This child, baby Jesus, ‘is due to cause the FALLING AND RISING OF MANY IN ISRAEL – so prophesied the elderly Simeon, Luke 1:34
King Ahaziah, shouldn’t have fallen (Name means ‘Yahweh has upheld’) but he turned away from God. 2 Kings 1
Ahaziah had fallen and injured himself, ‘so he sent messengers to go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron to see if I will recover from this injury.’
3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, ‘Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?” 4 Therefore this is what the Lord says: “You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”’ So Elijah went.
Ahaziah learnt that it was Elijah who had intercepted his messengers and sent a captain with fifty men to bring Elijah to him, but fire fell from heaven and they all died. This happened a second time, but the third captain fell before Elijah and pleaded for his life and his fifty men. Elijah went to king Ahaziah at the angel of the Lord’s instruction and told him, because he’d gone to another god he would die. Ahaziah had a prophetic name and should have been ‘upheld by Yahweh’ but he turned to a false god, a Baal.
The Bible has much to say about falling and thankfully also about rising. Simeon held the baby Jesus in his arms and prophesied the Falling (comes first and often humbling does) and Rising of Many (not just a few) in Israel. The presence of Christ and His Kingdom today will also determine the ‘Fall and Rise of many’.
15 Do not lurk like a thief near the house of the righteous,
do not plunder their dwelling-place;
16 for though the righteous fall seven times, THEY RISE AGAIN,
but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes. Prov. 24
A Mark of the Righteous is their resilience to ‘Rise after falling’; the Lord helps His people to Rise up and go on. Christ is greater than our stumbles or falls, Job rose again and received twice more than all he’d had before.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? YET NOT ONE OF THEM WILL FALL TO THE GROUND OUTSIDE ‘YOUR’ FATHER’S CARE. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29
Jesus calls Him ‘YOUR FATHER’ and promised that His Care for us was all around us, all encompassing. Nothing can happen to us outside of Our Father’s Loving Care.
9 Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labour:
10 if either of them falls down,
one can help the other up. Ecclesiastes 4
Jesus sent His disciples out in pairs, so they could help one another in the work. We should be aware that God may send us help on the human level, people around us who want to keep us going forward.
’The Falling and Rising of many’, may God enable us to Rise up into ALL THAT HE HAS FOR US TODAY. Hallelujah
God Bless and keep you.