Elijah
by
Theodore Epp

Foreword

When the Enemy of God brought Baal into Israel like a flood, the Spirit
of God raised up Elijah against him. The Lord needed a man to stand in
the gap, and the lowly Tishbite was the man He found. Yet Elijah was as
human as the rest of us. Where he differed from the average believer was
in his single-minded devotion to God. When God commanded, Elijah obeyed.
He was a man of faith whose works of faith will live on.

The spiritual impact of these messages, which were first heard on Back
to the Bible's daily radio broadcast, is cause for rejoicing. We trust
that in this printed form they will prove to be of special help in many
hearts and homes in the days and months to come.

-The Publishers



Contents

Chapter							Page


	1. The Man Elijah 	7

	2. Elijah, God's Prophet 	14

	3. Elijah at Cherith 	23

	4. Elijah at Zarephath 	31

	5. Elijah Approaches the Day of His Triumph 	45

	6. The Hour of God's Triumph 	61

	7. Judgment and Mercy	83

	8. A Mighty Man Falls 	94

	9. God's Kindness to His Servant 	111

	10. Elijah at Horeb 	119

	11. The Call of Elisha	129

	12. Elijah Announces Ahab's Doom 	134

	13. Translation of Elijah	147

	14. Elisha Accepts Elijah's Unfinished Task 	160

	15. Looking Back and Looking Ahead	168

	16. Elijah's God Still Lives 	179



Chapter 1

The Man Elijah

He was a remarkable man, so remarkable in fact that many Christians are
inclined to look upon him as a kind of superhuman being. He lived a busy
and useful life; and after his ministry was ended, God took him to
heaven without his dying. Nearly a thousand years later, this man came
back to earth and visited the Lord Jesus Christ on a mountain. According
to some interpretations of prophecy, this same man will come back and
minister on earth for a short time just prior to the Second Coming of
Christ. His name is Elijah, a man whom we are inclined to set apart from
ordinary servants of the Lord.

Such an estimate, however, is wrong. In the Book of James we read:
"Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are" (5:17). He was,
after all, a human being like the rest of us. He had emotions and
problems; he experienced the same ups and downs in his life that all of
us face. The Amplified Bible says, "Elijah was a human being with a
nature such as we have."

When we compare Elijah's life with David's, we find that David had many
faults; yet he was called a man after God's own heart. Elijah, on the
other hand, had very few weaknesses or sins recorded against him, but we
are told that he was a man of "like nature" (RSV).

To harmonize such evaluations one must know and understand God's
viewpoint. He knows our frailties and inabilities. We are only weak
human flesh, something we must recognize if we want to keep a proper
perspective on life. We must realize that in ourselves we are nothing
and that any success we have in our spiritual life and ministry is due
to God. Left to themselves, David or Elijah would have been complete
failures, just as we would be. Both men became great because they
trusted God. They committed themselves totally to do His will.

David, of course, knew how to deal with his faults in the light of God's
truth and how to trust God for great things. We're told very little
about Elijah's personal life, but a close study reveals that he was a
human being like the rest of us. He was a man of like passions, or
nature. The word "passion" in this context does not mean he had evil
habits in the sense of gross sins, but he had feelings that we would
expect in a human being. He was like us because he was afraid at times,
and because of his fear he fled. Once he was discouraged almost to the
point of death. He had the same needs and appetites the rest of us have,
and he needed the support that only God can give. He was capable of
suffering the same things we suffer, for he was only a man.

He was subject to the same frailties we are. He had the same nature, the
same general kind of disposition all of us are heir to. But because he
was taken from this world without dying, some of us hesitate to look at
him as a pattern for our own spiritual lives.

From both David and Elijah we must learn to look not at the merits and
abilities of a man but at the grace of God. In studying the lives of
these great men, we are not unduly exalting them, rather we are exalting
the greatness of God.

God has His own standard of greatness, and both David and Elijah
measured up to that standard. Elijah was a righteous man. He was a man
who prayed, a man who believed and a man who received answers from God.
He received some outstanding answers to prayer, for he dared to believe
what God told him.

His prayers of faith were outstanding. Yet they do not illustrate the
power of the prophet, but the power of God in the heart of a man who was
humble enough to believe Him.

Elijah's Name

Elijah's name means "Jehovah is my God." I believe this indicates that
God was Elijah's strength and power. There is a vast difference between
the two ideas that the Lord strengthens me and that the Lord is my
strength. Paul emphasized this latter fact in Ephesians 6:10: "Finally,
my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." The
apostle did not say that we should ask God for power to overcome this or
to give strength for that, but we are to simply trust God to be the
strength and power needed.

The Apostle Paul was perhaps the greatest exponent of this truth. Christ
is made unto us whatever our need is. If we need strength, He is our
strength. If we lack holiness, He is made unto us holiness. If we need
righteousness, He is our righteousness. If we want life, He is our life.
He is what we need.

Think of it this way. There is a difference between God's holding a
shield before me and the fact that God is my shield. If God holds a
shield before me, it will provide good protection; but if I realize that
He Himself is my shield, I not only have protection, but I will also be
more than a conqueror, for He is the divine victor.

One day I was reading Ephesians 1 :13,14 where it says we are sealed
with the Holy Spirit. I read it: "Ye were sealed by that holy Spirit of
promise." A dear man of God corrected me by saying, "Brother, it does
not say 'by'; it says 'with."' this makes all the difference in the
world. To be sealed by the Holy Spirit simply means that the Holy Spirit
is the One who seals us. But if we speak of being sealed with the Holy
Spirit, He is both the instrument and the seal.

So seeing God as our strength and power is more than God's giving us
peace; He is our peace. It is not only that God gives us strength to do
something; but He is our strength. When we realize this, our resources
are as limitless as God Himself.

Moses first surrendered himself to God at the age of 40 years. He was
willing to become God's man to free the nation of Israel and take the
Israelites out of the land of Egypt. He believed God and trusted Him for
strength. Then he went out in the strength he trusted God for, but he
accomplished very little. He killed an Egyptian and had to flee for his
life.

At the age of 80, after he had learned to know God in a much more
personal way, he returned to Egypt. He did not ask God for strength;
instead he returned in the strength of God. He let God undertake for him
and recognized that he was merely an instrument in God's hand. The
result was that the Israelites were emancipated and the Egyptian army
destroyed. It is not a matter of great faith but of faith in a great
God.

Elijah's Background

Elijah is first introduced to us as the Tishbite in 1 Kings 17. We are
simply told that he was an inhabitant of Gilead. He came from the
mountains of Gilead on the other side of the Jordan, possibly from a
group that was something of an outcast group. He might have been from
the tribe of Manasseh, for that area had been given over to Manasseh's
descendants. They were a hill people, strong and rugged, dwelling in
rude villages and hardened by life in the open air. The record indicates
that Elijah was a powerful man physically, a person strong of mind and
earnest in spirit.

His birthplace was the little town of Tishbeh, a small, obscure village
in the mountains. His formal education was apparently not extensive, and
of his early religious training we know next to nothing. He and his
fellow Israelites were surrounded by enemies who were idol worshipers,
but of Elijah we read: "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of
hosts" (1 Kings 19:10). We gather from this that he was separated to God
and desired to see God exalted. He must have had a thorough knowledge of
the then existing Scriptures-the five books of Moses, Joshua and the
psalms of David.

In his youth he must have pondered at length over the blight of sin that
had degraded his people. Then, in his mature manhood, he saw how
Jezebel, an ungodly woman from heathen Zidon, brought Baal worship into
Israel. This was one of the darkest hours of Israel's history. Jezebel
killed all the prophets of God she could put her hands on (1 Kings
18:4-13). Others had to flee for their lives. At one time Elijah thought
he was the only prophet left, until God told him that there were 7,000
others who had not bowed their knees to Baal (1 Kings 19:18). They,
however, were in hiding; they were not out working in the open for the
Lord. Leading in idol worship were some 850 priests of Baal and of the
goddess Asherah (1 Kings 18:19). This was the condition in Israel when
Elijah's ministry began.

Elijah's Prayers

Elijah knew the Word of God, and he began to pray in the light of God's
promises. He knew, for example, what Moses had stated in Deuteronomy
11:13-17: "And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently
unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your
God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I
will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain
and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine,
and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that
thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be
not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
and then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the
heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit;
and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth
you."

Knowing the conditions God said would prevail if the Israelites
practiced obedience and knowing what He had promised as judgment if they
were disobedient, Elijah prayed that it would not rain. And it did not
rain for a period of three and a half years. He prayed again that it
would rain, and it did. These are good examples of the prayer of faith,
for true prayer is claiming what God has said in His Word and asking Him
to do as He has promised.

This is not the only time in the Bible where we find men of God going to
the Word to find what God has said and then praying that God's Word will
be fully carried out. True praying is simply taking God at His Word.
This was how Daniel prayed: "In the first year of Darius the son of
Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm
of the Chaldeans; in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by
books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to
Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the
desolations of Jerusalem" (Dan. 9:1,2).

Daniel read in Jeremiah 25:11,12 that after 70 years of captivity, God
would forgive His people and bring them back into their land. On finding
this, Daniel prayed and fasted in sackcloth and ashes and confessed the
sins of his people. Daniel expected God to act on the basis of His
promise, and God did.

According to Daniel 10:2, the prophet was "mourning three full weeks."
And then he stated, "I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor
wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole
weeks were fulfilled" (v. 3). All this time he was praying. He was
claiming the wonderful promise of God and waiting for assurance from God
that the promise would be fulfilled.

This was how Elijah prayed also. We are told, "He prayed earnestly"
(James 5:17). This literally means he prayed in prayer, or we might say,
"He really prayed." His prayers were for the ears of God and not for the
ears of people. Sometimes people remark, "So and so prays beautifully."
Such prayers do not necessarily mean a thing to God. God hears prayer
directed to Him and not to people.

Elijah did not know that there were still 7,000 of God's servants
remaining in Israel, possibly many of them hiding in the mountains. It
was then that Elijah prayed that rain would cease to fall, which, of
course, meant that drought would come. Some might think this was cruel.
It would cause much suffering; even Elijah himself would be affected by
it. This made no difference in his thinking, for he based his prayer on
God's Word. Since God said this was good for His people if they left
Him, then it would be good and not wrong to pray for such chastisement
to fall on them. Its purpose was to bring God's people back to Him.

People need to know that God is the living God. In Elijah's day idols
were worshipped, but they were dead objects. Someone needed to
demonstrate that God was alive and powerful on behalf of His people. The
Israelites needed to know that God's words were not empty utterances and
that God would enforce His judgments. Up to that moment God had withheld
judgment, but the time was ripe for God to show His hand (see Psalm
50:21,22).

Elijah prayed that God might be proven to be God before the eyes of His
people. Would any of us dare to pray for judgment on the nations in
light of the great sins and rebellion against God that we see
everywhere? Elijah's prayer had quite an effect on him as well as
others. but his praying was in the will of God and not on the basis of
any personal grudge against others.

Have we prayed that the Lord would send an awakening at any cost?
Perhaps we have asked God to send an awakening, but have we asked Him to
do it at any cost?

I found myself praying that very way. Realizing something of the
conditions of the day, I asked the Lord for an awakening at any cost.
But I had to stop and think and consider. Could I honestly say, "At any
cost"? We can at least tell the Lord that we are willing to be made
willing to include the phrase "at any cost" in our prayers.

A spiritual awakening usually costs. Generally speaking, we are too
selfish and unconcerned to pray for what will benefit us if it will cost
us suffering or trial, even if the goal will be pleasing to God. So many
of us want to live unhindered so that we can go on accumulating money,
filling up our bank accounts, regardless of what happens to the lost.
Perhaps we have not admitted this to ourselves, but that is the way we
are by nature. We need to become concerned about what the Lord wants to
accomplish in people's lives. What are national or personal reverses
compared to God's glory and receiving His favor?

We in North America enjoy great prosperity today and are proud of it.
But what if we were to face terrible economic reverses? A far greater
loss than that, however, would be the loss of God's favor. Much more
would be at stake than the loss of material things.

Chapter 2 Elijah, God's Prophet

Elijah had a true sense of values. As a prophet of God he knew what God
desired, and he knew that what God desired was best for Israel.

We may think that we could never pray as Elijah did. Remember, God tells
us he was a man of "like nature" (James 5: 17, RSV). He was a human
being like the rest of us, and he faced discouragement and dismay. The
big difference between Elijah and most of us is that he boldly spoke out
for God most of the time. A prophet had to walk alone, for few persons
wanted to walk with him.

