Elijah

Passage: James 5:16-18

As we come to the conclusion of our series on the life of Elijah, as you think back about him would you draw the conclusion he was a man like us, that he was a man with a nature like ours?

Elijah was the first and greatest of the prophets of God in the OT.  How many of us think we are in the same league with him?  He seems more like a man in a class all by himself.

If we were going to pick someone in the Bible who has like us, I think we would pick a lot of other people before we came to Elijah.  Peter might come to mind for several reasons.

The truth of the matter is all the people in the Bible are like us, ordinary people who God used in extraordinary ways, despite their sin.

Elijah put his tunic on one arm at a time just like us.  He was prone to feelings of defeat or loneliness.  He was dependent on God just as we are.  He was used of God just as God uses us.

Let’s summarize him and his life and draw out nine conclusions and applications.

Passage: 2 Kings 2:1-18

We have been following Elijah the Tishbite since the Word of the Lord first came to him.  We have followed him east to the Brook of Cherith and then west to Zarephath in Sidon to the widow’s house where he multiplied her oil and raised her son from the dead.

Then back to Israel and up to Mt. Carmel and then down again and fleeing south to sit under a broom tree in the wilderness before journeying 40 days to Mt. Horeb where he heard the still small voice of God.  We ended with two confrontations, one with Ahab at the end of his reign and one with the next king, Ahaziah at the end of his brief two year reign.

Now in his old age we come to the story of Elijah’s mysterious departure from the earth and the passing of the mantle of prophetic leadership to Elisha.  He came like a whirlwind out of no where, he burned like a fire, and in fire and whirlwind he disappeared.

Passage: 2 Kings 1:1-18

As the saying goes, the nut doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I Kings 22:52-53 He [Ahaziah] did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 53 He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done.

Like father, like son.  In the case of Ahaziah it is like father, like mother, like grandfather.  His wickedness is a triple wickedness.  He raises the bar, if that is possible.  He embraced all the accumulated sin and folly and perversion and paganism of his parents and grandparents.

Ahaziah provoked the Lord, the God of Israel.  He galled, goaded, aggravated God to anger.

He worshiped Jeroboam’s calves in Samaria and he worshiped Baal.  His path is one of sheer rebellion.

Ahaziah saw where his parent’s idolatry had led, and yet he followed the same path.

Passage: 1 Kings 29:1-29

Back in November we left Elijah under a broom tree in the wilderness after he fled from Jezebel after his confrontation with King Ahab on Mt. Carmel.  Elijah might think his ministry is done, but God is not done with him and another confrontation with Ahab awaits him.

But first we need to set the stage to understand the context.

King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had a lovely second residence, a summer palace up north in Jezreel with great views overlooking the Jezreel valley.  Next door to them was a lovely vineyard owned by a lowly Israelite, Naboth.

The more Ahab looked at it and thought about it, the more he coveted it.  So he went to Naboth and made a very fair and reasonable offer.  Either cash for the fair market value of the land or a trade for an even better vineyard.

Even though this was the King of Israel asking, Naboth refused the generous offer.

Passage: 1 Kings 19:1-18

Let’s remember where we are.  The people of God are divided into a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom.  The southern kingdom is Judah, 2 tribes, with Jerusalem as their center, their kings are all in the line of David.  The northern kingdom is larger, 10 tribes, centered in Samaria.

Their current king is Ahab, about whom Scripture says he did more evil than all the kings before him.  He set a new standard, a new high in lows.

One of the worst things he did was marry Jezebel, the daughter of the Baal worshiping king of Sidon.  She lead Israel into full blown Baal worship.  She killed the prophets and priests of Yahweh and anyone who worshiped the one true God.

Elijah took on the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel and God delivered a resounding, fiery defeat, killing 450 prophets of Baal.

What does Ahab tell Jezebel in I Kings 19:1?  What does Ahab leave out in what he tells Jezebel?  Ahab tells her what Elijah did, instead of what the God of Israel did.  Perhaps by design he paints a picture of everything being Elijah’s fault, the defeat of Baal, the slaughter of the prophets of Baal.  No fear of the Lord, no mention of the God of Israel.

Notice, the very thing that should convince and convict her and cause her to tremble and fear the Lord, that very thing, only enrages her all the more.  The hard in heart will refuse to believe even the most convincing truth.  This is what happens when you try to explain reality without God.

Passage: 1 Kings 18:41-46

If you were to ask King Ahab what was the greatest problem in Israel he would say it was the drought and the famine that followed.  Which means Elijah was the troubler of Israel, because he is the prophet behind the lack of rain.

If you were to ask prophet Elijah what was the greatest problem in Israel he would say it was idolatry, breaking covenant with Yahweh.

The confrontation on Mt. Carmel wasn’t a climate conference, it wasn’t a rain dance, it was a confrontation with idolatry.  The great God war with Baal has been decisively won and the prophets of Baal were defeated.

Only after judgment falls on the sin of idolatry, can the issue of drought be addressed.  There must be judgment before blessing, fire before rain.  The cross before the crown.  Repentance before forgiveness.

If you ask politicians today what is the greatest problem in America you might hear Covid or the economy or climate change.  There might even be a few who would blame the church, blame Christianity, blame Christians.  I know a few prominent atheists who believe Christianity is what’s wrong with the world.

If you ask Christians what the greatest problem in America is, you might get a variety of answers.  We certainly are not unified on that point.  I have said before I believe the problem is sin, idolatry, abandoning of God, silencing of His Word, in a word godless rebellion.

For that reason I believe Covid will not go away until the underlying reason for it is dealt with.  There must be the fire of repentance before the healing of the land.

