As a result, they began to adopt the gods of the Canaanites, the people of the land. They intended simply to supplement their God, to give Him a little help. In their way of thinking, He needed help because He could not handle everything Himself. Their needs were too great. They believed they needed one god to watch over their health, another to protect them along the way as they traveled, another to ensure a good harvest, and on and on it goes.
Walter Kaiser, President Emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Seminary in Boston, sets up the context of 1 Kings 18 as to the life and times of Israel in Elijah’s day. He explains:
These were not the best of times politically. Neither were they the best of times
spiritually, for the nation had been won over to the worship of the Canaanite gods,
especially Baal. The decline of national and spiritual strength was enough to make
any God-fearing person weep. But where was that godly remnant? (Walter Kaiser,
Revive Us Again, Christian Focus Publications, Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire,
IV20 1TW, Scotland, 2001, 76)
Like Israel in the days of Elijah, we need to adjust our eyes so that we can see God for who He is. Like Israel in the days of Elijah, we need to be awakened to the reality of who God really is. We need to let God be God in our lives.
You see, in Israel in Elijah’s day, no longer did the people fear and respect the Lord. No longer did they trust the Creator God. No longer did they recognize the real truth. Instead they would waver back and forth between gods that were no gods at all. Does that sound familiar?
They were mixing religions, much like those in this day and age who think that God needs help, so they mix in New Age thought, which is just a revamped eastern mysticism, with Christianity. They do not understand. Simply put, they are just plain lost!
J.B. Phillips said:
God may thunder His commands from Mount Sinai and men may fear, yet remain at
heart exactly as they were before. But let a man once see his God down in the arena
as a Man, suffering, tempted, sweating, and agonized—finally dying a criminal's death,
he is a hard man indeed who is untouched. (J.B. Phillips, Your God Is Too Small, A
Touchstone Book, Published by Simon & Schuster, New York, 1952, This Touchstone
Edition 2004, 109)
People today need to be touched. If ever there was a time that revival was needed in this land, now is the time. God has become way too small in the eyes of too many people. It is time for reality to hit. It is time to awaken a sleeping giant. It is time for believers every-where to awaken from their slumber. It is time to share the truth of Jesus boldly with our neighbors. It is time for unbelievers across this nation and around the world to realize the truth, leave their wicked ways, and turn their hearts toward God. It is time for God to pour out His Spirit upon us afresh. It is time for a new great awakening. It is time for revival to sweep all across this great land of ours like a raging fire.
Our story begins with Obadiah, the steward of Ahab, being faithful in taking word to Ahab that Elijah has come: “So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah” (1 Kings 18:16). It would seem that Ahab has no clue as to what is about to take place. He does not expect to be chastised by Elijah for being the one who walked away from God, the one who was the “troubler of Israel,” the one who led the people away from God.
“Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, ‘Is that you, O troubler of Israel?’ And he answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have’” (vs. 17-18a). Ahab saw Elijah as the one causing the trouble because he had spoken the words that brought drought and severe famine to the land. But the real trouble in Israel was a failure to experience God’s peace and life.
There seems to be an underlying theme behind the words spoken between Ahab and Elijah. That theme is God’s plan—peace and life. Ahab, along with all of God’s people, should be experiencing “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:7), but they are not. Why not? Because they had walked away from God.
Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The people don’t have that peace because they don’t have that faith. They have all walked away and gone astray. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10b). Abundant life and eternal life—that is God’s plan. So what is the problem? Lack of faith and trust in God; living in sin and rebellion—that is the problem.
Elijah points this out to Ahab: “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals” (v. 18b). He had walked away from God and bowed down to other gods, the gods of the land of Canaan who are no gods at all.
Rather than living by faith in God, he chose sin and rebellion. Rather than living in peace with God and experiencing life abundant according to God’s plan, he chose sin and rebellion. He was the true “troubler of Israel” (v. 17). And the problem was that of walking away from God. So the first step to peace with God is to recognize the trouble—walking away from God.
In order to shake things up a bit, and to shock Israel back into right thinking about God, the Lord sent a simple, yet humble man, Elijah the Tishbite from Gilead (1 Kings 17:1). His was a lowly beginning. Gilead was a high, stony region in Transjordan just to the east of the Sea of Galilee. Elijah was a nobody, yet his very name shouted from the rooftops. It means “the Lord is God,” and that was exactly the message that the people of Israel needed to hear loud and clear.
The people had followed Ahab in going their own way in life instead of God’s way. Even today so many people continue to make that same wrong choice. People need the Lord, but tend to walk away from Him instead. Like the people of Israel, they choose sin and rebellion against God. The end result is separation from God.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). James says that such people, those who choose to continue to live in sin and rebellion, are “like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind…he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:6b, 8)
The people were like sheep without a shepherd. To meet their need, Elijah laid down a challenge: “Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table. So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel” (vs. 19-20).
When the people were gathered he challenged their faith: “And Elijah came to all the people, and 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” (v. 21). They were mixing religions. They were faltering back and forth. They were unstable and double-minded. It was about time the people recognized the truth and made a choice for or against God. But the people just stood there speechless. They were separated from God, yet speechless.
Standing before a great chasm that separated them from God they needed to bridge the gap. Somehow, some way, they had to find a way to bridge the gap. Try as they might, they could find no way across that great chasm of separation. They could find no way to renew their fellowship with God, who was on the other side.
They had to recognize the trouble and they had to understand the problem. They could no longer walk away from God. They could no longer waver from false god to false god. It was time to choose. Would they follow God or would they continue to walk away? So the second step to peace with God is to understand the problem—wavering between two opinions.
