Elijah - A Man With a Nature Like Ours

"'Was the Lord God of Israel lives?' cried the prophet before the wicked king of Israel. He said, "'As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be due nor reign these years except by my word.'" These are the first words that we actually find in the Bible recorded from the prophet Elijah as he comes onto the scene very suddenly in 1 Kings chapter 17.

And what's interesting about Elijah is he's really not introduced in any meaningful way.

Again, he just sort of bursts onto the scene and here he is standing before King Ahab of Israel. There's really no history given to us about Elijah. His childhood experiences aren't listed here, nothing specific in his upbringing or his parents or even the specific circumstances in his life that brought him personally to this point of standing before the king of Israel and actually more than standing before him, standing up before him, up to him, bringing this message from God.

So again, there's not a lot we can know about Elijah and his background personally, but what we do know is that God intended him to be used as a man who would stand in a very powerful way, confronting idolatry at the highest levels of leadership in Israel and to be used as God's instrument to turn his people back to the true worship of him again. In the end, the first glimpse we have of Elijah, again, is him standing in the presence of King Ahab, boldly delivering a message to a king himself who turned his back on the God of his fathers, the God indeed who was the one that would be backing his kingship if he, in fact, was faithful to him. And again, there's not much written about Elijah's background, but we can begin by knowing what kind of a man he was by taking a glimpse into what the Apostle James had to give to us in this regard. Let's go to James chapter 5 to start today. James chapter 5. What kind of a man was Elijah? Who was this that stood boldly before the king of Israel? James chapter 5 and verse 17.

James 5, 17, it says, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. And it's very interesting to consider, again, a nature like ours. And he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. So this was a very powerful, a very effective prophet in God's service, a true prophet, one who came at a very critical time in Israel's history to stand up for God. And God used him mightily. He performed incredible miracles through him. This man, in prayer, cried out to God, and the heavens closed for three and a half years. And he cried out to God again, and the heavens opened, and the land gave its produce. So again, a very powerful, a very effective man in God's service. And yet James says that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. You know, that kind of pricked my interest a little bit, and it's actually the emphasis I want to give in the sermon today. I've titled it, Elijah, a man with a nature like ours. And as we look at his story today, I want to delve into, I think, some similarities that will recognize humanity to humanity, how it is that God worked with him. And we can bring it across to understand as well more deeply how it is God works with us in so many ways. You know, Elijah had hopes and dreams, just like we do. He had doubts and fears. You know, God used him very powerfully, and you would think, well, I could, you know, I could never be of someone of a stature such as that, but understand with a nature like ours as a human being, he had his own set of doubts, his own points of fear. He had his highs and his lows throughout his ministry. Elijah had faith, but it needed to be strengthened at times. And as Mr. Wilson was talking about in the sermonette, you know, there's times I think where maybe we all say, I believe, but help my unbelief. You know, God, give me that added measure by your spirit that I need to truly trust in faith, that this is in your hands. You know, the encouraging part about this is it allows us to look at Elijah's life in his example, and again, glean lessons that apply to us today, a man with a nature like ours.

I want to quote to you from the United Church of God Bible commentary on 1 Kings chapter 17. This is part of the introductory notes to that chapter. And it introduces the prophet this way.

It says, quote, Six chapters are given to King Ahab's reign, while most of the kings only have a part of one chapter. The reason is largely the story of Elijah. Elijah's rare, sudden, and brief appearances, his undaunting courage and fiery zeal, the brilliance of his triumphs, and the pathos of despondency, the glory of his departure, and the in the calm beauty of his reappearance in vision on the Mount of Transfiguration, make him one of the greatest characters Israel ever produced.

It's noteworthy that only two prophets appear in the vision with Jesus Christ in the Transfiguration of Matthew chapter 17. Moses and Elijah, end quote. So this is an individual whose reputation, whose name actually echoes through time, echoes through the Bible, not only in his day. Indeed, it points to even the future, the day and age we live in today. Rather, we're going to spend the remainder of the sermon today. This is maybe more of a little of a Bible study format, because we're not going to be turning all over the place, but I want to spend the message today in 1 Kings chapter 17, 18, and 19 as we examine the ministry of this servant of God, again, whose nature was like ours in so many ways. So let's begin back in 1 Kings chapter 17. 1 Kings chapter 17. We're going to begin here in verse 1. And it says, And Elijah, the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be due nor reign these years, except by my word. Let's take a second to understand the environment in Israel that Elijah is actually confronting at this moment before Ahab. The time frame here is about 50 years after Israel and Judah separated. You had Israel to the north and making Samaria as their capital, Judah to the south with Jerusalem, their king separately set up over both territories 50 years after that split. And this is a time of spiritual crisis for Israel.