We read in 2 Timothy 3:5 of those who have a form of godliness but who
deny its power. From such people we are to turn away. A true prophet of
God will do that. By a prophet, we do not mean just one who foretells
but one who tells out God's message. The prophets were not accredited by
the religious systems of their day; they did not belong to those systems
and did not seem to care that they were not endorsed by them. Very often
the prophets were despised, persecuted and hated by religious leaders.
The prophets had a special message and a mission to perform in arousing
the slumbering conscience of God's people. They were also sent to
comfort the people of God, but only a remnant believed them.

Even though Elijah came from an obscure background, he was called of God
to stand before a king. "And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the
inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, 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" (1 Kings 17:1). Elijah could stand before Ahab
because he first stood before God. To stand before God we must be
cleansed by Christ's blood, reconciled to God through the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ. We must constantly wait on God, being committed to Him,
always ready to obey His slightest command. We must be at God's disposal
to do little things or big things, whatever He calls us to do.

Our concern must be for the Lord and not for ourselves. This was
Elijah's attitude, for he was jealous for the Lord God of hosts. Psalm
37:4 says, "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the
desires of thine heart." The word "delight" simply means to honor God,
to find out what His pleasure is, to do His will and to speak the words
that He has given. When we delight in Him, we have the right desires and
are in a position where God can answer our prayers. God has promised
that if we commit our way to Him and trust in Him, He will fulfill our
desires.

Many people today talk about working for God. But our working for God is
not most important. We must cooperate with God so He can work through
us. This involves submission to His will. What I want means nothing;
what He wants is everything. Samuel cried, "Speak; for thy servant
heareth" (I Sam. 3:10).

There are times when I have found it necessary to refuse speaking
engagements for the simple reason that they will rob me of time with the
Lord. A few years ago I was invited by a friend to be with him during
New Year's services. Before I was through, I had spoken seven times. I
told my friend that I could never do it again, for it gave me no time
for the Lord. We have time for only a 15-minute message on our radio
broadcasts, but if it is to be of any value, we must prepare by being
alone with God for two or three hours at the very least. Remember, the
Lord Jesus Himself set the best example of getting alone with God before
ministering to people.

The Boldness of Elijah

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. He had a remarkable ministry,
but he was still human. He had special gifts from God and was set apart
to perform a special ministry. The difference between him and us is due
to the special work God had for him and the fact that he was fully
submitted to God. When he relied on his own resources, he became as weak
as a child. At one period in his life he was discouraged almost to the
point of death. Renewed by God, he was as bold as a lion.

He dared to stand before King Ahab and pronounce the judgment of God on
him and his kingdom. The prophet showed no hesitancy and expected God to
do what He said He would. The basic principle behind this is given in
the New Testament. In Mark 11:22,23 the Lord Jesus told us to "have
faith in God." He continued, "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever
shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the
sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those
things which he saith will come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he
saith." Jesus said this, and we are to believe it.

The first thing that Elijah did when he stood before Ahab was to remind
the king that the God of Israel is a living God. Jezebel had brought
Baal worship into Israel and had 850 priests leading in the worship of
idols. So the first thing Elijah said was "As the Lord God of Israel
liveth" (I Kings 17: 1). As Job before him had said, "I know that my
redeemer liveth" (Job 19:25). This was in direct contrast to the dead
idol of Baal. It was also stated in preparation for what Elijah would
prove at a later time on Mount Carmel. That event was still three years
in the future, but it was the Living God who acted and demonstrated His
power.

How great is our God? It is not so much a question of how great our
faith is but rather how great our God is. That is the important thing.
Elijah called on God to carry out His own pronouncements. God had stated
that if the Israelites worshiped other gods, He would withhold rain from
them. Elijah dared to believe God and pronounced judgment on the basis
of God's Word. He did not just pray, but he said, "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" (1 Kings 17:1). He was able to
say this because he knew God and believed Him. "God is not a man, that
he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he
said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make
it good?" (Numbers 23:19).

John the apostle fell prostrate at the feet of Jesus when he saw Him in
a vision on the Isle of Patmos. "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet
as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I
am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and,
behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of
death" (Revelation  1:17,18). This is our God. This is Elijah's God.
This is the God of whom he said, "As the Lord God of Israel liveth" (1
Kings 17:1).

Palestine experienced periods of early and latter rains; and in the
interval between, heavy dews at night kept the vegetation refreshed. But
there was nothing that people could do to cause rain if God withheld it.
Man cannot create; that is the prerogative of God. Scientists are
dabbling with seeding the clouds, but they have to have clouds before
they can seed them. Only God can create clouds; people cannot do it.

One day as my wife and I were traveling, we heard on the radio that in
our own state of Nebraska some people had hired an old Indian chief to
see if he could create rain. We began to wonder, "Are we returning to
paganism in our land?" No wonder God has to speak to us today by means
of hail, rain and floods. Some of them have been disastrous. God
sometimes also speaks by withholding rain. Jeremiah raised this
question: "Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can
cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O Lord our
God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these
things" (Jeremiah 14:22).

I gather from the record that at the time Elijah faced Ahab with the
news of God's judgment, the drought had existed for six months. This
lack of rain was the result of the direct prayer of Elijah who based it
on God's statements recorded in Deuteronomy. The prophet had not gone to
see Ahab immediately but had waited until Ahab and the nation were in
dire need of rain. Then he told Ahab that there would be no dew or
rain-not only for months but for years until he, Elijah, gave the word.

Elijah was in a place of danger when he stood before Ahab. The evil
woman the king had married sought the life of every servant of God that
she could find.

God's prophet had no prestigious position or wealth that might have made
Ahab hesitant about destroying him. Elijah was a rough mountaineer,
dressed in a garment made from camel's hair, a poor man whose life Ahab
might take without any qualms of conscience. Yet the prophet stood
before the king and claimed the six-month drought was due to his
intercession before God.

How could a man who had no standing socially or governmentally dare to
be so bold? The answer lies in 1 Corinthians: "For ye see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of
the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of
the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of
the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and
things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh
should glory in his presence" (1:26-29).

Elijah was a man of the same nature as we are. He was weak in himself,
but he became mighty through God. These same truths apply to us today.
We, too, can be bold in situations when we know we are in the will of
God. We may be unknown and have nothing that the world would highly
regard, such as family, social position or education; but since it is
God who supplies the power, we can accomplish His tasks. We learn from 2
Corinthians 10 that "though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after
the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ" (vv. 3-5).

The Secret of Elijah's Strength

We, too, can do God's work in God's power if we will take time, as
Elijah did, to speak before God in the secret place and then go out by
faith in the zeal and energy of the Lord. The first part of his secret
was his prayer life.

We must never lose sight of James 5:17,18: "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.

This is the means that God uses with His people. We learn in Ephesians
6:18 that we are to pray with all supplication in the Spirit. Praying in
the Spirit means to be prompted by the Spirit in what we pray for. In
Elijah's case God had decided that it was time for the people of Israel
to be reminded of what He had told them through Moses. God said that if
they would obey, they would be blessed; but if they disobeyed, they
would be chastised. God needed a man to pray that this judgment would be
put into effect. He found such a man in Elijah. The prophet prayed
earnestly, and God shut up the heavens so that it did not rain.

Elijah was unafraid when he stood before Ahab, because he had knelt in
humility before Almighty God. The Lord gives grace to the humble, but He
resists the proud. For this reason we are to submit ourselves to God,
but we are to resist the Evil One, and he will flee from us. "Draw nigh
to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners;
and purify your hearts, ye double minded" is the admonition we're given
in James 4:8. Having obeyed this admonition, we can pray and we will
receive. When we are right with God in our hearts, we will ask for the
things that please Him, and He will answer us.

Elijah had a knowledge of God. This was another reason for his strength.
He not only knew the names of God and His mighty works, but he had a
personal inner knowledge of Him. It was the kind of knowledge of which
Paul spoke in Philippians 3:10: "That I may know him, and the power of
his resurrection." Ahab did not worship God, but Elijah did. God was a
living reality to Elijah. He should be to us also.

Many people today have a very low view of God. They do not understand
who He is or what He wants to do or how able He is to do all He plans.
Such people lack purpose in life. Unless they come to know Him through
Jesus Christ, they will end up lost and without hope. They will be utter
failures. In contrast to these people are the ones spoken of in Daniel
11:32: "But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do
exploits." God is looking for such persons, according to 2 Chronicles
16:9: "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole
earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is
perfect toward him."

Do you know the Lord in this way? Do you know Him intimately? This is
how Elijah knew Him, and this was one reason why God so abundantly used
him.

The prophet's knowledge of God was a growing knowledge. He spent time at
the Brook Cherith and learned to know God intimately. He then spent time
in Zarephath, where God wonderfully supplied his needs in the home of a
poor widow. There again Elijah grew to know God better. This was God's
program for Elijah until He called him home to be with Himself.

Paul also taught us that our knowledge of God should always be
increasing. After stating, "That I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection" (Philippians 3:10), Paul wrote: "Not as though I had
already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if
that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ
Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth
unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (vv. 12-14). Let us
also press on, for then we will be strong in the power of His might.

Another reason for Elijah's strength was his knowledge of God's
presence. God was not someone whom he had met on some previous occasion,
perhaps in Gilead, perhaps in some mountain hideaway. Instead, He was
the Lord God of Israel "before whom I stand," Elijah said (1 Kings
17:1). The prophet recognized he was always in the presence of God. The
knowledge of this truth has a remarkable effect upon a person's thinking
and actions and character.

We who belong to the Lord are always in His presence. He has promised,
"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). We do not
see Him with our physical eyes, and we may even be unaware of His
presence, but He is with us.

Elijah knew that even while he stood in the presence of King Ahab, he
was also standing in the presence of One who was infinitely greater.
Since Almighty God was with him, why should he tremble before a mere
human king?

Our Lord said that we are to go out into the whole world, and He added
this promise: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world"
(Matthew 28:20). He sends us out, but He goes with us. This is good to
remember when we are tempted to be discouraged or when we feel that God
has stopped answering our prayers. We may not feel His presence; the
great essential is to know His presence. Our feelings are only fleeting
emotions. They easily come and go, but knowing is based on the Word of
God, and that Word is true. Elijah was a strong man of God and a bold
witness, because he was conscious of God's presence all the time.

A fourth factor with regard to his unique ministry was that he gave out
the unchanging Word of God in a constantly changing world. The world
does change quickly, but does it change us with it? Do we tend to give
in to the world's spirit, compromising our standards in order to be less
objectionable to worldly people? It is a sad fact that many Christians
have grown careless in this area of life.

Are the things of the world occupying our attention so much that we
neglect our responsibilities to our Lord? Does the television take up
our prayer time? Do we follow the world's ideas more closely than we do
the standards God has set in His Word? God has never changed, but people
do. The Lord has not changed, and so why should we?

Because the ideas of the world are changing, because its educational
systems are changing, because its philosophies are changing, and because
Western civilization is going back to heathenism in many ways, should
Christians follow along and do likewise? Shouldn't we rather be willing
to stand alone, if necessary, for the truth of the Word of God? In this
way we will show that we are true children of God and that Christianity
has genuine standards.

Elijah was the man he was because he was a man of faith. Remove the
element of faith from him even for a moment, and you will find him to be
weak, fearful, discouraged and wishing to die. This was his experience
after the great victory at Mount Carmel. He was threatened by Jezebel,
and he fled for his life. Instead of keeping his eyes on God, he wanted
to give up. But God was faithful to him, and in His unchangeable
goodness He encouraged and sustained His servant.

The God whom Elijah worshiped is my God. He has not changed in the
centuries since Elijah's day. The God who stopped the rain from falling
on Palestine for three and one-half years is my God. The God who sent
the rain when He decided it was the right time is my God. The God who
sent fire from heaven to consume Elijah's offering on Mount Carmel is my
God. He is the same God today as then.

This means that if we believe God and are obedient, we, too, will be
effective in our service. The power of the Holy Spirit will be given so
we can do what God wants us to do according to the measure of our faith.
Power belongs to God, and we can be strong in the power of His might.

Paul learned that he could do all things through Christ who strengthened
him. The apostle found that his weaknesses could be made strong when he
trusted God. Faith must be tested and matured, and God will lead us
along as far as we are willing to go with Him. Elijah, being a man like
us, had his weak moments, but he faced the trials of faith and became
triumphant.



