Elijah and John the Baptist both condemned the corrupt leaders of Israel

Part 10…1 Kings 21:17-29 

Christ Jesus said, “And if you are willing to receive it, [John the Baptist] is Elijah who is to come.” Matthew 11:14

The Lord spoke to Elijah saying, “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel.” Ahab was a corrupt king of Israel; his wife was Jezebel who massacred the true prophets of God. Ahab was found in the vineyard where he intended to take possession of it by murdering those who watched over the vineyard. Elijah pronounced the judgment of God on Ahab, “‘Thus says the Lord: “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.”’”

Like Elijah, John the Baptist preached against the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes for corrupting and taking over the “vineyard” of God, and pronounced the judgment of God on them, “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:12 John was six months older than Jesus, so the environment of both their ministries was the same.

Jesus spoke about how the Pharisees murdered the rightful care keepers of God’s vineyard in order to have it as their own, “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard…“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third…“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him… “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” …When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.” Matthew 21:33, 35, 38-41, 45 Parable of vineyard, Matthew 21:33-46

When Elijah came into the vineyard where Ahab was, Ahab said, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” Ahab referred to Elijah as being his enemy in the same way that the Pharisees considered John the Baptist to be their enemy. Elijah replied, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord…”, the same as what John the Baptist replied to the Pharisees. Elijh went on to say to Ahab, “‘Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free.” This is what John the Baptist said in this quote, “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 3:10

Elijah also had a word to say to Jezebel, the wife of Ahab who massacred the true Prophets of God, “‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’” Like Elijah, John the Baptist consistently spoke against those who were leading the Jewish people to their graves in their death to God and their death to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah who said, “The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field.”

When Ahab heard the judgment of God against him through the words of Elijah, “…he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning...”. Repentance and reconciliation to God was the sole ministry of Elijah, which is true of the ministry of John the Baptist, as quoted, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:76-79

Because of Ahab’s show of remorse and shame, God said this to Elijah, “See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son I will bring the calamity on his house.” Likewise, God brought forgiveness to those who came to Him, through John, with the fruit of repentance, “…through the tender mercy of our God…” “to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins…”

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“Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who lives in Samaria. There he is, in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Have you murdered and also taken possession?” ’ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.”’”

So Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” And he answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord: ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free.  I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and made Israel sin.’ And concerning Jezebel the Lord also spoke, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’ The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field.”

But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

So it was, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son I will bring the calamity on his house.”

1 Kings 21:17-29