Ahab was a wicked king in the eyes of God. And really, in that respect, the apple didn't fall very far from the tree. His father, Omri, as well, evil in the sight of the Lord. And he caused Israel to sin. He caused them to follow after idolatry and false God. So really, Ahab is a continuation of what his father brought to the nation through his leadership. And as a result, God was provoked to anger, to Omri. And now we have Ahab, just a short time later upon his death, following in the same footsteps of his father. Now, to make matters worse, Ahab married a Phoenician princess by the name of Jezebel. Okay, there's another name that resonates down through time, even today, Jezebel. And through this marriage, Israel and Phoenicia became allies. And not only did Jezebel promote her own pagan religion of Baal worship as queen, but she was instrumental in shutting down the worship of the true God in Israel. And she hunted down and massacred the prophets of the true God, replacing them with the prophets of Baal wherever she could.

Understand, Baal worship then under Ahab and Jezebel became the state-sponsored religion in Israel, whereas pure worship of the true God was severely punished. I want to quote to you from 1 Kings chapter 16, verse 32 and 33. It says, then Ahab set up an altar before Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more during his time, during his leadership, okay? He did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. So you know the pattern, right? Time and time again in Israel and Judah with their kings, as went the leaders, so often went the majority of the people. And in like manner, Israel had followed after Ahab and Jezebel in this idolatrous worship system, slaughtering the prophets, turning in the prophets, exposing the prophets of the true God for death, and bringing on the the love of the prophets of Baal and the worship of that false God.

So now we have Elijah, a man of God, a prophet of God, in the open, bursts onto the scene, 1 Kings 17 and verse 1, and he's confronting King Ahab, declaring God's punishment on the nation.

So again, 1 Kings 17 verse 1, Elijah the Tishbite and the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand there shall not be due, nor reign these years, except by my word. And you know there's a lot contained in this verse, because you'll notice Elijah declared to Ahab who he's standing before.

Well, he's in front of the king. He's before his throne, but he says, you know, I don't answer to you. I stand before God, and it is his message I bring, and it is his kingdom indeed that I represent. And so understand whose allegiance he upheld before the Lord God of Israel before whom I stand. Brethren, it's a good lesson for us, because we're living in challenging times. The apostles, following Jesus' day, lived in challenging times, and throughout the Bible we see multiple examples of, number one, having to stand up and give an answer for the hope that's within you, but also at times having to stand up to even what would be authority before us, declaring the truth of God, and showing that you know our allegiance is to God. It is not to man. Now, we obey the laws of the land. We, you know, honor the king, but the law of God says, do not compromise on the standard of the truth of God. And when the two are in conflict, your allegiance, you stand before God in ultimate judgment, not before any man. And it's a good lesson for us to remember through Elijah's story.

Now, Elijah's declaration of no dew or no rain in Israel was significant as well, because Baal was the god of rain, and Baal was the god of the storm. And tied into that as well, Baal was the god of agriculture, right? You had the rain coming at seasons, and the fruit of the ground grew, and in this false religious system, they gave all glory of that to Baal. And so, to say no rain or no dew except by my word was to take it a direct jab to the power of Baal, who was supposedly the god of those things. And this whole illustration will show that the god of Israel is truly God, and this false god is nothing, and neither are his followers. Verse 2 says, Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, Get away from here, turn eastward, and hide by the brook, Shearith, which flows to the Jordan. Run away, essentially. Go and hide. After Elijah delivered his message, God said, Leave town. Okay, withdraw from this place, because knowing the tendencies of Jezebel, after delivering this message, after being in the open, Elijah's head was next. And God said, You know, this isn't the time for a direct confrontation, and there were still things he wanted to take the prophet through to teach him in various ways. So he said, withdraw from this place, and go and hide yourself. And so Elijah did, as God said. Verse 4, he says, And it will be that you should drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. So Elijah went, did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the brook of Sheareth, which flows into the Jordan. He says, And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Okay, so God provided for him.

And brethren, this is another important lesson. You know, there's, he was a man with a nature like us.