Chapter 3 Elijah at Cherith

One of the basic points concerning driving an automobile at night is
that one should never over drive the distance that the headlights shine.
If the lights shine 100 yards ahead of the car and the driver can see
that far, he should be sure to drive at such a speed that he would be
able to safely stop within that distance. There is a basic lesson for us
in this with regard to the Christian life, a lesson that shines clearly
from the experience of Elijah. We are not to go farther than God plans
for us. We are not to go ahead of Him but to travel one step at a time.

The prophet said when he stood before Ahab, "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. And the word of the Lord came unto him,
saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the
brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt
drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there"
(1 Kings 17:1-4). As we have previously seen, Israel had been
experiencing a drought for at least six months. Thus, it was dangerous
for Elijah to stand in the presence of Ahab and tell him who was
responsible for the lack of rain. Elijah was not ignorant of the
dangers, knowing that Jezebel had killed all the prophets of God she
could reach; but he obeyed God. He came before the monarch and gave him
God's message. This was as far as Elijah was told to go, but as soon as
he had obeyed, God had additional instruction for him.

One Step at a Time Obeying God always comes first. Then He reveals the
next step. Too many of us, in doing the work of God, want to see the end
result immediately. But that is not trusting God, that is trusting
sight. Faith does not see; it trusts and obeys. When Elijah had
delivered His message to Ahab, the Lord told him what his next step was
to be. Tradition says that this brook ran into the Jordan about 15 miles
north of Jericho. Its waters came from the mountains of Ephraim, from a
spring concealed under a high cliff and shaded by a dense jungle. It is
probable that it was in such a spot that God hid His servant-a place of
safety made known after Elijah's first step of obedience.

As we are obedient and search the Scriptures, God will show us the next
step we are to take in our spiritual lives. This is always God's way of
working. When Saul was on his way to Damascus, he suddenly saw a great
light. He realized that he was face to face with the Lord and said,
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6). The Lord replied, "Go
on to Damascus, and there you will be told what you should do" (see v.
6). Saul had to take a step of obedience. He waited three days, and then
the answer came.

When Joshua led the people of Israel into the land, God assured him:
"Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I
given unto you" (Joshua 1:3). This is what we call the law of
appropriation. Every step Joshua took claimed more of the land for him
and the Israelites. God was not going to give the Israelites the land
all at once. They had to appropriate it one step at a time. It was at
the moment the priests entered the Jordan River that it parted. It was
as the Israelites completed their walking around the city of Jericho
that the walls collapsed. In obedience to God they went forward step by
step, and then God gave them what they needed.

The same was true concerning the manna. It was provided every morning,
six days a week. However, it was provided just one day at a time. In the
Lord's prayer we are taught to say, "Give us this day our daily bread"
(Matthew 6:11). What strength or encouragement we need will be given us,
for God has said, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deuteronomy
33:25). Let us remember that the Lord's work is done one step at a time.

God Asks Our Absolute Trust

We learn also from Elijah's experience that the servant of God must
trust Him absolutely. God told Elijah to go to the Brook Cherith and
stay, for He had commanded the ravens to feed him there. At no other
place would the ravens feed Elijah except at the Brook Cherith, at the
spot designated by God. This raises some questions: Are we where God
wants us? Are our troubles the result of our being out of the will of
God? We will always face troubles in this world, but this should not
discourage us. God provides grace to help us. Some troubles, however,
are caused by our not being where God wants us. Such troubles are
remedied only as we obey God.

The ravens were to bring Elijah his food at Cherith. Suppose, however,
he had thought he knew a better hiding place and had gone to some spot
in the mountains of Gilead? He could have starved to death, for the
ravens had not been commanded to go there. The ravens were told by God
to go to the Brook Cherith, by those high cliffs near the Jordan River
where a special stream was fed by a spring. There God would protect
Elijah from Ahab. The brook bordered the land of Samaria, the very land
over which Ahab was king. There God protected His servant.

When the Israelites were passing through the wilderness, the manna fell
wherever the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire led them. The needed
water was always found when the people followed the guiding hand of God.

The great principle covering this is stated in the New Testament in
these words: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). Let us
seek to be in His place of service, doing His will, doing His work in
His way, and He will take care of our needs. "Trust in the Lord with all
thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways
acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:5,6).

Faith Tested

As Elijah stayed by the brook, the ravens brought him bread and meat in
the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank of the
waters of the stream (see 1 Kings 17:6). But a time of testing arose,
for the brook dried up. It, too, was affected by the lack of rain.
Elijah began to experience the results of his own prayer. He undoubtedly
had known what would happen when he prayed as he did, but he probably
did not know exactly when the water would stop flowing.

Why would God test him like this after having directed him to go to this
brook? Why didn't God keep the water running in a miraculous way, if
necessary? An incident in the Gospel of John furnishes us with a very
possible answer. "When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great
company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread,
that these may eat? And this he said to prove [try] him: for he himself
knew what he would do" (John 6:5,6). God knew what He was going to do
with His prophet, and it was all for his spiritual well-being. We can
picture Elijah living in that great canyon, a beautiful place covered
with many trees. Little by little the water in the brook began to
recede; after a while the birds and animals left the area, for they no
longer had water to drink. Elijah probably had to dig a hole in the sand
to collect a little water for his personal use.

No doubt he wondered if God would forget him. The tempter, the Devil, is
never far away from those who are seeking to do the will of God; he
might have tried to upset Elijah. Perhaps he tempted Elijah to become
discouraged with doing the will of God, or he might have suggested that
Elijah go back home because he had sinned and was reaping God's
displeasure. Satan might even have encouraged him to formulate his own
plans and to take matters into his own hands, then to ask God to bless
those plans.

In Isaiah 28:16 we are told, "He that believeth shall not make haste."
Apparently Elijah knew this truth and obeyed it. When things seemingly
go wrong, we should wait on God and not be in a hurry.

We are admonished in Hebrews 13:5,6: "Let your conversation be without
covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath
said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly
say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto
me."

Why did God allow the brook to dry up? One reason may have been to teach
Elijah, and us, not to trust in the gifts that God gives but always to
trust in God Himself. This is very important. We must keep our eyes on
God, not on things, not on gifts, not on blessings. There is a strong
tendency today for some believers to have an experience in the Holy
Spirit and then to get their eyes off the Lord and on that experience,
on the gift instead of the Giver.

It must have been hard for Elijah to sit by the brook and watch it
disappear, but God was teaching him to turn his eyes from the failing
stream to the unfailing God. Then just when the brook dried up
completely, the word of the Lord came to him again and told him where to
go.

Unbelief looks at the circumstances and forgets God's power. For
example, the 10 Israelite spies who returned with a negative report had
seen only the great walls and giants in the land of Canaan (see Numbers
13). They concluded that they could not take the land.

But faith looks at the circumstances through God. Goliath was a giant;
but when David looked at God and saw how powerful He was, Goliath looked
very small (see 1 Samuel 17:31-58). So when faith looks at God instead
of at the circumstances, the circumstances take on their proper
proportion.

Another reason why God tested Elijah's faith at Cherith was that His
servant needed this private schooling in order to meet further
situations. He was already noted for his zeal and for the effectiveness
of his prayer life. He had asked God that rain be withheld from Israel,
and God had answered his prayer. Since Elijah was like us, he might have
become proud. He could easily have begun to gloat over his success in
prayer. The Lord knew this, whether Elijah did or not, and He knew that
Elijah needed further schooling.

The Apostle Paul had a similar experience that he described in 2
Corinthians: "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the
abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the
flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might
depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee:
for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will
I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when
I am weak, then am I strong" (12:7-10).

The man whom the Lord uses to perform certain tasks must be humble. The
self-life can rise to the surface very quickly, and we must all beware
of it. God will not share His glory with anyone. Though in due course He
will honor those who have been faithful to Him.

Before God could use Elijah further, He had to train him. So I believe
that his seclusion was intended to provide more than protection from
Ahab's vengeance.

Many examples of this are found in Scripture. Joseph, the son of Jacob,
was sold as a slave to Egypt but soon rose to be the most trusted
servant in Potiphar's household. God, however, had a larger task for
this young Israelite, and in order to prepare him for it, he was placed
in jail for a crime he did not commit and was seemingly forgotten.
Nevertheless, God was training him for greater things. At the right time
Joseph was released from prison to become the prime minister of Egypt
and the preserver of his own people.

Moses became a great man as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was in a
position to become ruler of Egypt by reason of his adoption into the
royal family. He renounced this position, however, and identified
himself with his own people, a nation of slaves. He presented himself to
the Israelites as their deliverer, but he was not ready for the task.
God taught him for 40 years in a desert region and, when he was ready,
brought him to be the great emancipator and leader of Israel.

The same truth is seen in the life of David. He showed great promise
even while he was a young man, both as a soldier and as a man who wanted
to do the will of God. He first came to Israel's attention when he
killed Goliath. Yet, after this great success and some others that
followed, God allowed him to be persecuted and tested in order to make
him the man He wanted him to be.

If God is going to use any of us, He will have to seclude us in some way
so that He can personally make us what He desires us to be. When we stay
where God wants us and do as He directs, He obligates Himself to fully
sustain us. We need to learn to stay where God puts us until He moves
us. It is easy for us to let circumstances move us out of the will of
God. Perhaps we are having difficulties making ends meet, or we feel
that we are not receiving the income that we should receive for our
work. So we start planning and perhaps scheming to change our way of
life and our locality, if necessary, in order to get the material things
we want. We reason that if we are in the will of God, He will not allow
us to suffer financial reverses and that a test in this realm is a clear
indication that we should move. This could be true but not always. It
was not so in Elijah's case. He stayed by the brook and saw it was
gradually drying up; but since God had placed him there, he was not
going to move until God told him to.

Think also of the instruments God uses at times. God used ravens to
preserve Elijah's life. To the Israelite these were unclean birds. They
were not to be used as food. The tendency was to avoid them.
Nevertheless, God used them, thus showing His absolute sovereignty in
His choice of instruments. God does not always choose the person who
seemingly has all the potential for great service. God, in His sovereign
purpose, chooses whom He will to do His work.

By feeding Elijah through ravens, God showed His supreme power. He did
what He had promised. These birds brought food day after day to Elijah,
even when the brook was drying up. They were under God's direction and
never once failed in their appointed task.

Here is what the psalmist said in this connection: "Whatsoever the Lord
pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep
places" (Psalm 135:6). All nature obeys Him. Do we? Nature has no free
will, but we do. We ought to be the ones who willingly obey Him since it
is our privilege to fellowship with Him. The lower creatures in nature
do not have such a privilege; nevertheless, God uses them to perform His
will.

In carrying out His purposes, God uses both the natural and the
supernatural. In Elijah's case, the brook was a natural means of
satisfying the prophet's need for water. At the same time, since Elijah
had prayed that God would withhold the rains and the dew from Israel,
the brook began to dry up. This was a natural consequence of God's
answer to his prayer. On the other hand, the fact that the ravens
brought the prophet his food day after day was supernatural. They were
not doing what was normal and usual to their nature. Their feeding of
Elijah was a daily miracle.

When the Children of Israel escaped from Egypt and traveled to Canaan,
God performed many miracles. He gave them manna from heaven, the flesh
of birds and water from rocks. As for their clothing and shoes, these
did not wear out while the Israelites lived in the desert. God has His
own ways of doing things. He is sovereign. When God calls us to do
something for Him, it is not our business to inquire how He is going to
do it. Our responsibility is to obey. It is God's business to choose the
method He will use.

It is conceivable that Satan might have tempted Elijah to think that the
ravens would eat the food themselves and not bring it to him. There is
no record that this took place, but if Elijah had thought such a thing,
he would have been putting his faith in the instrument instead of in
God. His faith, however, was in the Lord and not in the instrument. We,
too, must place our trust in the Creator and not the creature.

The promise of Philippians 4:19 is that God will supply all our needs
according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. There is no point in
our trying to find out how God will do this. Our responsibility is to
believe that He will.



Chapter 4 Elijah at Zarephath

Because Elijah was a man like us, he undoubtedly wondered what God had
in store for him when he saw the brook beginning to dry up. Since he was
trusting in God, however, he believed and help arrived. God did not send
a sudden squall of rain for that immediate neighborhood, nor did he
provide some supernatural source of water in that place. Instead, "The
word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath,
which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a
widow woman there to sustain thee" (1 Kings 17:8,9). Elijah was to
arise, go to Zarephath and dwell there. Only at Zarephath would a widow
provide food for him.

