OVERVIEW:
The corruption of the early kings of Israel; Elijah prophecies the drought; Elijah is fed miraculously; the widow obeys God’s word; the widow’s son is raised from the dead; Elijah confronts Arab; Elijah takes on the prophets of Baal; the Lord reveals Himself as the Lord; Elijah flees Jezebel; Elijah hears the still small voice of God; Elijah puts his mantle on Elisha.
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
As was discussed in yesterday’s “Highlights and Insights”, the pattern of Israel’s kings was one of apostasy. Each one turned from God and His word, and suffered the consequence of God’s judgment. The crescendo of evil and carnality, however, was reached in Ahab. In 1st Kings 16:33 we read that, “Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.” That is quite a statement, because the fact is, the holy Lord God of Israel had been provoked A LOT! (See 16:7, 13, 25-26)
In the midst of Ahab’s wicked reign, God raises up one of Israel’s most powerful and infamous prophets. (In fact, he will be one of the prophets God raises back up to preach during the wicked reign of the antichrist during the final 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation Period! See Revelation 11:3-6.) When God gave Elijah the words He wanted spoken, Elijah wasn’t afraid of putting them out there, regardless of WHO the AUDIENCE was! A great case in point is in 17:1. Elijah gets up in King Ahab’s stuff and says, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” (or, “until I say it will!”) Note that this drought of 3 1/2 years will be repeated when Elijah returns to prophesy during the Tribulation. (Revelation 11:6)
Elijah makes this prophecy to King Ahab in 17:1, and by the time they see each other again, (18:7) it’s been 3 1/2 years, and just like Elijah said, there hasn’t been a single drop of moisture! The scene in Israel was one of crisis. There are no lakes, streams, or pools of water anywhere. Not only has this led to a physical crisis but an economic, political, moral, and spiritual crisis, as well!
When their paths did cross (18:17), Ahab says, “Well, my, my, my, if it isn’t the big trouble-maker in Israel himself!” Elijah retorts back, saying, “You took the words right out of my mouth! If it isn’t the big trouble-maker in Israel himself!” Elijah goes on to nail him to the wall, citing that he was the one who was guilty of bringing about the judgment of God on his nation by refusing to follow the word of God, and leading the people of Israel to follow Baalim. With what is about to happen, it should be noted that Baal was the “sun god”, or the “god of fire”, and the worship of him included all kinds of sexual perversion and debauchery.
In 18:19, Elijah calls for a showdown! He tells Ahab that he is fully aware that his wicked wife, Jezebel, had been funding the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the groves, and tells Ahab to gather all 850 of them along with all of the people of Israel to Mount Carmel to bring the reality of who the true God in Israel actually was, once and for all. Verse 20 says that Ahab did just that.
Once everybody had assembled, Elijah walks up to the platform where all of the 850 vile prophets of Jezebel were assembled, and looks out on all of the people of Israel and says, “Listen, this half-Baal/half Jehovah trash has gotta stop! You’re trying to live in two worlds, and pick and choose what you want out of each of them. God has sent me out here to tell you today that He has had enough!”
Elijah continued, “If the Lord be God (in other words, “Jehovah, the God of the Bible!”), then adjust your lifestyle and follow Him! But, if you’re so demented that you actually think that Baal is the true God, and not just your excuse for gratifying yourself sexually, then sell yourself out to him, and forget Jehovah God altogether! But it’s time to get off of the fence and go one way or the other!” Wow! That sounds a whole lot like the message God wants to give to the church in the 21st century! Oh, that God would raise up some “Elijahs” in these days!
Elijah speaks his peace in 18:21, and the people have absolutely no response. They are “halted” or stuck in the middle between two contrary worlds. So in 18:23-24, Elijah says, “Okay, boys and girls, let’s settle this thing once-and-for-all. So, you 850 guys come over to this altar for Baal, and you prepare the sacrifice of a bullock. Since Baal is the so-called ‘god of fire’, don’t put any fire under the sacrifice.” Then he says, “I’ll come over to this altar for Jehovah over here, this one that is become broken down from lack of use, and I’ll likewise prepare the sacrifice of a bullock, and I won’t put any fire under it either. The God who consumes the sacrifice by answering with fire, let Him be the true God in Israel, and let’s all wholeheartedly follow Him; let’s put an end to all this dual worship and double-mindedness in Israel.” This time the people do have a response! They tell Elijah in 18:24, “We like it! Let’s go for it!”
Once the 850 false prophets of Jezebel had prepared the sacrifice, they cried out to their false god for six solid hours, even throwing themselves upon the altar to try to get some response out of him, and even cutting themselves so that blood was gushing out and covering the altar! At noon, Elijah mockingly says to them, “Hey fellas! Maybe your quote-unquote “god” is busy talking with someone, or chasing after somebody, or on a long trip somewhere, or maybe it could be that he’s sleeping!”
Elijah then repairs the broken-down altar to Jehovah, puts the wood underneath the bullock, but, before he begins to pray to the one true God to answer with fire, he calls for four barrels of water to be poured out all over the sacrifice. After the sacrifice was absolutely drenched, he calls for a second round of four barrels to be poured over it, and then a third! By this time, the water has fully engulfed the sacrifice, and was laying in the trenches surrounding it.
Then, without any fanfare, drama, or “religious shenanigans”, Elijah prays a simple prayer. In English, the entire prayer is a grand total of 63 words. It takes only approximately 16.5 seconds to pray the entire prayer! Yet, as soon as his prayer was concluded, the fire of God fell from heaven, consumed the sacrifice, along with all of the water that was in the trenches surrounding the sacrifice.
Often, when we read of a dramatic move of God like this, we tend to think that Elijah could pull off such a tremendous feat because he was some kind of extraordinary guy. God anticipated that we might pass off the power that was manifested through him by skewed thinking like that, so He clears off a little space in the New Testament to let us know that Elijah was a man who was made of the same stuff all the rest of us are made of, and a man who faced all of the same struggles we face; in other words, he was just a very average, ordinary guy; but he was a guy who possessed the fire of God’s presence and power on his life! James 5:17-18 says, “Elias (the Greek rendering of the Hebrew word “Elijah”) was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”
Do you remember how Elijah had challenged the people in 18:21? “If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” Well, they finally got it! No more double-mindedness. In fact, notice the double-declaration in 18:39: “The Lord, he is the God’; the Lord, he is the God.” Hallelujah!
People in the 21st century ask, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” God asks the people of the 21st century, “Where are the Elijahs of the Lord God?”
CHRIST IS REVEALED:
As THE FIRE OF GOD consuming the sacrifice — 1st Kings 18:38 (Hebrews 12:29)