You know what? He was a man with a physical existence like us as well. And he had to depend on God as his sustainer and his provider. And so do you and I. When we worship God, when we obey his commands, no matter what the consequences of those might be, he provides for us, and sometimes in unimaginable ways. Right? Here's, here's this drought. Here's this prophet. God says, flee. He's going to this remote area, and he's going to be completely dependent on God for his provision. Doesn't say he packed his backpack with, you know, freeze dried, let's survive for three years. He's going to be depending on God.

For Darlan, I, there are many times in early years of our marriage that we kind of found ourselves in circumstances where I say, you know, we barely ate better than bread and water, in some cases. You know, we did better than that, but you know, there were times that were difficult, right? You're a newly married couple. My landscape business was just getting off the ground. We had a young child in the home, so Darla has stayed home from working outside of the home, and so month to month things were tight, and you're trying to make ends meet, and there's times where you look at the budget on paper, and you know what? It made more sense not to tithe. Here's a shortfall, you know, where's this few hundred dollars going to come up from? You're trying to budget it out, and you go, well, here's God's tithe, and how handy would it be just to maybe plug this in here and smooth this over for a month? It actually made sense on paper not to do that.

You ever been there? Ever experienced a circumstance where, you know, maybe in a way would have been easier not to obey God in the short term, or at least in your human reasoning, but to actually go ahead and obey Him, to do what He says. What's the result? Well, the result in our case was God's blessing, God's provision. He literally, I would say, not in the exact ways, but you could say, He fed us with the ravens. He provided us what it is that we needed to go by, and God in so many ways, through the obedience of His faithful people, will do what needs to be done to carry you along the way.

Proverbs chapter 10 verse 3 states that the Lord will not allow the righteous soul to famine.

Again, the ravens will feed you, maybe in a different form than what took place for Elijah, but God provides in that way, and we need to understand if we obey Him, if we put Him first, we can trust in Him to do what is needed. In fact, Jesus Christ Himself reiterated a similar principle, Matthew 6, 33, where He told His disciples, right, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Things that take our daily focus, our energy, we still have to do our part, but God said, you put Me first. You don't deny Me. You don't shortchange Me, and I'll fill in what it is that you need. The righteous will never lack.

You may not have, you know, the latest and the greatest of everything you think you would want, but your needs will be met. And Elijah is an example of someone who followed God and trusted in Him day by day. When I look back on, again, some of the early years of our marriage and how God opened the doors of provision for us, and it wasn't in ways that I planned, and said, okay, if we come to this point, this will work out. You know, these were usually things that just seemed like they came out of thin air. You said, that's not going to happen again. But then God brings in another blessing in another way. What I recognize, thinking back on those tough times, is that they were actually instrumental to building our faith in God. That God says, I'm going to allow you to experience a little stress, even in obeying Me, so that that trust will be built, that faith will be built through the experience. And so then the lesson became, don't despise the faith-building years of your life, because they're absolutely essential for what lies ahead. And Elijah was going to experience this in this time before the great confrontation would come between he and the prophets of Baal. Understand, there were things coming in the future service of Elijah, where he would need to be absolutely confident in leaning on God. And these years in the interim were faith-building years for him. And he knew he could trust God. Verse 9, 1 Kings 17, verse 9, and it happened after a while that the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. So there was a point he was going to move on, but up to that point, every morning and every evening, Elijah had the reminder that God was providing, and he could look to him in faith. Verse 8, Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. Zarephath was a city on the Mediterranean coast in the region of Phoenicia. Right, Jezebel was from Phoenicia, as we heard earlier, and God was sending Elijah out of the nation of Israel completely, but he would still provide for him wherever he went. Verse 10, So he rose, and he went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there, gathering sticks. And he called to her, and he said, Please, bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink. And as she was going to get it, he called to her again and said, Please, bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.

So she said, As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour and a bin, and a little oil in a jar. And see, I am gathering a couple of sticks. They may go in, prepare it for myself and my son, and we may eat it and die. Wow!

What a dramatic circumstance, you know, what a dramatic circumstance to send his prophet to.