Elijah was sent to the country from which Jezebel came, a heathen
country where most of the inhabitants worshiped Baal. The journey was
long and hard, for Zarephath was about 100 miles from Cherith. Elijah
had to travel on foot through many wild and barren places during a great
famine. Added to this was the danger of passing through the country over
which Ahab ruled. Nevertheless, Elijah obeyed.

The word Zarephath means "refining" or "smelting place." This land was
ruled by Jezebel's father, who was a heathen tyrant and a wicked
idolater like his daughter. God's purpose in sending Elijah there was to
use it in his life as a smelting furnace that would remove the dross of
pride or any tendency to self-reliance or independent action apart from
Him. The Lord was preparing a clean vessel for the next great step in
His plan of deliverance and cleansing for Israel.

Elijah arose and went to Zarephath, "and when he came to the gate of the
city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he
called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a
vessel, that I may drink" (v. 10). We are not told how many days Elijah
traveled, but when he arrived at the city, he found the person he was
looking for. God often works in more than one way to make all of the
details fall into place when we obey Him. He never leaves any detail
untouched.

In verse 9 this woman was simply designated "a widow woman." Her name
was not given nor were any other details. Whether she was rich or poor,
a Jewess or a Gentile was not told him. In verse 10 the words are "the
widow woman." The definite article indicates that this was the woman God
had in mind. She was the only widow who had been commanded of God to
provide for His servant.

We can see this, of course, since we have the Bible, for it makes it
plain that this was the woman God had in mind. Elijah did not know this
at first but tested her to see if she was the proper one. He asked her
to bring him a little water in a vessel that he might drink. As she went
to fetch it, he called to her, "Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread
in thine hand. And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a
cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse:
and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it
for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die" (vv. 11,12).

What a prospect faced both the prophet and the widow! She was poor to
the point of being destitute. She had no resources except a handful of
meal and a little oil. Yet God said, "This is the one." It must have
been a humbling experience for Elijah to realize that he had been sent
to the poorest of the poor in a time of famine and drought to be
sustained. Should not God's prophet have the best? This is what people
often say concerning the Lord's servants. In reality, Elijah did get the
best, for this was God's choice for him. If the prophet had considered
the circumstances only, he might have left. But knowing that God must
increase and he must decrease, he was obedient and stayed.

The Widow Tested by Elijah

Let's put ourselves in the prophet's position for a moment. He was sent
to Zarephath where he was told a widow would take care of him, but he
was not told which widow. Undoubtedly, there were many in that place.
How was he to find the right one? He would know of the experience of
Abraham's servant when he sought a wife for Isaac (see Genesis 24). The
test had been whether or not the young woman would water the servant's
camels without being asked to do so. It was through this that Abraham's
servant found the bride for Isaac. It would seem that Elijah prayed to
the Lord in very much the same way.

He put three tests to the widow. First, he requested, "Fetch me, I pray
thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink" (1 Kings 17:10). She
passed this first test, but Elijah was cautious and added another. The
request for water might have been answered in the affirmative by anyone,
but the second request would be a different matter. He was doing God's
work and seeking God's will, and he was not taking any chances; so he
asked her to bring him a little bread to eat.

Her reply was one of despair and dejection. To Elijah, however, who
remembered how God had sustained the Israelites in the desert and how
God had just recently taken care of him at the Brook Cherith, her reply
lifted his spirits. He spoke in faith when he said, "Fear not; go and do
as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it
unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son" (v. 13). Then he added
this promise from God: "For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The
barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail,
until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth" (v. 14).

On the surface this third test by Elijah may seem selfish. She was to
bring him something before she or her sons was served. Elijah's motive,
however, was very apparent. He was not concerned for himself, for he
knew God and knew how God could provide. Elijah was testing the woman's
heart. In the words of the New Testament, he was finding out if she
would seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and trust God
to provide for her needs.

Faith acts and expects the results to follow. When God commands, we are
to obey, even if what God has said is opposed to what we would expect.
The circumstances did not indicate that Elijah, the widow and her son
could be sustained in the midst of the famine, but God promised they
would be. That was sufficient for Elijah. He knew he had found the woman
who was to sustain him until the drought was over.

Faith goes ahead and trusts God for the results. The priests who carried
the ark had to step into the Jordan River before the waters parted.
David had to go into the field and face Goliath before he received the
strength to overcome his evil foe.

People want to see the end from the beginning, but faith is content to
accept what God says. There was only a little meal in the widow's
barrel. But faith saw that small amount as quite sufficient because of
God's promises. Elijah had first been sent to a brook where there was
water but no food, and yet God supplied. Here at Zarephath there was a
little something in the bottom of the barrel. Faith is not occupied with
the difficulties but with the Lord with whom all things are possible.
Faith is not caught up in the circumstances but is occupied with the God
who controls the circumstances.

A little oil, a little meal and a little water for three persons and
God-that was sufficient. Like Paul, we would declare, "How fathomless
the depths of God's resources, wisdom, and knowledge! How unsearchable
His decisions, and how mysterious His methods! For who has ever
understood the thoughts of the Lord, or has ever been His adviser? Or
who has ever advanced God anything to have Him pay him back? For from
Him everything comes, through Him everything lives, and for Him
everything exists. Glory to Him forever! Amen" (Romans 11:33-36,
Williams).

The Widow Tested by God

Not only did Elijah test this woman to find out if she was the person
whom God had selected to provide for him, but God also tested her. He
did this through Elijah, and the test showed she was obedient to God.
This Gentile widow, living in an environment of Baal worship, obeyed the
prophet's request and believed the promise of God that she would not
lack food for the duration of the famine. In 1 Kings 17:15 we see her
immediate reaction to Elijah's request: "And she went and did according
to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many
days." True faith requires obedient action, a requirement that she
fulfilled. As a result of her faith, her whole household, including her
guest, did not lack for food.

This woman went forth in faith and did just as Elijah told her to. This
obligated God to fulfill His promise. God delights to honor such faith.
He wants to do it, is ready to do it and is waiting to do it for us.
According to verse 16, "The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the
cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by
Elijah."

Each passing day those in this widow's household had the same test of
faith-they scraped the bottom of the barrel. Yet, each day they found
sufficient food in the barrel to meet their needs for that day. A
consistent walk of faith requires walking with God day by day. When such
a walk is sustained, God's blessings follow.

In Psalm 34:9 is a promise that has encouraged many of God's people: "O
fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear
him." The word "fear" in this context means "reverential fear or trust."
In another psalm we learn: "No good thing will he withhold from them
that walk uprightly" (84:11).

Still another promise is found in Proverbs 19:17: "He that hath pity
upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will
he pay him again."

Sufficient for the Day

Few of us have faced the extremity this widow experienced. It seemed as
though each day she might face starvation; yet each day by faith she
trusted God to meet her need. The result was that she and her house "did
eat many days" (1 Kings 17:15). God supplied not a year at a time but a
day at a time.

This is what we need with regard to God's grace. We do not need a great
stockpile of it for future use but a daily appropriation of it, which
God supplies freely. The manna was gathered daily, not in the evening
but in the morning, and each one gathered for himself. So must we accept
grace from God. We cannot hoard today's grace for tomorrow or call on
yesterday's grace for today. We cannot appropriate enough on a Sunday to
last a whole week. We need to have daily contact with God, particularly
in the morning.

Paul reminded us in 2 Corinthians 4, "For which cause we faint not; but
though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day"
(v. 16). If we use what is given, more will be provided. "As thy days,
so shall thy strength be," we are told (Deuteronomy 33:25). Our Savior
instructed us to pray for our daily bread (see Matthew 6:11).

Can we rejoice when our cruse of oil has only enough in it for the next
day? Do we have a sense of security when the barrel of meal is not full,
when there is enough for only one more day? We talk these days of
material security from the cradle to the grave, and all too often our
joy depends on our material prosperity. But God was teaching this widow
that she could be joyful even though she had only enough oil for one
day. She had this security because her eyes did not look at the barrel
she would scrape each day but at the God who promised to take care of
her needs.

The writer to the Hebrews gave this exhortation: "Let your conversation
be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for
he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (13:5). God
does not promise to supply everything we need for the rest of our lives
right now. If He gave it all to us now and we could see it, we would not
live by faith but by sight. Faith looks to God for strength for the day,
food for the day-indeed, all the needs for the day. The life of faith is
a step-by-step walk in conformity to the will and purposes of God.

Elijah and the widow and her son would look to God and encourage
themselves in His greatness. Then the widow would go to her barrel and
find sufficient meal for that day. She would take what was needed,
believing that, because of God's greatness and power, there would be
sufficient meal in the barrel again the following day. The same was true
with the oil.

The Spirit and Power of Elijah

A significant statement is made concerning Elijah in Luke 1: "For he
shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine
nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from
his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to
the Lord their God. And he [John the Baptist] shall go before him
[Jesus] in the spirit and power of Elias [Elijah] to turn the hearts of
the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the
just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (vv. 15-17).

For the Scriptures to say that John the Baptist was to go before the
Lord "in the spirit and power of Elijah" is a testimony to the fact that
Elijah was a man of spiritual power. James told us he was a man of the
same nature as we are; yet he was a man full of the Holy Spirit. In the
Old Testament economy, for the Holy Spirit to indwell and control a man
as Elijah was indwelt and controlled, was something special. But in this
age, it is the privilege of every born-again believer to be indwelt by
the Holy Spirit. In Old Testament times God picked out certain men for
specific purposes and empowered them with the Holy Spirit to carry out
those purposes. In this age, as the Apostle Paul told us, the believer's
body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are not our own. We are the
temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us (1 Corinthians
6:19,20).

This indwelling of the Spirit is in response to our Lord's prayer, as
recorded in John 14:16,17: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall
give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even
the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him
not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you."

Elijah was responsible to God in a very special way since he was filled
with the Spirit of God for a particular work. We not only have the
indwelling of the Spirit, but we can be filled, or controlled, by the
Spirit in order to fulfill the purpose of God in our lives. He will hold
us accountable for how well we have fulfilled His purpose at the
Judgment Seat of Christ according to 2 Corinthians 5. We will be
rewarded for what we have done that pleases God, and we will lose
rewards for what displeases God.

In writing to the Ephesians Paul declared, "In whom ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in
whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit
of promise" (Ephesians 1:13,14). The apostle did not say that we were
sealed "by" the Holy Spirit, which would make the Holy Spirit the
instrument of our sealing. Rather, he said we were sealed "with" the
Holy Spirit, which means that the Holy Spirit is our seal. He is the
"earnest of our inheritance" (v. 14). He has been given to us until the
"redemption of the purchased possession" (v. 14). The moment we became
children of God, the Holy Spirit took up His residence in us. But in
order for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we must give Him
possession of every aspect of our lives. He must control every phase of
our being.

From the life of Elijah we learn that there are three simple conditions
for being controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Empty of Self

First of all, we must be empty of self. God cannot fill us if we are
already filled with the self-life. Elijah was emptied of self during
that long period of three and one-half years of drought and waiting on
God. His experiences first at the Brook Cherith and later at Zarephath
taught him that he could do nothing of himself. He could not even
provide food for himself. Even water, one of the most common commodities
of life, was available to him only through God's provision.

It was in proportion to his being emptied of self and self-sufficiency
and self-dependence that he was filled with the Holy Spirit of power. So
while Elijah waited on the time when God would deal in this very
specific way with Israel, the Holy Spirit was taking more and more
possession of him. Later, of course, there was the great triumph at
Mount Carmel, but that triumph was not possible until God had full
possession of His servant.

Some people seek more of the Holy Spirit, but this is wrong. They have
this matter turned around. The Holy Spirit is seeking more of us. He
already indwells each believer. For us to have His fullness does not
mean that we should seek more of Him but that He should be given control
of all areas of our lives.

Some people look within themselves for evidence of His indwelling and
refuse to believe in His presence unless they can detect some sign of
His presence. This is also wrong. The Scriptures make it plain that we
are indwelt by the Spirit the moment we receive Christ as our Savior. We
accept this by faith. He will take complete control of our lives as we
fulfill the three conditions seen in Elijah's experience.

In one of His great discourses our Lord said, "If any man thirst, let
him come unto me, and drink. . . . This spake he of the Spirit" (John
7:37,39). If we thirst for the filling of the Holy Spirit, Christ will
fill us. We do not drink when we are already full-only when we are
thirsty. We drink when we have a need. We must recognize the emptiness
of self before we can drink of His fullness. The Lord's promise is "He
that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly
[innermost being] shall flow rivers of living water" (v. 38).

