Children Bible Overview 67 03/08/08

KING AHAB, THE MOST WICKED KING OF ISRAEL

Teachers to read bible scripture: <1 Ki 16:29-34> <2 Chr 18:1>

Children to memorize bible scripture: <Ps 1:1-2>

Recap
Children, last week, we saw the difference between the land of Judah and Israel. Although the land of
Judah was small, God’s holy temple was there and therefore, there was God’s word. The land of
Israel was huge but the people created false gods, false temples, false priests and false teachings.
Introduction
Therefore, when Israel departed further and further away from God, and also became worse and
worst, a most wicked king was raised. His name was Ahab. King Ahab led a very strong Israel but he
sinned greatly against God. He not only followed the footsteps of King Jeroboam, where he continued
to allow the people of Israel to worship false gods, he also married the daughter of King Ethbaal,
Jezebel, whom God disliked the most. He followed his wife, Jezebel to worship false gods like Baal
and an Asherah pole. He also set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal. Thereafter, he asked the
whole Israel to worship Baal and the Asherah pole together with him. Queen Jezebel also had 850
false prophets eating at her table (450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah). At that time,
these 850 false prophets led the whole Israel astray and also taught King Ahab how to lead Israel.
Queen Jezebel also killed off all the Lord’s prophets in Israel. At that time, the whole land of Israel
was worshipping idols (the god of Baal and Asherah), and listened to the words of the false prophets,
departing far from the Lord, God. At that time, there was a king in the land of Judah called King
Jehoshaphat, Although he was a king who worshipped the Lord, he made alliance with King Ahab
due to the strong power of King Ahab in leading Israel. Therefore, not only did he not have the power
to influence King Ahab, his descendents were also influenced by King Ahab. However, God never
abandoned His people. In the darkest era, God had another plan, which was to raise up powerful
prophets.

1. Because the land of Israel did not have God’s words, it was deceived greatly by
the devil, Satan
1) Because King Jeroboam created false gods and departed from the Lord, God’s
covenant, laws, decrees and commands, the kings after him were therefore deceived
to worship false gods. As such, all the people of Israel could not hear God’s voice.
2) Once the people of Israel departed from God’s covenant, laws, decrees and
commands, the devil, Satan will come in and use more and more false idols
(sometimes it is through some teachings, or our hobbies, concerns, interests or
sometimes it is through people or material things) to deceive them, causing them to
love the world more and depart further and further from God.
3) As a result, they will slowly live in an environment, groups and influence etc without
God. (Just like how when we depart further and further from God, we do not want to
attend Sunday school or we do not like to be together with people who know God.
What we like are our friends of this world, the popular songs of this world, the fashion
of this world, and the culture and trend of this world, etc)

2. Therefore, after some time, there emerged a most wicked King in Israel, called
King Ahab
1) Because the people of Israel did not have God in their hearts, continued to worship
false gods, and liked a king who did not know God to lead them, hence, a wicked
person like Ahab became their king.
2) Although King Ahab led Israel with wisdom and caused Israel to become huge and
powerful, the country had no God. King Ahab hence sinned more greatly against God
 and married Jezebel whom God most disliked. He also brought in false gods, Baal
and the Asherah pole into Israel and asked the whole Israel to worship them. [Therefore, we
must have the perspective to set apart! When we see that the people of this world who do
not know God getting more intelligent and more successful, do not be envious of them or
want to learn from them because they would suffer a major failure one day.]
3) Therefore, the more successful King Ahab, who did not have god, was, the more he
harmed God’s people. Even King Jehoshaphat from the land of Judah made alliance with
him and was influenced by him. [Therefore, in our lifetime, when we only rely on God’s
covenant to succeed, we can truly bless God’s people. E.g. study by relying on the
covenant (Purpose: Study because of the 4 Gospelization. Method: Study by relying
on prayers)]

3. However, God still did not abandon His people and had another plan in this darkest
era
1) Although Ahab of Israel was so wicked and led all the people of Israel astray and
also influenced the land of Judah which God loved, God never abandoned His
people. In the darkest era, He had a greater plan.
2) Therefore, God did not want His people to worry nor want them to grumble. God
wanted them to pray, seek God’s perfect will and then anticipate God’s work.
[Therefore, I would like to ask, when we encounter something that makes us very
unhappy or some ups and downs, are we often worried, do we grumble or do we
pray to seek God’s perfect will?]
3) Although the kings were weak, because there was a minority of God’s people praying
and seeking God, God therefore raise up prophets who were more powerful than the
kings to save God’s people. In the next few weeks, we will cover the story of a
prophet named Elijah. He was called by God to save God’s people. He killed King
Ahab and all the false prophets beside Jezebel.
[Therefore, we are not worried in our problems but when we continue to pray and
seek God, God will surely reveal to us His beautiful plan and His great power.]