And couldn't God have afforded to put him up in the Marriott or something? He's hanging out, he's preparing for these years of service, but understand God has a plan for him. Why a widow on the brink of starvation? And why in a region where Jezebel is from? Again, God is working out very specific lessons in Elijah's life. These are part of the faith-building years. To be a widow in that time and place without the support of a husband left this woman in utter poverty. It wasn't the social system such as we have today in this way, and God sent Elijah to a destitute woman and her son with only one meal left. And you might say, what's the blessing is this? You know, God, is this how you're providing for me? I think maybe there could have been a better way. But it's interesting, again, it's part of the faith-building years. Verse 13, and Elijah said to her, do not fear, go and do as you have said. Make me a small cake from it first, bring it to me, and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel, the bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth. You know, that's quite a proclamation, right? A bottomless bin of flour, bottomless vessel of oil. Kind of wish I could get that at Costco these days, you know, you make a run and it just lasts and lasts and lasts. This is God's blessing and God's miracle and his provision. Again, for as long as it takes until it rains again. No rain for three and a half years. Verse 15, God here is providing.

So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and her household ate for many days, it says. And then the bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by Elijah. Meal after meal after meal, day after day after day came forth from the flour and the jar of oil miraculously. And not only was Elijah alive, but so was the widow. So was her son. Right? They were on the end of existence by starvation, and God, through a blessing of bringing Elijah there, has pulled them back from that brink miraculously, again through Elijah's presence in her house.

In the end, she shared what she had with him, and he in return shared with her the provision and the protection of God. This brings up another lesson that we can learn from Elijah's experiences, and that is God's hand of blessing often goes with us to be a blessing to others as well.

God's hand of blessing often goes with us to be a blessing to others as well, and maybe you've experienced that in your life. You recall what God told Abraham as he's making promises to him in Genesis chapter 12, verse 2 and 3. God said, I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. Right? Not only are you going to be blessed, but you shall be a blessing, a blessing to others. God said, I will bless those who bless you. I will curse him who curses you, and you, all the families of the earth, shall be blessed. Obviously, an ultimate direction pointing to the Messiah who would come, by which all nations would be blessed, but don't dismiss the fact as well that God said, and you shall be a blessing, because I'm your God, and you're my faithful servant, and I'm providing on you and those that you would bring into the circle of interaction. Again, blessing by relationship. Think about Joseph in Egypt. Think about Daniel in Babylon, just times where God extended out blessing simply by their involvement with those around them. Not because of the person's power specifically, but because of their faithfulness in God. And then God, by response, extending out his hand of blessing. It was contained not simply to a single individual.

The Ark of the Covenant. Recall there were times where the Ark of the Covenant made a stay here or a stay there in a household of Israel before it settled into a temple, and what happened in that household. They prospered by the blessing in the presence of the Ark in that way, and God's presence in that sense in their midst. And it's often the same with us today as well as the Church of God, the spiritual temple of God. He often gives us opportunities, brethren, to share the physical and spiritual blessings that he showers upon us with others. By association, by interactions.

I do believe there's times we've seen where close friends, family members, individuals have been blessed because of God's blessing upon us and by extension. You know, we pray for one another, we uplift one another. And again, God provides blessings before his people where they go.

So pray that your presence, pray that your interactions may be a blessing to others, just like Abraham, just like Joseph, just like Elijah, with this widow woman and her son.

Continuing on, 1 Kings 17, verse 17, it says, Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick, and his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. Okay? He died. And I say, well, what kind of blessing is that? Well, God's there. Verse 18, so she said to Elijah, What have you to do? What do I have to do with you, O man of God? Have you come into me to bring my sin to remembrance and to kill my son? And he said to her, Give me your son. So he took him out of her arms, carried him to the upper room. I think the implication is this isn't a grown man. This is a youth or small child, someone that Elijah could actually pick up in his arms and carry him to the upper room where he was staying. And he laid him on his own bed. Then he cried out to the Lord and he said, O Lord my God, have you also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge by killing her son? Okay, so remember, Elijah is a man with a nature like ours, right? And he's confused here. He's uncertain here. He doesn't understand why God has allowed this. And he doesn't necessarily know the answer, but you know what he does is he responds by reaching out to God. Reaching out to God. And that is the correct response. He cried out to God. And it's another lesson for you and I of this same nature. We must always be willing to cry out to God, to reach out to him, even when we don't know why, even when we don't understand, even with times we're confronted by something and we say, God, why in the world is this happening? The answer is to run towards God, not from God. Because truly it is God in the end who has the answer. Draw close to him, verse 21. And Elijah stretched himself out on the child three times, and he cried out to the Lord and said, O Lord my God, I pray let this child's soul come back to him. Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah. The soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. Understand this isn't some sort of ancient CPR, right? Some would try to make it stretch himself out on this child, you know, three times, and he revived. I've heard that. This isn't a miracle. This is CPR. Excuse me. This is the power of God, and this is the time of Elijah's faithful instruction. By God's blessing, the child is restored. Miraculously, verse 23, and Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, gave him to his mother, and Elijah said, See your son lives. The woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true. She says, Now I know because if you go back to earlier in her interactions with him, she said, The Lord, you're God.