The evidence, then, of the Spirit's presence in us does not lie in signs
but is accepted on the basis of faith. I accept what God says, and that
settles it. The Holy Spirit does not make Himself known to us by signs
pointing to Himself, for He reveals not Himself but Christ: "Howbeit
when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:
for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that
shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify
me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you"
(16:13,14).

One of the surest indications of the presence of the indwelling Spirit
is sensitivity to sin. It is a sad commentary on professing believers
that many of them talk about the fullness of the Holy Spirit in their
lives; yet they evidence cantankerousness and argumentativeness, which
are works of the flesh and not fruit of the Spirit. Tenderness of
conscience is another evidence of the Spirit's presence. We will also
find Christ increasingly precious and will be in sympathy with His
purposes in the world and in our own hearts.

Obedience

The second condition for the fullness of the Holy Spirit is obedience.
When God told Elijah he must go to a certain place, he went. Some of the
conditions may have seemed extreme, but he did not question them. He did
as God said. For example, it was an exceedingly dangerous step for
Elijah to enter the presence of Ahab. Yet God told him to go, and Elijah
went.

It was rather an odd thing for God to tell him to hide at the Brook
Cherith and he would find food and water there, but this he did also.
Then, when the brook dried up, God told him to go to Zarephath where he
would find a widow who would sustain him. Elijah obeyed and found God's
promises to be fulfilled to the letter. Later, when God decided it was
time to send rain, He told him to show himself to Ahab the second time.
Elijah did this without hesitating. The point is that he was obedient to
whatever God told him to do.

We are filled with the Holy Spirit only as we continue in obedience. The
Holy Spirit's fullness is given only for the fulfilling of God's
purposes. We must be subject to His directions and plans without
reservation.

The Word, Our Spiritual Food

The third condition is that we must realize that the Word of God is our
spiritual food. The Holy Spirit works through the Word of God. Only as
we feed on it day by day do we meet God's conditions.

Our Savior said in John 6, "As the living Father hath sent me, and I
live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This
is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat
manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever"
(vv. 57,58). A little later in the chapter He explained that eating His
flesh meant obeying His Word. He said, "It is the spirit that
quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto
you, they are spirit, and they are life" (v. 63). So the third condition
for being filled with the Spirit is to let the Word of God rule in our
hearts.

A neglected Bible means that we will be starved and without strength
spiritually. Many people run to meetings for spiritual help, but they do
not meditate on the Word of God for themselves. Let us learn to go to
the Word for our counsel.

We meet the conditions of the filling of the Spirit when we are emptied
of self, are obedient to what God directs and feed constantly on the
Word of God. This is the way to power. Let us follow the admonition of
the psalmist, who said, "But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and
in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his
season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper" (Psalm 1:2,3).

Elijah's Private Life Put to the Test

Can God do for us what He did for Elijah? Was He just the God of Elijah,
or is Elijah's God our God? These are not idle questions but go to the
very heart of the significance of these Scripture passages we have been
studying.

Elijah was thoroughly tested in both his public and private life.
Sometimes we can make impressions as believers in public that are much
better than our conduct in private. How do we react when the toast is
burned or the steak is overcooked? How do we respond when cherished
plans are altered by circumstances? Perhaps someone comes to us for help
or a family condition arises that needs attention-how do we respond to
these needs? People who are filled with the Holy Spirit will be the same
in public and in private. The Spirit-controlled person exhibits the
fruit of the Spirit anywhere he happens to be.

First Kings 17:17,18 says, "And it came to pass after these things, that
the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his
sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And she said
unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou
come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?" We can
think of extenuating circumstances for this mother who was bereft of her
son. She had possibly been tending him night and day as he lay on his
sickbed, and her nerves were strained to the breaking point. She spoke
unadvisedly and cruelly to this good man who had brought to her home
nothing but kindness and the blessings of God.

Elijah might have been trapped into giving a quick and sharp answer.
After all, he was innocent of the accusation she made. However, in spite
of the provocation, he did not lose his poise.

The death of her son apparently reminded the widow of some past sin. Her
conscience was aroused, and she wanted to vindicate her character in her
own eyes. Under such circumstances a person wants to turn the blame, if
there is any, on someone else.

We realize that she very likely had a heathen background and had been a
worshiper of Baal. It is possible that by this time she believed in the
true God, but the death of her son was a great shock to her. Her
conscience for some reason or other was aroused, and our consciences can
make us very uncomfortable.

Without a doubt Elijah's holy life had convicted her of sin. This can
happen to any of us. Sometimes this conviction comes from a member of
our own family-a child perhaps or a wife and mother whose good life
makes others in the home aware of their evil ways. Joseph's brothers
were convicted of their past mistreatment of him when they encountered
trouble in Egypt.

When we encounter problems in our lives, it is difficult for us to
understand the reason for them. Perhaps our reaction to some sorrow or
loss or problem is "Do I deserve this?" or "Why has God treated me so
harshly?" If we have lost a loved one, perhaps we asked why God took
that loved one. We wonder why we have to suffer and why our neighbors do
not. This is the carnal nature expressing itself, not the spiritual
nature.

See how Elijah met this difficult situation: "And he said unto her, Give
me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a
loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed" (1 Kings 17:19).
What a gentle answer Elijah gave! He had been falsely accused by someone
who was not a stranger, for he had been dwelling in the home of the
widow for quite some time. It is true they did not have an abundance of
food, but they were not starving. They had little variety, but they were
eating twice a day at least and had water to drink. The fruit of the
Spirit was seen in Elijah's response-love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control. Elijah was the
same kind of man privately that he was publicly.

Love, according to 1 Corinthians 13, "suffereth long" (v. 4). It is
kind, it is not easily provoked, and it bears all things and endures all
things. Perhaps some will say Elijah could react this way because he was
filled with the Spirit of God in a special way. That is true, but he had
the same old nature we have, and he had to contend with it at all times.
It was not eradicated, but he did not have to obey it, for it was
crucified with Christ. Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). The Holy Spirit is
the only Person who could produce this kind of fruit in a life.

We are no different from Elijah in this respect. The same Spirit who
indwells us indwelt Elijah and can do for us what He did for him. Elijah
responded to the Spirit's dealing in his life and gave himself over
completely to Him. Elijah knew that if God was to use him to the fullest
extent, he would have to walk closely with Him.

A habit that has blessed my own life is that when I am through working
in my study, located in the basement of my home, I pause before leaving
it and ask myself this question: "Am I ready to go out in service?" I
review my spiritual condition and ask myself if I am going out in His
name. Many times I have said, "Lord, I will not go unless You bless me
in a special way. I cannot go unless You touch me with Your Spirit in a
very definite way. I want to fulfill Your business in a way that is
right and say things in a spirit and power in which You want them said.
I cannot go without the consciousness of Your presence." I have then
left my study, assured that God would use me.

Elijah had spent much time in the presence of the Lord; so the death of
this young lad and the unfair accusation by his distraught mother did
not affect his spiritual poise. He took the boy in his arms and prayed,
"O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I
sojourn, by slaying her son?" (1 Kings 17:20). The Lord had sent him to
that widow's home, and she had graciously taken care of him for many
months, possibly a year or more by then. Elijah wondered why God had
permitted this to happen. Then, we are told: "He stretched himself upon
the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God,
I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again" (v. 21).

It is clear that Elijah fully believed that God would answer his prayer.
He did not pray in a public gathering, for some matters are best
discussed with God alone. Some things are accomplished only as we
wrestle privately in prayer.

Elijah showed perseverance. He did not give up but stretched himself
upon the child three times. We are inclined to give up too soon. We ask
God once or perhaps twice, and then, because we receive no answer, we
stop asking. The Lord Jesus admonished us to be persistent in our
praying. When we're praying in God's will, we should keep on asking.

As we stop to consider this matter a little more, we realize that Elijah
was asking for something that had not been previously recorded in all
human history. There is no record of God's having raised anyone from the
dead from the time of Adam to the time Elijah prayed for the widow's
son. Perhaps he caught the truth from Abraham's prayer concerning Isaac,
for Abraham most certainly believed in the God of the resurrection. But
whatever the source, Elijah was asking for something new in human
experience. But he could ask this because he knew God. Ephesians 3:20
says, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." This
was evidently Elijah's concept of God's power. So he prayed with
perseverance. He prayed in faith, not wavering, for the person who
wavers cannot expect his prayer to be answered.

The Word tells us that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His
ears are open to their prayers (see 1 Peter 3: 12). In many instances
the Lord is waiting for us to do some real praying. This is what Elijah
did.

His one purpose in bringing this young boy back to life was to honor
God. The psalmist said, "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall
give thee the desires of thine heart" (Psalm 37:4). God could easily
give new life to this lad.

Life flowed into the boy's body again, and Elijah put him in his
mother's arms. She said, "Now by this I know that thou art a man of God,
and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth" (1 Kings 17:24).
Perhaps others could say that of us if we would only trust and obey God,
showing the same spirit of trust and submission that Elijah did.



Chapter 5 Elijah Approaches the Day of His Triumph

Three and a half years went by before word came to the prophet that the
end of the famine was in sight. "And it came to pass after many days,
that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go,
shew thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah
went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria"
(1 Kings 18:1,2). The moment of Elijah's triumph was fast approaching.

We cannot help but compare the experience of our Lord as He faced the
cross with the experience of Elijah as he faced Ahab, who would gladly
have taken his life. In John 17:1 we read: "These words spake Jesus, and
lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come;
glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." Our Lord looked to
the cross as His coronation day, His day of triumph and victory. Elijah
was in danger of his life in approaching Ahab after three and a half
years of famine.

Some years before this God had said to Elijah, "Hide thyself" (1 Kings
17:3). He needed to be hidden away in order to spend time with God as
well as to be protected from the vindictive Ahab. Elijah's public work
needed to be laid aside for a while in order that he might be shut in
with God. This was necessary so that the day of glory would be just
that-a day of triumph and victory.

Elijah was a man of obedience. When God said to him, "Hide thyself" and
sent him to the Brook Cherith, Elijah went. He had water to drink and
ravens to feed him. When the brook dried up, God said to him, "Arise,
get thee to Zarephath . . . I have commanded a widow woman there to
sustain thee" (v. 9). Again he obeyed and was blessed in his obedience.
The third command and promise was "Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I
will send rain upon the earth" (18:1). In each case there was a command
and a promise. As the command was obeyed, the promise was fulfilled.
Elijah met the condition of obedience promptly in each case.

Obedience to the instructions of God is an act of faith where the person
involved commits himself entirely into the Lord's hands. It involves
committing the human will and purpose into the keeping of a sovereign
God. "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall
bring it to pass" (Psalm 37:5). All this is included in obedience.

No greater illustration of obedience to God is to be found than that of
our Lord Himself when He said, "My meat is to do the will of him that
sent me" (John 4:34). Elijah had learned the Master's secret, and that
was to listen to His word. This is why it was necessary to hide himself
from people. He had also learned that he must believe God, which was
demonstrated by his actions. Listening to God was first, and believing
Him was next. Then, when he obeyed God, the results He promised followed
automatically.

Life for us is also a life of faith. Paul stated in Galatians 2:20: "I
am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." To the
Philippians he said, "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh
in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians
2:12,13). If we will commit ourselves to the Lord completely and without
reservation, He will work in us in such a way that His purposes will be
fulfilled in our lives. He works in us to will and to do of His good
pleasure, but He waits for our definite commitment to Him. He needs our
consent; with it His sovereign power goes into operation to carry out
His purposes.

That is why Paul could say, "I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me" (4:13). It was Christ in him who caused Paul to want
to do the things of God, and then, as he consented to do those things,
Christ worked through him.

Elijah had learned that in himself he was nothing. It was possible for
God to work through him only as he committed himself to Him. He was a
man of like passions as we are. God used him because he was willing to
be used by God.

Perhaps we wonder why we are not used as Elijah was. It could be that we
refuse the tests Elijah faced and passed. When the tests come, we
complain. This keeps us from learning the real secret of Christ's
indwelling grace and power. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, we
complain when we are tried. We may quote Romans 8:28,29, but we do not
believe it. That passage says, "We know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to
his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren." God's great purpose is to conform us to the image of His
Son. If, however, we do not believe He is working in us and are not
submitting to the tests and trials that come, then we cannot be used as
Elijah was. He passed through many severe trials, but he yielded himself
to God in these experiences, and God filled him with His Holy Spirit.