Passage: 1 Kings 18:30-40

The Baalites had their turn, they shot their best shot, they did everything possible to get their god to respond.  They called on his name for six hours, they cried out even louder, they limped around their altar, they cut themselves until their own blood flowed.  They raved on and on, but to no avail.  No voice, no answer, no one paid attention.  Nothing.  Deafening silence.

So now as agreed by both parties, it is Elijah’s turn.

Passage: 1 Kings 18:20-29

Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel is one of the most dramatic scenes in all of Scripture, one of the most well remembered stories in the OT.

The first question is why all this extra drama?  Why didn’t God just send rain?  Remember we are in the middle of a God-war, God has challenging Baal to a dual.  If God had just let it start raining again the people would have given the glory to Baal, that Baal finally answered.

This event is meant to prove the utter impotence of the false god Baal, the god of rain and fertility.  Sometimes extreme measures are needed to prove the truth.  Extreme sin calls for extreme measures to flush it out into the open.  This is a very public repudiation of Baal and of Jezebel (like on prime time TV).

Answers to pray don’t always come until God has made us ready to receive the answer.  We have be brought to a place to see our need or sin more clearly before the grace comes.

The rod of God’s discipline must first work its will, there must first be the pain of discipline before there can be the fruit of righteousness.

God will have us see how impotent we are, how helpless before He shows us His power.  He will have us learn that apart from Him we have nothing and are nothing.

Passage: 1 Kings 18:1-19

Our text is a series of four pairs of conversations.  So we will let them guide our study of this passage as we draw lessons for our application.  The four pairs of conversations or confrontations are God and Elijah, Ahab and Obadiah, Elijah and Obadiah, and Elijah and Ahab.

God and Elijah.

“After a long time, in the third year … I will send rain.”

This of course is setting the stage for the great confrontation between Elijah and Baal.  God breaks the three years of silence and in His timing He calls Elijah and sends him to Ahab.

Passage: 1 Kings 17:17-24

We have been looking forward to this vacation for some time now.  One, to see Reed and Jenea and little Kohen.  It is hard knowing he is growing up not knowing us well, and that his other grandparents see him almost every day.  Second, because Catalina is such a blessing to us, a beautiful place that we can afford because of the company our son works for.

We find ourselves wondering if we like it a little too much, if it too important to us.

This week has been a roller coaster week for us.  At the beginning of the week it appeared God was taking this vacation away, it died for about 24 hours, and then God gave it back.

Natalie starting having contractions at 34 weeks, and we need to be here to take care of their other kids.  We are their contingency plan, their back up.

And then some other things happened that made it look like it would be impossible to go.  I admit it was really hard to accept.  After three straight weeks of funerals, I was thinking I needed a break.  But God’s ways are not our ways, and He doesn’t think the same way we do.

And then some people stepped in to cover for us while we are gone, making it possible for us to go.  We went from life to death, back to life again.

Now I am not meaning to imply that our brief loss was anything near the loss of this poor widow, it is merely an example of having something important, losing it for a time and then receiving it back by the grace of God.

Passage: I Kings 17:8-16

Remember where we are and what is going on.  Israel is under the Baal worshipping King and Queen, Ahab and Jezebel.  The politics of the nation has been corrupted to the core.

“Truth is on the scaffold, Wrong is on the throne.”

Psalm 11:3 “When the foundations are being destroyed what can the righteous do?”  God raised up Elijah to be a prophet in the most desperately wicked time of Israel’s history.

On an earthly level Israel is in the midst of a serious drought and famine.  Elijah declared there would be no dew or rain in the land.  But nothing ever happens in our world at just an earthly level.  There is always more going on behind the scenes, that doesn’t meet the eye.

I have urged you before to cultivate the spiritual discipline of seeing the hand of God in everything that is happening in the world and in everything that is happening in our own lives.  God is never absent, He is always present and active and doing His will for His glory.

On a spiritual level Israel is in the middle of a God-war, a battle of cosmic proportions and implications.  Yahweh has intentionally picked a fight with Baal.

Baal is the storm god, god of clouds and rain and floods, the god of fertility and fruitfulness.  He is the agriculture god, the god of all things related to crops and harvests.  If Whatcom county was back in those days, there is no question we would be worshipping Baal and his goddess wife Asherah.  Our very livelihood would depend on us keeping Baal happy, even at the cost of a firstborn son or a daughter or two.

God suddenly stops the dew and the rain, and now He waits for Baal’s counter move.  The brook Cherith runs dry and He still waits for Baal’s counter move.

Now the drama deepens, the tension builds, things go from bad to worse to terrible.  The story moves from Cherith ravine east of the Jordan, to a hundred miles west to Zarephath.

Printable Sermon Notes

Passage: I Kings 17:1-7

“Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah.”

This is the beginning of the prophetic era.  God started with a priest as His representative (Moses to Samuel), then He used the kings (Saul to Ahab).  But then the kings rejected God, and He raised up the prophets.

Don’t be deceived by appearances.  It looked like all the power was with the kings, with the Baalists, it looked like Yahwehism was in retreat or defeated.  The government was promoting raw paganism of the worst sort.  Even as a matter of policy and approval, with funding support.

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,

Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. James Russell Lowell

Don’t be deceived, despite appearances, the Word of God is powerful and working.

“So he went and did according to the word of the Lord.”

This story begins with the clear reception of a word from God.

Like most of God’s words, it contains a command and a promise.

When the command is obeyed, the promise is fulfilled.

Elijah heard the word of God, he received it, and he quickly obeyed it.

We see here common elements of how God speaks and calls individuals (Burning Bush, Damascus Road).

1. God initiates, it is God who acts.
2. God calls, He is personal and relational.
3. God gives the specifics of His call, clarifies His purposes, He reveals what He will do.
4. God makes demands, gives commands and promises.
5. God promises provision and protection.
6. God gives a sign.
7. God separates out those He calls according to His own pleasure, for His own glory.