal life.