Not my God, you're God. But now she's acknowledging that you are a man of God, and I know his word is true. God's miraculous working through this individual in this time, when people all around them were dying because Baal was too weak to bring back the rain. God's power shone through in this specific time and place, identifying him as the true God, and Elijah as his prophet. This was encouraging to the woman and gave her boldness and strength. Believe me, it gave strength to Elijah as well. It gave encouragement and boldness to him as well.

Again, these were the years of building up his faith ahead of what was yet to come, and Elijah's faith was deepened through these things. I appreciate the sermon and the fact. Again, we don't just muster this up on our own. Faith is a gift that comes from God, but understand he also allows us at times to walk through circumstances, even difficult ones at times, where the result is, if we respond to him properly, our faith is increased, not shattered, even when we don't know why. Even sometimes when the answer is, right now, no, I'm sorry, you'll have to wait. Even the answer is not what we would have it to be. God says, there are times where I need you to be strengthened through this in my service.

Elijah spent many months, even years perhaps, with the widow and her son in Zarephath. Then three and a half years came, or three plus years, we're closing in on the end of the rain, drought. After that, the prophet delivered his initial message to Ahab. If you take that, okay, you go back, initial message come forward, almost three and a half years. God says now, Elijah, after what has transpired, three and a half years, now is the time for you to return and face the king again. First Kings chapter 18 and verse 1, and it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth. Notice who it is again, God who has control over the rain, God who will do these things, not Baal. He is always in control. Verse 2, so Elijah went to present himself to Ahab, and there was a severe famine in Samaria, and Ahab had called Obadiah, who was in charge of his house.

Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. For so it was when Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord that Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets, hidden them fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water. This is pretty gutsy. Okay, understand, this is Obadiah, not the one that wrote the book, but a very bold man who feared God, governor of the house of King Ahab. Jezebel is murdering the prophets wherever he can find them. Ahab's in on it, right? And the governor of his house is hiding out a hundred prophets of God, feeding them with bread and water. Again, because he feared God, God provided. Verse 5, and Ahab said to Obadiah, Go to the land, all the springs of water, and all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass that keep the horses and the mules alive, so that we will not have to kill any livestock. So they divided the land between them to explore it. Ahab went one way for himself, Obadiah went the other way by himself. Now as Obadiah was on his way, suddenly Elijah met him, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, Is that you, my Lord Elijah?

And he answered him, saying, It is I. Go tell your master Elijah is here. Prophets of Baal rule in Israel at this time. True prophets of God have been either killed or hidden. Now Elijah, out in the open, he said, Tell your master, indeed I am here. And as the dialogue carries on in the next number of verses, Obadiah is afraid to go and tell Ahab that Elijah is here because there's been a bounty on his head, and he's hunted him territory to territory. He said, the leaders of the territories take oaths that Elijah is not there, right? Oaths upon death.

And now Obadiah is saying, You know what? If I tell him you're here and you don't show because God took you off someplace else, guess whose head he's going to come for? Mine, right? Because I didn't kill you when I had the chance. Elijah says, Go and tell him.

Jumping down to verse 15, verse 15, says, Then Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him today.

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. And it happened when Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab said to him these famous words, Is that you, O troubler of Israel?

You who trouble this nation. And, you know, that's pretty typical of troublemakers, to turn around and look at someone else and say, You're the source of my problem. You troubler of Israel. But Elijah responded, verse 18, saying, I've not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have, and that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed the bales. Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the 450 prophets of Baal, the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table. Understand, again, this is the state-sponsored religion of the land. They ate at Jezebel's table.

She supported them. She financed them. She fed them. She protects them. All while the true prophets of God are hiding out in caves, eating bread in water. This is the standing of the condition in the nation of Israel. Again, a time of spiritual crisis. And Elijah's in the open, upfront, depending in faith on God. Verse 20. So Ahab went. He sent for all the children of Israel. He gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel, and Elijah came to all the people. And he said, How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him. But the people answered him, not a word. You know, very non-committal.

You know, we really don't want to speak up and be on the wrong side of whichever God wins.

