Jezebel Was Much WORSE Than You Think!

when watching a movie plots are usually pretty similar there will be a conflict in the film then that conflict grows it continues to get worse until someone steps in to fix the conflict the book of first kings it's much similar david is king at the beginning of the book but he is about to die after him solomon david's son takes over he builds the temple however from there he makes some poor decisions then almost every king after him gets worse they're often bringing in idol worship and turning away from god until finally we get to king ahab ahab becomes the climax as he is the worst king of all however much of his wickedness is due to his evil wife jezebel 1st kings 21 verse 25 talks about both ahab and jezebel it says 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 while ahab is guilty of his own sin much of his downfall was due to his wife jezebel jezebel was a pagan woman which means she did not follow the god of israel instead she worshipped multiple false gods which include baal and ashrae she not only did not follow the god of israel but hated him in first kings 18 she purposely tries to kill the prophets of the god of israel a gross act of evil it's unspeakable to think that jezebel would stand in such bold defiance to the god of israel that she would seek to kill his servants there were a few times in the life of ahab when it looked as if he would repent there were even times when it looked like he wanted to follow the ways of god however every time there was a ray of sunshine jezebel quenched the hope the most notable is the story of first kings 21. in this chapter there was a vineyard that was owned by a man named naboth ahab wanted the vineyard and was even willing to buy it nabath rejected the offer because it was against the law of god for him to sell it ahab was very upset and went back to his palace to mourn however jezebel took matters into her own hand and killed naboth this leads to ahab buying the vineyard for himself did ahab kill naboth no his evil wife jezebel did however he could have rejected buying the vineyard and put his wife in jail for the murder of naboth yet due to his own evil pleasure and the evil hand of jezebel he gave in to his sinful desire it seems almost like ahab was a puppet in the hand of jezebel in 1st kings 18 elijah who was a prophet from god challenges the idol worshipers of baal to see whose god is the real god they see whose god can catch a bull on fire of course the 450 prophets of baal could do nothing because their god is not real they tried for many hours and failed yet god set the bull of elijah on fire after a single prayer from elijah in the midst of the chapter it says this in first kings 18 verse 19. now therefore send and gather all israel to me at mount carmel and the 450 prophets of baal and the 400 prophets of asherah who eat at jezebel's table all of these prophets are not sitting at king ahab's table but at the table of jezebel she is really the one with the influence while ahab is guilty of his sin it seems that jezebel is the puppet master behind them the story of ahab and jezebel is a story we must take note of when we surround ourselves with evil people it's likely we are going to make evil decisions their influence and sometimes their manipulation will cause us to walk in sin second corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 says do not be yoked together with unbelievers for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common or what fellowship can light have with the darkness we must be careful not to marry someone who does not know the lord if we do it is possible for them to draw us into evil of course if you find yourself married to an unbeliever you should not leave however you must be on guard that your spouse does not lead you astray as jezebel did with ahab we also see that power and status does not always mean that you are doing the right thing ahab and jezebel had all the power in the world jezebel had close to a thousand prophets who ate at her table they even had the power to murder someone for their property and get away with it it is not fame power and status that lead to the good life even if it's what the world tells us as in the words of jesus the first will be last and the last shall be first it is by being a humble servant that we truly find the good life most stories we read today have a climax and a resolution however in the book of first and second kings there seems to be no resolution every now and then there would be a king who would be led by the hand of god however for the most part all the kings were evil ahab being the one who caused the most evil matter of fact the book of kings ends with many who live in israel going into captivity and the surrounding foreign nations we will have to look hundreds of years into the future to find our resolution or happy ending while most kings of israel were evil and led the people of god away from god there would be one who would come who led the people of god to all righteousness instead of being a king who sought power he laid his power down to serve while he deserved to punish his people for their sin he decided to be punished for his people we find the climax of the story not in the book of kings but hundreds of years later in the person of jesus christ the king of kings and lord of lords [Music] perhaps you have heard the term the spirit of jezebel don't have the spirit of jezebel you don't want the spirit of jezebel but what exactly is the spirit of jezebel what does it mean what does it look like why doesn't anybody want it i think the first step in answering this question is asking who was jezebel if you've ever read the story of jezebel you will know that this was no ordinary woman she was a woman who was influential powerful and wicked here's a quick rundown of this woman jezebel was the daughter of a phoenician king named ethbale so this made her a princess jezebel then got married to ahab the seventh king of israel and this made her a queen now jezebel was a worshiper of the canaanite god of rain and fertility bale she was an idol worshiper and when she became queen she had this wicked influence over her husband ahab the bible says in first kings chapter 18 verse 4 and when jezebel cut off the prophets of the lord obadiah took 100 prophets and hid them by 50s in a cave and fed them with bread and water so king ahab didn't cut off the prophets of the lord jezebel his queen did in those times and in that society do you know what it would look like for the king to be led by his queen but nonetheless jezebel massacred the prophets of the lord the bible also says in first kings chapter 18 verse 19 now therefore send and gather all israel to me at mount carmel the 450 prophets of baal and the 400 prophets of ashura who eat at jezebel's table the bible says the 450 prophets of baal and the 400 prophets of ashura ate at whose table not king ahab not the head of the