John the Baptist can teach us the secret that is involved. He said,
speaking of Christ, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).
Compare for a moment the Lord Jesus to the sun and John the Baptist to
the morning star. Before the sun rises, the morning star shines clear
and bright. As the daylight begins to increase, however, the light of
the star begins to disappear, until it is completely out of sight. The
star is still in the heavens, but the sun outshines it so that we cannot
see it.

We often speak of sanctification, but what is sanctification in the
daily life? It is Christ's increasing in us and the self-life's
decreasing. Our own aims, ambitions and high estimates of ourselves
become less important, and Christ means more and more to us.

This was the kind of spiritual growth Elijah had experienced during
those years from the time he started to pray for God to vindicate
Himself before Israel until God said to him, "Go, shew thyself unto
Ahab" (1 Kings 18:1). Elijah was obedient because he knew his God. Had
he conferred with other people, he might have been persuaded that he was
like a lone swimmer plunging into a raging sea or an unarmed man walking
into a lion's den. He had to present himself before a wicked, idolatrous
king, a tyrant, a man armed with despotic power, whose personal enmity
against God's prophet had been increasing for three and a half years.

During all this time, Ahab had sought by every means possible to find
Elijah and arrest him. He had thoroughly searched his own country, as
well as all the countries bordering Israel and had made those nations
swear that Elijah was not among them (see v. 10). Thus, it was plain
that Elijah was to face a vindictive man, but God never asks us to do
what is beyond our human nature without imparting sufficient grace and
strength.

In his first meeting with Ahab, Elijah had told him there would be no
dew or rain until he prayed for it. Now rain was promised, for God had
said it would come. It was necessary for Elijah to announce this fact,
or the priests of Baal would, undoubtedly, have claimed that their god
was responsible for breaking the long drought. So, in order that God's
glory might be maintained and Baal completely confounded, Elijah had to
be the instrument through which God would send the rain.

It is very possible that Elijah was comforted by one of David's psalms,
written when danger threatened and God delivered him. "The Lord is my
light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of
my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies
and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though
war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. . . . For in
the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of
his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock"
(27:1-3,5).

Still realizing that he walked a dangerous road, David prayed, "Teach me
thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses
are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted,
unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living" (vv. 11-13). His final admonition was "Wait on the Lord: be of
good courage, and he shall strengthen shine heart: wait, I say, on the
Lord" (v. 14).

Elijah Meets Obadiah

As Elijah, in obedience to God's command, set out to meet Ahab, he saw
that the famine was very severe in Samaria, one of the areas ruled by
Ahab and inhabited by the Israelite people. Apparently it extended
beyond Ahab's kingdom, but Samaria seemed to be getting the brunt of it.
This, of course, was in line with God's judgment-He was disciplining His
people. The Prophet Isaiah wrote: "If ye be willing and obedient, ye
shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be
devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it"
(Isaiah 1:19,20). This principle was literally fulfilled before Elijah's
eyes. The people had rebelled, and they were not eating of the good of
the land. A large number of Israelites had probably died of starvation.
The widow who took care of Elijah was on the verge of starvation when
God sent him to her home for her to be the sustainer of his physical
life.

Obedience to God is the key to His blessings upon us. The Israelites had
suffered for three and a half years because of their disobedience, but
because of the obedience of a man of God, the Lord's judgment would be
lifted.

The first man Elijah met, however, was not Ahab but Obadiah, the
governor of Ahab's household. "And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the
governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly: for it was
so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an
hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with
bread and water.) And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all
fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass
to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts. So
they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one
way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself" (1 Kings
18:3-6).

All that we know about Obadiah is given to us in this chapter. His life,
like Elijah's, is very instructive for us. The men were not necessarily
on the same spiritual level, but Obadiah was a God-fearing man who held
a very influential position in Ahab's household in Samaria. He was in a
position to know the terrible inroads that the worship of Baal had made
in the kingdom. God had his men in high places in government before this
time and after. Joseph was prime minister in Egypt, Daniel was high in
the government under Nebuchadnezzar, and Nehemiah was cupbearer to
Artaxerxes. Obadiah was not uncompromising like Daniel, however.
Everyone knew where Daniel, Nehemiah, Ezra and some of the others stood,
but Obadiah apparently was not as clear cut in his position.

God said, however, that Obadiah feared Him, even though he apparently
had no influence on Ahab's spiritual life. Daniel had his enemies in
court, but he also had a profound effect upon the monarchs under whom he
served. Undoubtedly, Obadiah was greatly shocked when he saw Jezebel
kill the prophets of God, and his conduct in preserving a number of them
was highly commendable.

Obadiah evidently did not rebuke sin. He may have been like some of
God's people today who say, "Don't carry this thing too far. Say just as
little as is necessary to get by." Perhaps he thought his presence would
influence Ahab, but it is clear that he did not get very far. He did not
live the life of a separated man who stood for the truth of God as some
of the others did. He was satisfied with being defensive concerning his
faith, but he was not aggressive in witnessing. He did not actively
promote the cause of God.

God used him and recorded no criticism of him. God simply painted the
picture so that we could see what kind of person Obadiah was. However,
it is clear from 2 Corinthians 6:14,15 what the believer's position
should be in the midst of idolatry and unbelief: "Be ye not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And
what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that
believeth with an infidel?"

Then the admonition is given for the believer to be separate: "Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch
not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto
you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God" (6:17-7:1). Believers today need to obey
this principle.

We find in 2 Timothy 2:21 another principle: "If a man therefore purge
himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and
meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." Obadiah
had done some good things, but his compromising left him unprepared to
be used as fully as God would like to have used him.

Elijah stood in contrast to all this. He was not a great man as the
world would measure greatness. He was not the prime minister of a
powerful nation, nor did he hold the position that Obadiah held in the
house of Ahab. Elijah belonged in the category that Paul described in 1
Corinthians 1:26-29. Here we are told that God did not choose many
mighty nor many wise; instead, He called mostly the weak and the
despised to do His work. He chose some great men, such as Daniel and
Paul, but usually He calls ordinary people.

Obadiah held a position of prestige and influence in overseeing Ahab's
household and possessions. But instead of Obadiah's lifting up Ahab,
apparently Ahab tended to drag Obadiah down so that he was more
concerned about herds and possessions than about the will of God.

Does this speak to our hearts? Perhaps God allowed this man's life to be
included in the Scriptures to teach us this lesson.

Ahab and Obadiah had divided the land between them in their search for
pasture for the animals, and while Obadiah was searching, Elijah met
him. He greeted the prophet with these words: "Art thou that my lord
Elijah?" (1 Kings 18:7).

Obadiah's Fear

Elijah commissioned Obadiah to tell Ahab that he was looking for him.
Obadiah's response was one of fear. He said, "What have I sinned, that
thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?" (I
Kings 18:9). This man seems to have lacked moral strength and spiritual
backbone. When the commission was given, he was reluctant to obey. He
was afraid that Elijah would vanish before he could return with Ahab and
that Ahab would then slay him. But Obadiah finally accepted Elijah's
commission and carried the message to his master.

Fear proved disastrous to Peter when he was walking on the water. He did
well until he took his eyes off the Lord and looked at the waves. So it
was with Obadiah, who looked at the circumstances around him instead of
trusting God.

Obadiah may have recognized the possibilities of God's power but, like
many of us, did not see it as something for himself. The great things
God could do were for somebody else, not for him. Before he agreed to
tell Ahab that he had met Elijah, he had to be assured that Elijah would
stay where Ahab could find him. Obadiah did not want Ahab's wrath to
fall on him. This is why he said, "And it shall come to pass, as soon as
I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee
whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find
thee, he shall slay me" (v. 12).

Then Obadiah went on to vindicate himself in Elijah's eyes: "But I thy
servant fear the Lord from my youth. Was it not told my lord what I did
when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of
the Lord's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and
water?" (vv. 12,13). Obadiah did here what many of us are doing today,
namely pointing to statistics as proof of our faithfulness to God.
Obadiah gave the number of the prophets he had helped; yet while he was
doing it, he was afraid to be Elijah's messenger to Ahab.

The similarities between Obadiah and Elijah are few, and the contrasts
are many. They were both God-fearing men, and both had a commission.
Elijah had a commission to show himself to Ahab, and Obadiah had a
commission to tell Ahab that Elijah was coming. But this is about as far
as their similarities went.

Contrasts Between Elijah and Obadiah

These two men contrasted greatly with regard to obedience. When God told
Elijah to do something, he did it without hesitation. Obadiah, on the
other hand, hesitated, fearing for his life. He lacked faith in the
power of God. Elijah never questioned for a moment that God would
provide the power needed for his commission. Obadiah believed God had
such power, but he did not believe it was for him personally.

Elijah was a man of great courage; boldness marked his life. Obadiah was
the opposite; he was a man of fear.

Elijah did not worry about his reputation. When he was on Mount Carmel,
he staked his whole reputation on his belief that God would answer by
fire. Obadiah was distressed as soon as he heard Elijah commission him,
and he became defensive, trying to build up his own reputation by
telling what he had done at a previous time.

Elijah had a positive message. He asked his nation why they hesitated
between two opinions (see 1 Kings 18:21). He knew that whoever was not
for God was against Him. Obadiah did good things, such as feeding the
Lord's prophets, but apparently he was not convicted of his sins of
omission.

As for results, Elijah prevailed on God to act. At Mount Carmel fire
fell from heaven, demonstrating the faithfulness of God. Rain came as
God had promised. But Obadiah was a spectator of these things. Without a
doubt he was glad to see God vindicated and rejoiced that Baal had been
discredited, but he personally had no part in the results. Let us not
overlook the fact that we, too, can rejoice that God is working through
others. But why not have the joy Elijah had by watching God work through
us? Elijah was human, just as we are, and it is God's desire to
accomplish His purposes through His children.

Elijah was recognized as one of God's greatest men. He was even taken to
heaven without dying, and some say that he is to return to prepare the
world for Christ's return. He was a man whom God could depend on. As far
as Obadiah is concerned, this particular man is not heard of again in
Scripture.

Why not check our own lives against the lives of these two men. Where do
we stand? Are we where God wants us? Is God able to use us, or are we
rejoicing only in what He is doing through others? Let us learn to know
Him. Let us take time to do so, for this knowledge does not come
overnight. Time spent in the presence of God brings eternal results.

A View of Ahab's Character

We have already seen Ahab to be an infidel, a blasphemer, even though he
was king of the ten tribes of Israel. As far as his homelife was
concerned, he might be described as a "henpecked husband." It is
apparent that his strong-minded wife, Jezebel, ran his life. We have
already seen that she imposed her religion on her husband and on his
kingdom.

Ahab gave the following instructions to Obadiah: "Go into the land, unto
all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find
grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the
beasts. So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it:
Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself"
(1 Kings 18:5,6).

While Elijah was on his way to see Ahab, the king had also set out on a
journey. Elijah was on an errand for the honor of God, the God of
Israel. Ahab was searching for food for his horses and mules. He had no
concern about God. The country had seen three and a half years of
famine, and Ahab knew that his sin and that of his household and
Israel's apostasy had brought this drought upon his kingdom. But he
still had no concern for his own sin and no thought of repentance toward
God. Relief from divine judgment was all that he thought about or cared
about; he made no attempt to remedy the situation that had brought the
judgment. He was very much like Pharaoh, who, when a plague struck,
called for Moses and asked Moses to pray to have the plague removed.
Then, once the judgment had been removed, Pharaoh returned to his former
evil ways.

This is characteristic of unregenerate men. We read in Revelation 16:
"And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and
his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for
pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their
sores, and repented not of their deeds" (vv. 10,11).

One would think that Ahab, as king of Israel, would have been more
concerned about his people than about his animals. Such was not the
case, however. By shutting God out of first place, Ahab's evil heart
seemed incapable of rising any higher than being concerned for his
horses and mules.

How different this was from David, a man after the heart of God. When he
saw that the judgment of God was about to fall on Israel because of his
own personal sin, he pleaded that his people might be spared and that he
might be punished; for he, not they, did the evil (II Sam. 24:17).

We are living in days of danger and judgment. We pray for revival, but
why? Is it in order that the character of the days might change? Do we
want God to restrain the evil forces for His glory or for our comfort?
Elijah wanted to see God honored before the whole nation, but Ahab
sought only relief from the results of the drought.

