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2 Kings 1:17 "So [Ahaziah] died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken..."

 

Ahaziah was Ahab's son and successor. He was gravely injured in a fall, and sent messengers to Baalzebub, the god of Ekron to ask if he would recover (2 Kings 1:2). Elijah intercepted these messengers and sent them back to Ahaziah with a reminder that Israel has a God and it is not Baalzebub, and an answer from the true God that Ahaziah would not recover but would die (2 Kings 1:3-4). After receiving this message, and learning who Elijah was, Ahaziah three times sent captains and their men to order Elijah to come to him. The first two captains gave Elijah the order, and they and their men were consumed by fire; the third did not order Elijah, but rather begged for his life and the lives of his men. God then told Elijah to go to Ahaziah, which Elijah did, and there delivered the same message in person: "Thus says the Lord, 'Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, - is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? - therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone, but you shall surely die.'" (2 Kings 1:9-16). And so Ahaziah died "according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken". 

 

God, of course, knows exactly when and how each of us will die, but thankfully we do not know, so when we are facing death there is room for us to pray, to ask Him to help us in our suffering, and to use our suffering to grow closer to Him. But we cannot look to other gods, as Ahaziah did, nor not can we proudly order God about, as Ahaziah attempted to do. Even Ahaziah's wicked father, Ahab, repented when Elijah told him God was going to bring evil upon him and his house (1 Kings 21:21, 27), and God relented in His punishment saying "Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he is humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but in his son's days I will bring the evil upon his house.'" (1 Kings 21:29).  Fast forward to Ahab's son's days, and we see the son does not repent as his father did, he does not humble himself in the face of Elijah's message, and instead tries three times to order and intimidate God's messenger to come to him. Since he shows no sign of repentance or conversion, God does not relent, and so Ahaziah dies in accordance with Elijah's prophecy.

 

We may or may not be aware when death is near to us. If we are aware, such as with an injury or illness that makes it likely, we are very fortunate to be given the chance and time to get closer to God. But even if we are not given that time, we will all face this choice at the moment of our death. Jesus told Saint Faustina that He pulls out all the stops in that last moment of our lives. He appeals to us so strongly to accept His mercy. If we have lived wicked and confused lives, like Ahab and Ahaziah, it will be difficult to admit our fault and submit to His just judgment, but He gives us every chance to, and wants desperately for us to accept it. If we do, we will not "die" in the forever sense, although we may have to spend a long time in Purgatory. But if we are like Ahaziah, not willing to give up our pride nor acknowledge our wrongdoing, then we will die according to the word of the Lord. We will lose for all time any chance of being saved, and it will be all our own choosing.