Right? So what we understand, obviously, is that the syncretism of mixing Baal worship with the worship of the true God was rampant. And again, it's the lesson for us today. That's the carnal nature of man, to want to mix the customs, the practices of other trappings of religion with the worship of the true God. Okay? And there's a number of holidays named after that. It's a lesson that echoes down through time. How long will you falter between two opinions? Verse 22. Then Elijah said to the people, I alone am left a prophet of the Lord. You know, the only one that's out here in the open standing up for God. But the Baal's prophets are 450 men. Therefore, let them give us two bowls. Let them choose one bowl for themselves. Cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. And I will prepare the other bowl and lay it on the wood, but put no fire on it. You shall call in the name of your gods, and I will only call in the name of the Lord.

And the God who answers by fire, he is God. So all the people answered and said, it is well spoken. You know, sounds good to us. Understand this contest is actually stacked in Baal's favor. Okay? If he's truly God, let's give him every chance to see if he can really compete with the true God of Israel. Mount Carmel was supposedly where Baal lived, so Elijah is giving him the home court advantage, right? Let's let your God. He doesn't have to travel far to come to this contest. And it's obviously, in so many ways, it's geared to him, the God of the storm.

Well, if you're the God of the storm, you've got power over lightning. That's in your divine arsenal. It should be nothing for Baal to fulfill the challenge that's been thrown down to him.

Verse 25. You know, Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, choose one bull for yourselves, prepare it first. For you are many, and call on the name of your God, but put no fire under it. So they took the bull which was given to them, they prepared it, they called on the name of Baal, from morning until noon, saying, Baal, hear us.

But there was no voice, no one answered, and they leaped about the altar which they had made. Okay, so they're crying out, there's no response. Now we got to get a little more excited about this. Let's see if we can rouse him and stir him to action.

Verse 27. And so it was at noon that Elijah mocked them. A man with a nature like ours, right? Elijah mocked them. And he said to them, cry aloud or cry louder, for he is a God. Either he is meditating or he is busy, with his reference to being tied up in the facilities, perhaps. Or he's on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.

So they cried aloud, cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances until the blood gushed out of them. Just an ugly, ugly scene. You know, this behavior is pretty typical for the worship of the false gods, the practices that they pulled into what the worship would be and how you would excite the gods to responding. It illustrates how harmful it is to its participants, these false religions.

Remember, I said in last week's sermon on the foolishness of preaching that Christ crucified was foolishness to the Greeks. Again, why would a God send his Son to die for the world? No, it's you actually whom a sacrifice of yourself, harm yourself, give of yourself, sacrifice your children to appease the God.

That was the thought behind all of these cultures, okay? And no wonder Deuteronomy 32 verse 17 states, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. That's the power, that's the influence behind these false gods. That was the spiritual presence that invoked these people. And you can think how delighted Satan must be to see people made in the image of God mutilating themselves as an act of worship. Again, what did God say? He said, by contrast, he forbade such cuttings in the flesh, right, as he instructed the children of Israel.

But again, they're trying to excite him to action. They're trying to get Baal engaged in this process. Verse 29, it says, and when midday had passed, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, but there was no voice, no one answered, no one paid attention. Then Elijah said, to all the people come near to me, so all the people came near to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.

Again, it gives you insight into the spiritual condition of Israel. The altar of Baal, this great shrine, erect, tall, gleaming, beautiful edifice to their God. The altar of the God of Israel is broken down in shambles, disrepaired and falling to the ground. Verse 31, and Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, Israel shall be your name. Then with the stones he built the altar in the name of the Lord, and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two siez of seed.

He put the wood in order, cut the bowls in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, fill four water pots with water. Okay, remember it's a drought, but you know, let's stack it all now against the true God. We get Baal every opportunity, and we all know how hard it is to light a fire with wet wood, right? So let's fill it with water, four water pots, pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. Then he said, do it a second time, and they did it a second time, and he said, do it a third time, and they did it a third time.

So the water ran all around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water, and it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.

Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that you are the Lord God, and that you have turned their hearts back to you again. And then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, the Lord he is God, the Lord he is God.

Again, a rather dramatic demonstration. God, by the power of God, victory over the power of Baal, showing that God actually controls the elements. You can't stack the deck against God. He will perform. What it is is his will. You can't give every advantage to Baal. In the end, he can still do nothing, and that was the proof. The God of Israel is indeed God. This God, Baal, no fire, no rain, not a god at all. Verse 40, and Elijah said to them, Seize the prophets of Baal, do not let one of them escape. So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the brook of Kishon and executed them there. Understand, these are active participants in a satanic worship cult.