Ahab was so infuriated against the prophet of God that he had sought him
everywhere. Instead of looking at his own evil deeds, Ahab had
considered Elijah to be the cause of all his trouble and the worst enemy
of his nation. Ahab wanted to destroy him, but he first had to find him.
He could not locate Elijah anywhere in Samaria, and his search
throughout the neighboring countries ended with the same result. Elijah
was not to be found.

Elijah's Boldness

It was with God-given boldness that Elijah met this merciless and
despotic ruler. He was willing to give his life for the honor and glory
of God.

At a later time, Paul the apostle, when warned that if he went to
Jerusalem he would have nothing but trouble, gave this answer: "But none
of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so
that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have
received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God"
(Acts 20:24). Paul had one task to fulfill, and he was determined to do
it.

At another place, when he was warned again of what was before him, Paul
answered: "What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready
not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the
Lord Jesus" (21:13). Surely things would begin to happen if we had this
kind of love and devotion to Christ! This was the attitude that
characterized Elijah. He was God's servant and cared only about the mind
and will of God. Elijah was God's bondslave, and a slave does not
originate his own plans.

How do we fit in to this type of wholehearted devotion to the Lord? Is
our eagerness only for the success of our work or our church? If these
thrive, are we satisfied? If these do not thrive, do we become
depressed?

When a person is satisfied that he is in the center of God's plan and
that God is working out His will through him, that person is invincible.
Other people and circumstances, whether they mean opposition or even
death, are of no importance to us. Fulfilling the purposes of God is
what counts to such a person.

Like Paul, this person will be obedient to the heavenly vision. He will
also believe that no circumstances can exist without God's permission.
Paul's attitude was this: "If God wants me to die in this thing, then I
am ready to die." This was also Elijah's attitude.

Even weak Samson, in his last moments before his death, prayed for God's
strength that he might serve Him just once more. He recognized that he
had played the fool, but he wanted only one more opportunity, and God
gave it to him. Samson killed more Philistines then than in all of his
previous experience. But it cost him his life to do it (see Judges
16:23-31).

Elijah had been alone with God. He had been tested and trained and
taught. He knew his God and was ready for whatever Ahab might try to do.
The monarch's first words were "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" (1
Kings 18:17). I am not sure how Ahab said that, but I have a feeling he
was shaking in his boots. He was standing before a man who had been in
the presence of God. Though Ahab could say to his servants, "You do this
and do that" and though he was surrounded by his bodyguards, I am sure
he was awed in the presence of Elijah.

The king's accusation was false, and under such circumstances the normal
reaction is for a person to justify himself A Spirit-filled person, on
the other hand, has surrendered all his rights and has no self to
justify. Elijah might have moderated the king's displeasure by telling
him that rain was on the way, but that was not the message Ahab needed
at that moment. The king and his people had to be humbled before God.
God's glory was at stake. and His honor had to be vindicated. Thus,
Elijah's answer was fearless. He sought no favor from the king.

Elijah Charges Ahab

Even though Ahab's bodyguards were with him and would have slain Elijah
at the king's command, the prophet minced no words. These soldiers held
no terror for him. The language he used is seldom heard in our day to
rebuke leaders of nations who are doing wrong. "I have not troubled
Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the
commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim" (1 Kings
18:18).

People are usually quick to flatter and to seek their own praise. This
could have happened to Elijah as he stood before Ahab, but it did not.
Elijah had been in God's school of training and had been hidden away
with God for three and a half years. There Elijah had learned how to
stand in the name of God before others, regardless of who they might be.

Another tendency is for us to deal with sin in a general way. To name
the sin and denounce the sinner as Elijah did is quite bold. He said to
Ahab very much what Nathan said to David: "Thou art the man" (2 Sam.
12:7).

Paul, in writing to Timothy, gave us further insight into speaking the
truth: "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall
turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an
evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry" (2 Tim. 4:1-5).

Like our Lord Himself, we are not to speak of ourselves but to speak
what the Father gives us. As ambassadors for Christ we are to beseech
others to be reconciled to God (see 2 Cor. 5:20). We are "vessels" whom
God fills with His life, His courage, His grace, His power and His
strength.

Elijah's charge against Ahab and his household was that they had
departed from God and had rejected His Word. Any group or nation that
does this ends up in trouble, as Ahab and Israel did. Ahab would not
allow God to rule over him nor his house nor his people. This is the
attitude of many people in churches today.

But is it not also the attitude of many of us who would not verbally
deny the lordship of Jesus Christ? We may not reject His rulership in so
many words, but our actions show we reject it. Our lack of surrender
indicates it. Our failure to give our life to Him unreservedly is proof
that we are not allowing Him to rule over us. We do not refuse Him as
personal Savior, but we refuse Him the place of Lord and Master. We want
the good things of life, but if He touches our lives or property or
finances or maybe calls our children for His service, then, like the
Christ-rejecters of old, we say, "No, we don't want this man to rule
over us" (see Luke 19:14).

This story of Elijah and Ahab is history and was written for our
benefit. We must apply it to our own hearts if we are to be helped by
it.

Elijah, as the representative of God, issued orders to Ahab. The prophet
commanded and the king complied. This was an unusual situation. Here was
a man without a government position. The king looked on him as a mortal
enemy. He had prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain, and
because of that Ahab wanted to arrest and kill him. Yet he had the
audacity to say to Ahab, "Send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount
Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the
prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table" (1
Kings 18:19).

God, by signs and wonders and mighty deeds, was going to overthrow Baal
in one day. This is not stated at this point, but this is what God was
leading up to in directing these events. Apostasy has to be judged; and
God, who is long-suffering, must eventually bring whatever judgment is
needed to correct the wrong situation.

The world will witness just such a judgment when the Lord brings down
His wrath on those who deny that the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal
God come in the flesh and impose their own ideas on others. In
Revelation 17 and 18 we learn that the world church will be brought to
an end very quickly. "Her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning,
and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the
Lord God who judgeth her" (18:8).

A little later the Scriptures say, "Alas, alas, that great city Babylon,
that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come . . . . For in
one hour so great riches is come to nought . . . . For in one hour she
is made desolate" (vv. 10,17,19).

In light of such departure from the living God, believers can do only
one thing with regard to such a church organization. God's instructions
are "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins,
and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto
heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she
rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the
cup which she hath filled fill to her double" (vv. 4-6).

It was because he was a man of faith that Elijah spoke so boldly and
courageously to Ahab. We are told in Hebrews 11:33,34: "Who through
faith . . . out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight,
turned to flight the armies of the aliens." This is what faith will do.
The judgment on the prophets of Baal and their religion was ordained of
God; Elijah was the man He had selected to be His representative.

Elijah's weapons were not carnal. They were the same weapons we have for
our warfare: "Weapons . . . mighty through God to the pulling down of
strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians.
10:4,5). This is what takes place when faith claims God's promises and
acts in obedience.

Ahab dared not disobey. Though he had been raging throughout the country
for years, seeking Elijah's life, when Elijah stood before him, he was
afraid. The king saw that Elijah was a man of God and that the power of
God was with him; so Ahab sent for the people of Israel and gathered the
prophets of Baal together with them on Mount Carmel.

The king was made a coward by his sins. His conscience accused him. At a
later time in history, Herod, when he heard about Jesus, thought it was
John the Baptist come back to life. When Paul stood as a prisoner before
Felix, it was Felix who trembled. Paul was in chains, but he reached the
conscience of the ruler before him. Mary, Queen of Scots, feared John
Knox's prayers more than she feared the armies of England. Evil people
may put on a false front before God's messenger, but inwardly they
tremble, for the truth of God pierces their hearts.



Chapter 6 The Hour of God's Triumph

An altar to Baal had been erected on Mount Carmel. Long before that,
however, one had been erected to the Lord, but for many years it had
been in ruins. The place chosen was prominent and accessible. It was not
some hidden, out-of-the-way area. People look for such places when they
want to hide their sins: "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light,
neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved" (John
3:20). God chose Carmel to expose the sin of Israel and to demonstrate
His own power and glory.

Ahab complied with Elijah's orders to gather Israel and the prophets of
Baal at Mount Carmel. He had no other choice. Unless Elijah gave the
word, there would be no rain, and the famine would continue. So, in
spite of all of his threats against Elijah's life, King Ahab was
obedient to the prophet's commands and did what was required. This was
also a demonstration of the power of God over the hearts of men: "The
king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he
turneth it whithersoever he will" (Proverbs 21:1).

The psalmist knew that God rules in the hearts and affairs of people:
"Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not
hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto
their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels. Oh that
my people had hearkened unto me. . . . I should soon have subdued their
enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the
Lord should have submitted themselves unto him" (Psalm 81:10-15).

Jehoshaphat also recognized the same truth and declared, "God, . . . art
not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the
heathen [world]?" (2 Chronicles 20:6).

God worked not only in Ahab's heart but also in the hearts of the
Israelites. He subdued the king so that he obeyed Elijah's orders, and
He also made the people of Israel willing to gather at Mount Carmel.
Even the 450 prophets of Baal attended, though the 400 prophets of the
goddess Asherah may have anticipated what was to follow, for apparently
they did not respond to the command to meet at Carmel. It is very
possible that all of the Israelites, those of the king's household and
the false religious leaders who came to Carmel, had contempt in their
hearts for Elijah; nevertheless, a power beyond themselves caused them
to come.

Mount Carmel is located on the northwest corner of Palestine. It rises
out of the Mediterranean Sea, and the traditional site where Elijah and
the priests of Baal held their contest was about 500 feet above the sea.
The highest peak of the mountain range is about 1,740 feet above sea
level, and a little to the southeast of it is a great plateau about
1,680 feet in altitude. An altar had once been erected there to the God
of Israel, but it had long since been discarded. Prominent in that place
in Elijah's time was an altar to Baal. Carmel was known as "the place of
the burning."

Near Mount Carmel ran the river Kishon, which never went dry in its last
few miles near the sea. A precipice followed the edge of the river, and
this was where the prophets of Baal were executed. Some authorities
claim that these men were simply pushed over the edge and died on the
sharp rocks beneath.

Southeast of Mount Carmel was the city of Jezreel. In it Ahab had
another palace in which he lived on special occasions.

There must be a gap in time between verses 20 and 21 of 1 Kings 18.
Verse 20 tells us that Ahab sent word to all the Children of Israel and
gathered Baal's prophets together at Mount Carmel. This would take time.
When they were gathered, "Elijah came unto all the people" (v. 21).

The gathering of this great crowd must have been a remarkable sight to
behold. We can imagine Elijah's going to the highest point of the
mountain and watching the people as they came by the thousands. The
prophets of Baal must have made a colorful picture as they approached in
their priestly garments, putting on all the pomp they could to impress
the people with their dignity and power. Then the king would come with
his noblemen and soldiers. Very likely there were many chariots. There
would also be a great chair from which Ahab could watch the proceedings
and around which the dignitaries of his kingdom would stand.

Knowing of Elijah's experience since his prayer of faith that had
started the drought, he probably spent these days of waiting alone with
God. He would want to know every detail of God's will with regard to the
coming contest. Undoubtedly, he had looked for and found the altar of
God that had been thrown down. Then there would be the problem of
gathering wood and locating water. Nearby was part of a stream that
never ran dry even in the driest of seasons. Perhaps he would also find
out from God where the execution of the false priests was to take place.

All eyes were upon Elijah as he came to the people. Ahab looked at him
in anger and fear, the priests in contempt. The people were divided in
loyalty, but expectant and awed by what they saw. Though Obadiah is not
mentioned, he would be looking on from somewhere near the king's
retinue.

Elijah was God's man who stood against the nation of Israel, its king
and leaders and its false priests, but he showed no fear. He took
complete control and said, "How long halt ye between two opinions? if
the Lord [Jehovah] be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And
the people answered him not a word" (v. 21).

Though he had a nature like ours, Elijah met this situation by faith in
God and not by any inherent power in himself. Without question God's
legions of angels surrounded him as he confronted this wicked king and
his subjects. By faith the prophet subdued a kingdom, worked
righteousness and escaped death. This is what the person whose faith is
in God can do. This is what Elijah did and what we also can do when the
time and the situation require it.

Elijah's Challenge to Israel

Seven times during the course of that great day, Elijah spoke, and his
words were the true index of his heart. His first words were addressed
to the people of Israel, not to the prophets of Baal: "How long halt ye
between two opinions?" (v. 21).

