In this message we will consider the reign of Ahaziah over Israel (1 Kings 22:40b, 51-53; 2 Kings 1:1-18) and the rapture of Elijah (2 Kings 2:1-18).
Ahaziah began to reign over Israel in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat and reigned for two years (1 Kings 22:51).
Ahaziah did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, walking in the way of his father and his mother and in the way of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin. Ahaziah served and worshipped Baal and provoked Jehovah the God of Israel to anger, according to all that his father had done (vv. 52-53). He saw the tragic ending of his father Ahab, but he did not take it as a warning.
Second Kings 1 is an account of the illness and death of Ahaziah.
When Ahaziah became ill he sent messengers and told them to go and inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether he would recover from his sickness (v. 2).
Jehovah sent Elijah to stop the messengers of Ahaziah and to charge them to tell Ahaziah that he would not come down from his bed but would surely die (vv. 3-8).
Ahaziah twice sent a captain of fifty with his fifty men to Elijah, and each time Elijah commanded fire to come down from heaven and consume them (vv. 9-12; Luke 9:54).
Ahaziah sent a third captain with his fifty men to Elijah, and the captain entreated Elijah to save their lives. The angel of Jehovah told Elijah not to be afraid of the captain but to go down with him to see Ahaziah. Elijah went and told Ahaziah that because he sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, he would surely die (2 Kings 1:13-16).
Ahaziah died according to the word of Jehovah. Because he had no son, his brother Jehoram (according to the Septuagint) began to reign in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah (vv. 17-18).