In the nation of Israel, and they're turning the people of God away from him, turning them to the power and the influence of demons, and God said, these cannot stand.

And Elijah executed them there at the brook. Verse 41, then Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and when he bowed down to the ground, put his face between his knees, he said to his servant, Go up now, look towards the sea. So he went up and looked and said, There is nothing. And seven times he said, Go again. Okay, the point is he is bowing down in prayer. And I think the direct emphasis is the fact he is repeating his prayer fervently and continuing to pray to God until there is answer. You know, sometimes in our life, the answer is no. Sometimes the answer is not now. But I think the lesson in many places in the Bible is prayer continues for as long as there is the hope of an answer, God does answer. And so he's sending his sermons now up there. He sends them seven times. He says, Go again. Verse 44, It came to pass the seventh time. He said, There is a cloud as small as a man's hand rising out of the sea. So he said, Go up, say to Ahab, Prepare your chariot, go down before the rain stops you.

Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. Again, James chapter 5, verse 17 and 18, which we read earlier, says Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. And he prayed that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit. Now, if you back up one verse from that in James chapter 5 to verse 16, it says, The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. So God heard Elijah's prayer. He heard his plea and he sent rain upon the land again.

For you, United A, it's a reminder clearly of the importance of the fervency in the focus of our prayers.

You know, again, a man with a nature like ours, but he understood the importance of down on his knees, focused before God, his full attention. And another time we get our prayer in snatches here and there coming and going, but don't let it fully replace the intimate time with God in focus and directed prayer, seeking his will and his purpose.

First John 5.14 says, knowing that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

He hears us. Carrying on in verse 46 of 1 Kings 18, it says, Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel, a 13-mile miraculous sprint. Right? Beat Ahab there, beat the chariot, beat the horses there, again miraculously by God's intervention. Imagine what a high Elijah must have been on. Ever been on a runner's high? Ever been on a, you know, just the euphoria that you get after something you've worked and worked for or something dramatic that came before you and the adrenaline is flowing, right? And imagine the the high that comes off of that. Imagine what Elijah must have been experiencing. The power of God displayed at his word, his own position as a prophet recognized and at least restored in the eyes of many of the people there in Israel. They'll worship openly defeated by the power of God. Rain restored to Israel after three and a half years, running, you know, to fulfill God's purpose in this way miraculously. Just imagine what it must have been like for Elijah at that moment.

And of course Jezebel, right, she would have had no option but to acknowledge, wow, the Lord is God. And Elijah, you're his servant, and I was wrong and you were right. Let's go worship God.

Is that what happened?

For seeing chapter 19 in verse 1, Nahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, how he had executed all the prophets with the sword, then Jezebel sent messengers to Elijah saying, hey, my friend, you're my hero, come for dinner, we'll worship the true God. Not what she said, is it?

She sent the message to Elijah saying, so let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow at this time, she said, Elijah, you are a dead man.

You're dead. Verse 3, And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree, and he prayed that he might die.

And he said, it is enough. Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.

I mean, can you imagine? But again, a man with a nature like ours, you know, there's things we experience in this life that are great and incredible highs, and other times that are very quickly, you know, deflated by that. I mean, Elijah was a man of faith. But again, all I can say is he was a man with a nature like ours. He experienced the adrenaline rush, right? He experienced that great and incredible high standing up for God, fighting for God, followed by the huge letdown when the adrenaline wears off, and physiological effects of the human body. I've experienced it a number of times in the past, what happens when you just have this incredible adrenaline rush, and this high, this incredible accomplishment, and then you come crashing down, right, when the chemical effects fade into depression, and sometimes on the other side. There's actually real physiological reasons why these happen. Physiological. Okay, so understand, this isn't all, by my estimation, a spiritual response. There's things physically going on here as well. Again, a nature like ours, physical body like ours, but I think it's important for us to consider, though, in those cases, where do we go from there? And where did Elijah go from there? You know, there's some doubt, there's some fear. Last time Jezebel wanted to kill him when he stood before Ahab, God said, get out of here. Okay, so do we fully blame him for turning and running this time? God didn't, you know, he had him slay the prophets of Baal, he wasn't going to have him slay the king of Israel, and the queen of Israel. God would handle that. They're still in their place. They still want to kill him, but let's just understand, where do we go from here? Well, to summarize the rest of the chapter, Elijah makes his way to Mount Horeb, which is the mountain of God, where God comforts him, where he lets him know that he's not alone.

