In 2 Kings 1:3 Elijah challenges the messengers of King Ahaziah to chastise the king for seeking to inquire of the Baal-Zebub, god of Ekron, whether the king would recover from his injuries. Elijah tells them to ask of the king if it is because there is no God in Israel that he seeks counsel from Baal-Zebub. Based on his failing to inquire of the one true God, God states that King Ahaziah will surely die.1
This passage has come to me again and again during our current pandemic, as I see Christian leaders enquiring not of God, but of political leaders as to whether or not they should honor God and worship Him as He has directed in the Bible. Even as we exalt a God who created the universe, breathed life into dust, healed the blind and lame, and brought the dead back to life; we place our Bibles on the shelf and hide in our homes until “science” tells us it is safe to resume what our political leaders perceive as our non-essential superstitions. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.2
Politicians indulge us as ignorant children while they worship at the altar of medicine. It’s easy to understand why we are treated thusly, as we so blithely dispense with the full armor of our faith in exchange for a paper mask.
Will God bless us if we follow His word and continue to gather in worship? A better question is will God bless us if we don’t? God is a Spirit, and we are to worship Him in spirit and in truth.3 I don’t know if God will protect the health of those who gather together, not because I doubt God’s faithfulness, but rather because I’ve come to understand that God is not a preserver of flesh. God will sustain those whose presence in this world is needed for his purpose, but even then He will sustain them only for that season. Absent from the body, present with the Lord is the promise to which we should cling.4 Many believers will succumb to the pandemic, but we are reminded that we are not to grieve, as do those without hope.5
Churches in the United States pay no taxes. This is not because the government favors them, but rather because at the time of our nation’s founding they were deemed to be on a similar footing as foreign embassies, under an authority distant from Washington or local capitals. How quickly we forget that! Would an ambassador of a foreign power take instruction from our government, or would they seek counsel from the leader of their own? Why do our Christian leaders seek counsel from our government, rather than seeking the counsel of the King of All Creation? In so doing, are they not seeking counsel from Baal-Zebub, just as King Ahaziah did? Is it because there is no God in Israel? This passage haunts me and leads me to fear for our Christian leaders; fear that they have yielded their rights and authorities and that the Christian church in America will surely die.
1 2 Kings 1:2-4 2 And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.
3 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 unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?
4 Now therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.
2 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
3 John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
4 2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
5 1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
In a dry and thirsty land 