It’s usually good we don’t know our future on earth, but very good to know our future in heaven.
The final word isn’t declared on a matter until we hear from the Lord. Jezebel had sent out a forged document bearing the king’s signature and seal. Naboth had been buried, falsely charged with blasphemy. Ahab had unjustly taken ownership of his vineyard. It all seemed so final. Does God know? Does God care? “Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel…There he is, in the vineyard of Naboth’” (1 Ki 21:17-18). Ah, yes, there he is! Or as Ahab opines, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” (v 20). Of course; no one hides successfully from God. Elijah has a grisly message for the king: “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours” (v 19). For a man’s life to be so disrespected that it’s appreciated only by the mangy mongrels running loose among the outcast waste of the city! That’s what you did to Naboth, so that’s what will happen to you. And worse (can anything be worse?), your evil queen is doomed to be dog food. In fact, the whole family would be eradicated since “there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up” (v 25). Now do you want to see what kind of a God we’re dealing with? This grim warning was so shocking that Ahab “tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body, and fasted…and went about mourning” (v 27). We might say, “A bit late, isn’t it? Naboth’s dead!” But what did God say? “Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days” (v 29). Judgment will come, but only after grace has been despised. “Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you” (Isa 30:18). Hallelujah for a God like this!