So, Elijah, you're not the only one. I've reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal. And I think it's encouraging to all of us to know that we're not alone, right, in this calling, that we have brethren, that we have people that are of a support, and that others are worshiping God in like manner as well. And this was a strength to Elijah. And to further help combat depression, God gave Elijah work to do, right? That's just the best thing to do. Get moving, Elijah. I still have things for you to do. God gave him additional tasks to perform, one of which was to appoint his eventual successor, Elisha. Now, eventually, God would send Elijah back to face King Ahab again, and he went to deliver a message to them, frankly, to let them both know the humiliating way they would die, both Jezebel and King Ahab. Their end was marked. The time was coming because of their wicked deeds, because they failed to repent, because they failed to return to the God of Israel. And in the biblical record, Elijah's the greatest. Or at least, he's among the greatest of men, of God, of all times, right? His name, his story, his example, it echoes down through time. And I encourage you to read through the rest of the story of Elijah. I'll leave that for you today. Look at his nature, look at his story, look at what God was doing with him, and recognize you can draw a comparison, because you're a man or a woman with a nature like that as well. And depending on how we respond to God, God can use us powerfully, however it is he wills, in his service. But again, in the biblical record, Elijah is considered one of the greatest men of God of all times. His ministry would be a pattern for later important ministries as well, like his successor, Elijah, all right, who was mentored by Elijah, actually carried out some of the tasks God gave to Elijah. Elijah finished those and buttoned those up. Elijah's ministry was a pattern for John the Baptist, whose ministry is described as coming before Jesus Christ in the spirit and the power of Elijah, Luke chapter 1 and verse 17. Additionally, indeed, Jesus Christ himself stated in Matthew 17 11 that Elijah is coming first. Okay, speaking of the end of the age, speaking of the time just prior to the return of Jesus Christ, Jesus says Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.

Again, referring to that end time Elijah-type individual, perhaps. Perhaps it is an Elijah-type work. There's been speculation both ways. Is this an individual who will come as the end time Elijah? Or is this the church's role to fill an end time Elijah work to prepare people for the return of Jesus Christ? Whatever the answer, God knows, but we must be about doing our part as well.

I do believe what we've been given by Jesus Christ is to fulfill a work of an Elijah-type sort, which turns people from the ways of this world, points them to God, prepares a people for the coming of the Lord. Brethren, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and that's the encouraging part. Indeed, all these heroes of the Bible we can study, right, were human beings and had natures like ours, and it's encouraging because it allows us to look at their example and glean lessons that apply to us today. Like Elijah, our highest allegiance must always be to God. You and I must grow comfortable with looking to God, depending on Him, depending on His provision. We get comfortable in this world and what I can do for myself by my own hand. There's times that God says, I'm going to remove you from that, and I may even allow a little discomfort for you to understand. It is I who provides for you. Perhaps even the ravens at times need to feed us to teach the answer. But again, we are clay in God's hands. He is our sustainer, He is our provider, He gives us what we need in unimaginable ways sometimes. Draw close to Him, just as Elijah did, allow Him to do His work in you and allow Him to strengthen your faith in unique ways, knowing that we can be a blessing to others, okay, by association, by interaction, by extension, we can be a blessing to others due to our relationship with God, knowing that the bales of this world have nothing over us in our faith in God, knowing that the effective and fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman does avail much. And if we ask according to His will, He hears us. And finally, brethren, I think the most important lesson that I pull from the story of Elijah is don't despise the faith-building years of your life. They may be tough. There may be difficulties. There may be such a stress that you say, I just want this to be over with God. Let's get on to what you have to do with me. But God says, no, I am working in you now for what I yet have to do with you. Don't despise the faith-building years of your life, knowing that they are absolutely essential for what lies ahead of us as the people of God at the end of the age today.

He's building in you and me a faith and a trust and a hope. But, brethren, we must look to Him in absolute confidence, knowing that what He has purposed in the end is good. And when we don't always understand along the way, it's the times we have questions, the times we have doubts, the times that, you know, the King wants to take you out for your allegiance to God. Those are not the times that are a waste in our life. Indeed, those are the times that build us up even greater in service to Him and to His people. Don't despise the faith-building time. Indeed, in many ways, they are a gift of God.