A year-long feast seems like a magical offering. A friend is getting married, and he invites everyone to Hawaii for a year, with feasting every day. Or, we win an around-the-world cruise opportunity. It will last a year, and we will dine in hedonistic style every day.
Who could turn it down?
Then, what if the condition was that we had to die when it was over? Permanent, unwavering, and painful death. Would we turn it down then?
Ahaziah was 22 years old. The son of Jehoram and Athaliah, he was in direct line for kingship of Judah. He would have all the power, all the riches, and all the beautiful women he wished to attend to his every desire. It would be a feast of the senses, and it would last forever.
Or at least one year.
2 Chronicles tells us the kingship fell to Ahaziah because his older brothers had been carried off in a Philistine raid. Ahaziah did evil in the sight of the Lord, for he worshipped the god Baal. The book of 2 Kings tells the story of Ahaziah’s death only a year later.
Now let’s turn Ahaziah’s story to ourselves. We are the young king, the throne is the world, and death is still death.
What will we choose? We can have the kingship (worldly pleasures) that Ahaziah claimed with such abandon, and we will enjoy power, riches, and attention. However, the certain outcome of feasting on the glittering offerings the world spreads before us is spiritual death.
Our other option? Luke 23:43 relates the words of Jesus to the criminal hanging on the cross at his side. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
What was the difference? Ahaziah chose pleasure and power. The criminal chose the Lord.
That puts us on the spot, doesn’t it? What are our priorities? If we do not choose, that in itself is a choice. So, we must decide for ourselves and check the appropriate box.
First Choice:
The world and spiritual death.
Second Choice:
Jesus and Paradise.
Be careful. Our eternity depends on it.
When we choose Jesus, we choose life everlasting.
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