Ahab built his kingdom on idolatry and adultery. He married Jezebel, a Sidonian princess, and brought the worship of Baal right into the heart of Israel. He built a temple for Baal in Samaria, set up a grove for Asherah, and killed the prophets of God to make room for his own gods. He coveted Naboth’s vineyard, and Jezebel killed an innocent man so Ahab could have it. The Bible says Ahab did more to provoke the Lord to anger than all the kings of Israel before him.
1 Kings 16:33, “And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.”
For all his evil, the kingdom held together while Ahab was alive because he was propping it up. The day he died on the battlefield, the kingdom started cracking. His son Ahaziah took the throne, and the very first thing scripture tells us is that Moab rebelled.
2 Kings 1:1, “Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.”
The bricks were already coming loose. And right behind the rebellion came the fall.
2 Kings 1:2, “And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.”
Ahaziah was up in the upper room of his palace and fell through a lattice. He hit the ground and was badly hurt, and from his sickbed he sent messengers all the way to a Philistine city to ask a pagan god whether he would live.
Notice what God allowed and notice what God did not. God allowed the fall, but God did not give the king a heart attack. The fall was meant to be the moment Ahaziah turned to God. It was the defining moment of his life. It was meant to drive him to his knees and to the God of Israel. Instead it drove him to a Philistine idol named Baalzebub. He never even considered the God of his own nation. The God of Elijah, the God of Mount Carmel, the God who had answered by fire in his own father’s day, was right there. Ahaziah sent past Him to a pagan god of Ekron.
That tells you everything you need to know about Ahaziah’s heart. He did not know God. He never had. He grew up watching his father and mother worship Baal, and the first time real trouble hit, he reached for what his parents had reached for.
What a Lattice Is
A lattice is a screen of wooden or metal strips crossed over each other in a diamond or square pattern, with open spaces in between. The upper rooms of palaces in Bible times had latticework windows or screens. The lattice let air and light into the room and let you look out without sitting in the full sun. It was useful, decorative, and convenient. But it was not built to hold a man’s weight.
Ahaziah leaned on his lattice and it gave way underneath him. The thing was never meant to be a wall or a support. It looked solid enough at a glance, but the moment a man put real weight on it, the truth showed up. The strips snapped, the diamonds opened, and the king went through.
The Spiritual Picture
The lattice is the picture of every false foundation a man tries to build his life on. It looks solid from across the room. It does its job in the easy times. But it was never made to support the weight of a man’s life, and the moment he leans on it for real, it gives way.
The world is full of lattices. Money is a lattice. It will hold you up while the income is steady and the bills are paid, but the day the market crashes or the diagnosis comes in or the job is gone, the lattice gives way and the money cannot do a thing for you. Career is a lattice. So is reputation, popularity, education, and a strong body. So is a relationship, a marriage, a friend group, a political party, or a movement. All of those things are real and some of them are good gifts from God, but none of them were ever made to be the foundation of a man’s life.
People lean on screens because screens look good, are decorative, and easier to put up than walls. But the day the storm comes, every lattice in the house gives way, and the man who built his life on screens finds himself on the floor.
The Real Foundation
The Bible gives the Christian one foundation, and it is not a screen. It is a stone. A solid, immovable, eternal Stone, and the Stone is Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:11, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 2:20, “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.”
1 Peter 2:6, “Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.”
Christ is the chief cornerstone. Everything else is added on top of Him. He does not flex, crack or give way under pressure. The man who builds his life on Christ has a foundation that nothing in this world can shake.
Jesus said plainly:
Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”
Every man, sooner or later, falls through something. The fall is part of life in a fallen world.
The question is not whether the fall is coming. The question is what you reach for on the way down.
Ahaziah reached for Baalzebub, the god of his parents. He reached for the world.
The Christian is supposed to reach for the Lord.
The saddest part of the story is the way it ended. Elijah met the king’s messengers on the road and turned them around with a word from God.
2 Kings 1:4, “Now therefore thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.”
That was Ahaziah’s last warning. God could have given him another chance. Instead the king tried to arrest Elijah.
Ahaziah died because he ran past God. He never called on the name of the Lord.
He had time to repent and he used the time to chase a false god. By the time the door closed, it was over.
Run to Christ now while you have time. Do not wait for the fall to drive you. Some people will not reach for God until they hit the floor, and some of them never reach for Him even then. Do not be one of them. The cornerstone is waiting.