Elijah’s view of God was developed during the long days at the brook Cherith, when he had no place to go and was fed by the ravens (1 Kings 17:3-6). Then when the brook dried up (17:7), God sent him to Zarephath, where a widow would provide for him (17:9). Three years Elijah spent in prayer and meditation upon the Word of God in spiritual preparation for this one grand act that God had called him to do.
You might notice that Elijah does not yet call for rain. Before the favor of the rains can come, there must be a sacrifice, a substitute for sin. That is the theology of the cross: Jesus became our substitute so that we could be forgiven. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on 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.” (vs. 22-24)
Everything that happened on the top of the mountain that day had one main purpose. Though it was Elijah’s intent to expose the false god Baal as powerless, his main purpose was to bring the people to the Lord, and that required a sacrifice. Forgiveness is received only through the cross. Bringing the people to the Lord also meant convincing them that the Lord is the one and only true God.
You might note three things here: First, Elijah let Baal’s prophets choose the best bull. He would then sacrifice the one that was left. He would not give them the excuse of an imperfect bull. Second, they were not to put any fire under the bull, in order to allow their gods to provide the fire. Third, he allowed them to go first, giving them all the time they needed. He knew he needed little time for the true God to act.
When Elijah said, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD” (v. 22), he had not forgotten the prophets Obadiah hid and protected. He was simply stating that he alone was serving the Lord openly. Therefore he was greatly outnumbered. But with God one faithful servant is a majority. So Elijah had nothing to fear.
Elijah went right to work making the necessary preparations for sacrifice. In the Old Testament the sacrifice of animals was all about the blood being shed for the forgiveness of sin. But it was at best only a temporary covering. Yet those temporary sacrifices looked forward to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross—a once for all, perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Jesus shed His blood for your forgiveness and to give you new life, an abundant, eternal life in Him.
So God’s remedy is the cross and our hope is Jesus Christ. The only way to bridge the gap is through the cross of Calvary. Only by faith in Jesus can that great chasm be crossed. Only by faith in Jesus can our fellowship with God be renewed. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Jesus told Thomas, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). And Paul adds, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
Jesus is the only answer to the problem of separation from God. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead, He paid the penalty for our sin. Our sentence was spiritual death (eternal separation from God in hell), but the penalty has been paid in full. Through the cross, Jesus bridged the gap, He eliminated that great chasm of separation and restored our fellowship with God. “God is on one side and all the people on the other side, and Christ Jesus, himself man, is between them to bring them together” (1 Tim. 2:5, The Living Bible). So the cross, like the fire, is a miracle that reveals the truth. The third step to peace with God is to realize the truth—God is the One who answers by fire.
“Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one bull for yourselves and 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 them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, ‘O Baal, hear us!’ But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made. And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, ‘Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.’ So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.” (vs. 25-29)
From six in the morning until three in the afternoon the false prophets did all sorts of things—jumping around, shouting and cutting themselves with swords and knives—all to no avail. Meanwhile, Elijah just watched the entertainment. However, about noon he decided to have a little fun and offer a little advice—perhaps he “is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping!” In Canaanite religious writings, Baal was known to go on trips or take naps. The truth is, he could not answer, because he does not exist. He is powerless because he is no god at all.
All their religious ranting and raving went on “until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice” (v. 29a). All day! Still no one responded, no one did anything, there was no fire from heaven. As the text says, “There was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention” (v. 29b).
The Psalmist said, “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision” (Psalm 2:4). God laughs, but we must reject false gods. We must not even entertain them. To toy with false teaching can cause us to stumble. A day spent with a false teacher can cause us to compromise the truth. We must not let that happen! False teaching will always fail. False prophets are always failures. The fourth step to peace with God is to reject the failure—false gods are no gods.
Elijah repaired God’s altar and dug a trench around it (vs. 30-32). He put the wood in place, prepared his sacrifice and then drenched it with water. He filled the trench with water as well (vs. 33-35). Then “At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice” he prayed, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and 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” (vs. 36-37). And what happened? “Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench” (v. 38). God put His power on display!
God rained down fire from heaven. He was telling His people that they were forgiven. He was also telling them that He would turn their hearts back to the worship of the true God. When the fire fell from the heavens it totally devoured everything, the sacrifice, the altar, and even the water in the trench around the altar. There was nothing left. But the altar to Baal still stood as a monument to a lost cause. The false prophets had to be in shock. The people of Israel, however, received the answer well. “They fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!” (v. 39). Then Elijah had the prophets of Baal put to death by the Lord’s command (v. 40). Those who refuse to believe will receive everlasting punishment in hell. Those who believe will receive eternal life in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in His eternal kingdom.
The thing to remember is what the people of Israel learned that day. The Lord is the true God and the offering of the sacrifice of His Son on the cross still stands. Through the cross, God’s offer of salvation still stands.
In this great story of Elijah calling fire down from heaven to fall upon his sacrifice to consume it, we see the people on their faces ready to respond in faith and to receive the Lord as their God. That was the right response. They had received the answer God had given—that the Lord is God. Their eyes were opened to the truth by this miracle. God offered salvation in Christ and they responded in faith, receiving the Lord into their lives as their God. So the fifth step to peace with God is to receive the answer—the Lord, He is God!
We must respond in faith, receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. John said, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). Paul said, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. 10:9-10).
God’s offer of salvation in Christ still stands and our response must be to receive Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. A Christian is simply a sinner saved by grace. Confess Jesus as Lord and believe in the resurrection with all of your heart, and you will be saved. Amen.