Ahab and his subjects had all been trained in the knowledge of the true
God. Most of them, however, including Ahab, had turned to the worship of
Baal. Others were undecided. The word "halt" means "to hesitate, hobble,
limp." The vast majority of them were hesitating between following Baal
or following Jehovah. No doubt they dreaded the Lord because they had
seen the result of the great famine in their land. Yet these same people
wanted to curry the favor of the king because they were his subjects,
and in order to do so they tolerated the religion of Baal.

Elijah demanded a definite decision on their part. There was only one
true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the great I Am. There was
no other God. He will not accept a divided heart on the part of His
people.

We, too, have a decision to make in this day. We must decide between the
god of materialism and the God of grace. We cannot serve God and money
or other material objects. The individual who is not for Christ is
against Him. Joshua had to state this issue clearly to the people of
Israel in his day: "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord,
choose you this day whom ye will serve" (Joshua 24:15). Years ago a
British statesman, Edmund Burke, said, "The only thing necessary for the
triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

An indictment against the Laodicean church was this: "I know thy works,
that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So
then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue
thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15,16). The Lord Himself said this.
Neutrality with regard to spiritual things is not possible. James wrote:
"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8).

Jonathan, the son of Saul, loved David. He knew God's plans for David
and was well aware that he would one day sit on the throne of Israel.
Nevertheless, Jonathan chose to stay with his father instead of joining
David and his fellow outcasts. God did not allow Jonathan to live to see
David on the throne. The young prince died on the battlefield with his
father.

Among the religious leaders of our Lord's day were those who believed on
Him: "But because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they
should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men
more than the praise of God" (John 12:42,43). How much better if they
had followed the principle that was later stated in Hebrews 13:13: "Let
us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach."

Perhaps some who read this are halting between two opinions concerning
salvation. Perhaps they think salvation is in the church and that by
joining the church or following its rules and regulations all will be
well with them. But why not listen to God instead? True salvation lies
only in the Lord Jesus Christ, made possible through His shed blood. The
Lord Himself clearly stated what the decision must be when He said,
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John
3:3).

Will we, like the people of Israel, not answer a word when challenged?
Theirs was the great sin of indecision already referred to in connection
with the Laodiceans. They were not making a choice, and yet the Lord's
word to them was "I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my
voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him"
(Revelation 3:20). Indecision is actually unbelief. There is no neutral
ground with regard to Christ. When Elijah challenged his fellow
countrymen, they answered him not a word. They feared Ahab and the
priests of Baal and were not ready to commit themselves.

God was calling on His people to repent just as He did the Church of
Ephesus and as He is doing today. The Lord said to that early church,
"Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy
first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent,
and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will
remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent" (2:4,5). We
must make a decision.

To the Church of Pergamos the Lord stated: "So hast thou also them that
hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. Repent; or
else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the
sword of my mouth" (vv. 15,16). These warnings are not to be lightly
turned aside. It is God who speaks to our hearts and to our consciences.
Let us answer Him with willing and obedient hearts.

Having thrown out a challenge, Elijah continued, "I, even I only, remain
a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty
men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one
bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and
put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on
wood, and put no fire under: and call ye on the name of your gods, and I
will call on the name of the Lord [Jehovah]: and the God that answereth
by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is
well spoken" (1 Kings 18:22-24).

In saying that he was alone, Elijah did not mean that God was not with
him. He meant that there was no other prophet to help him. The prophets
of Baal were many, and he gave them first opportunity to see if their
god would answer by fire.

Seeing the reasonableness of Elijah's proposal, the people assented to
it at once, and this forced the prophets of Baal out into the open. They
were put in the position of complying with the challenge or
acknowledging that Baal was an impostor.

Yet the challenge went beyond that. It was an acid test of Elijah's
faith. He gave the challenge but could not produce the result; God
Himself had to provide that. The question in many minds must have been
"Will God answer?" They did not have to wait long to find out.

Sowing and Reaping

According to Galatians 6:7, a person reaps whatever he sows. If he sows
to the flesh, he will reap corruption, but if he sows to the Holy
Spirit, he will reap everlasting life. God will not be mocked. Elijah
was sowing to the Spirit and could not fail to reap of the Spirit. The
prophet knew what God's answer would be.

He stood alone as a prophet of God, for though 7,000 persons in Israel
had not bowed their knee to Baal, they had apparently gone "underground"
and were hiding, perhaps in caves or in the mountains, and had no public
ministry.

It was very possible that some of these people were in the group that
stood on Mount Carmel, but they did not make their presence known.
Elijah stood alone; yet he was not alone, for God was with him. Someone
has said that one man with God is a majority. This certainly proved to
be true on Mount Carmel.

In this connection Revelation 3:8 has encouraged me again and again. Our
Lord said to the Church of Philadelphia, "I know thy works: behold, I
have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast
a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name."
The church was small, but it honored God, and God blessed it.

Numerically the forces of unrighteousness in the world are in the
majority. This was true at Mount Carmel, but the greatest power did not
rest with them. Baal had thousands of followers, and apparently they
were united. In fact, we have a common saying to the effect that in
unity there is strength. But we must qualify that. It all depends on the
kind of union. If a person is united with God in performing a work that
God has determined shall be done, that one person with God can
successfully stand against the whole world. A unity of large numbers of
people can prove to be a weak giant because man-made unity is based on
unrighteousness.

This is one reason why God often calls us to stand alone. It is then we
realize that our strength lies in Him and not with the large number of
followers who might have been attracted to us. Elijah, with God, could
and did stand against the whole kingdom of Israel, even though Ahab was
there with a show of force, and the prophets of Baal were there in large
numbers.

God constantly seeks for a man to do His work. He said through Ezekiel,
"I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand
in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I
found none" (Ezekiel 22:30). For this reason God had to judge His
sinning people.

At an earlier time in their history, God did find such a man when the
nation of Israel rebelled against Him. Psalm 106:23 gives us the
information: "Therefore he said that he would destroy them [Israel], had
not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his
wrath, lest he should destroy them." In this case one man standing in
the gap saved a whole nation.

Elijah was such a man in his day. He had intimate fellowship with God;
and because he knew God, he did great things for Him. Such a man cannot
be deflected from his goal no matter what the circumstances are in his
life. At a crisis time in his experience Job said, "Though he [God] slay
me, yet will I trust him" (Job 13: 15). A little later the same
patriarch said, "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for
myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be
consumed within me" (19:25-27). Job knew of God's intimate care for him
and that He knew of his every thought. This believer of old said, "He
knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth
as gold" (23:10). No wonder Job came through his trying experiences in
triumph.

Because David knew God he was not afraid to face Goliath. The whole army
of Israel fled in terror from the giant, but not the son of Jesse. He
said to the Philistine, "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a
spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of
hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day
will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and
take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcasses of the host of
the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild
beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in
Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with
sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into
our hands" (1 Samuel 17:45-47). What faith this was!

Many Christians today shrug off these episodes of history and say that
they do not apply to us. God still has a work that He wants done, and He
will give the grace, the strength and the power needed to accomplish it.
"What shall we then say to these things? If [since] God be for us, who
can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up
for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"
(Romans 8:31,32). What greater assurance do we need than this?

The God many Christians worship is too small to be the God of the Bible.
We bring shame on ourselves and on our God by our lack of faith. Paul
said, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me"
(Philippians 4:13). And in 2 Corinthians 9:8 Paul declared, "God is able
to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all
sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."

Ahab and all Israel knew that God had withheld rain from their land for
three and one-half years. What is more, the prophets of Baal had been
able to do nothing about it. Undoubtedly, they had tried but were
unsuccessful.

The next test was to be a test by fire. This was within the supposed
realm of the followers of Baal, for he was considered to be the lord of
many aspects of nature. His devotees sometimes offered children as human
sacrifices. If any god could answer by fire, surely Baal could. His
prophets could not refuse this challenge without admitting they were
imposters.

God has used fire on many occasions. There is little doubt that when
Cain and Abel brought their offerings before the Lord, God showed His
acceptance of Abel's offering by sending fire to consume it (Genesis
4:4,5).

When Abraham wanted to know how he stood with God, the Lord told him to
bring an offering, and then He sent fire to pass between the parts of
the sacrifice (15:17).

God said He would judge Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains.
This He did by sending fire to destroy them (19:24,25).

God revealed Himself to Moses by means of the burning bush in the
desert. Here again, God spoke through fire (Exodus 3:2).

In leading the people of Israel out of Egypt, through the desert and
into the land of Canaan, God used a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar
of fire by night (13:21). When they came to Mount Sinai and God gave
them the Law, He spoke to them through thunder and lightning and an
earthquake and a fire (19:16-18).

As a means of accrediting the tabernacle worship and its offerings, God
sent fire from heaven to consume the burnt offering on the brazen altar.
Leviticus 9:24 says, "And there came a fire out from before the Lord,
and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat: which when
all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces." In this case
God was showing approval, but in the following chapter in Leviticus we
have the record of two sons of Aaron who brought strange fire before the
Lord: "And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them" (10:2).

When Solomon had finished building the temple and the first offerings
were prepared on the altar, God showed His approval by sending fire (2
Chronicles 7:1).

So it was that in Elijah's day God was going to use fire to accredit His
work and His servant. He would later send water; but what Israel needed
first was the fire of judgment to show that the sacrifice, which was a
substitute for their national sins, was accepted before God.

Summary of Fire in the Bible

We can summarize the Bible teaching concerning fire in the following
way. First of all, fire is a symbol of the presence of God. This we saw
when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush.

Fire is also an indication of God's acceptance of a sacrifice. On a
number of occasions in the Old Testament, God showed that He was pleased
with certain sacrifices by sending fire from heaven to consume them.

In the New Testament the work of the Holy Spirit is sometimes symbolized
as fire (see Acts 2:3).

Fire will also be used with regard to God's judgment on unbelievers at
Christ's Second Coming. For example, 2 Thessalonians 1:8,9 says, "In
flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the
glory of his power."

Peter also said that God will judge sinners and sin with fire: "The day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be
burned up" (2 Peter 3:10).

In the last book of the Bible the awful destiny of the lost is also
connected with fire: "And death and hell were cast into the lake of
fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in
the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation  20:14,15).

Finally, fire is connected with God's judgment of the believer's works.
We learn from Scripture, "Every man's work shall be made manifest: for
the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the
fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work
abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any
man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall
be saved; yet so as by fire" (1 Corinthians 3:13-15). It is dangerous to
play with fire, especially God's fire. All who play with sin or consider
it unimportant are playing with fire.

Purpose of Fire on Mount Carmel

As has been pointed out before, the fire Elijah called for was to fall
on the slain bullock on the altar. The slain animal symbolized the
substitute for the sins of the people of Israel. If no substitute was
sacrificed for the people's sins, they would have to bear the fire of
God's wrath themselves. But an acceptable substitute would bear God's
wrath, and the people would go free. Sin had to be judged either in the
person of the sinner or in a substitute. Only Elijah's God, however,
could send such fire.

For God to answer by fire was also to be an evidence of the efficacy of
prayer.

In the third place the fire was to make clear who was the true
God-Elijah's God or Baal.

Elijah had appealed to the consciences of the people when he asked them
how long they would hesitate between two opinions. They did not answer
him. Then he spoke to their reason when he suggested that the two
bullocks be slain and placed on the two altars. The God who answered by
fire would be the true God. When it was a matter of conscience, the
people were quiet. But when it was a matter of seeing the wonders of God
through a method that appealed to their reason, they gave their
approval. They came in great numbers to watch, but their hearts stayed
cold and hard. They wanted to see a miracle, but they were deaf to God's
call to repentance.

The prophets of Baal chose a bullock and dressed it, but as Elijah had
warned, they put no fire under it. "They took the bullock which was
given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from
morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no
voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was
made. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said,
Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or
he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And
they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and
lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, when
midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of
the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer,
nor any that regarded" (1 Kings 18:26-29).

As the majority group they had been given first chance. Because there
were so many of them it took them only a very short time to prepare the
sacrifice. As is often the case in matters that pertain to God, however,
the majority was on the wrong side.

When Elijah admonished these idolatrous priests not to put any fire
under their offering, he was warning them that he would not stand for
any tricks. They had often deceived people, but what they were now doing
was out in the open with many eyes watching them. There was no
opportunity given to these tricksters and impostors to use fire on the
altar to Baal.

It is sobering to realize that at the Great White Throne Judgment there
will be no opportunity for tricks or deceit on the part of those charged
with sin and rejection of Christ. Everything will be in the open.
Numbers 32:23 will be completely fulfilled: "Be sure your sin will find
you out."

It was not beyond the power of Satan to have sent fire and to have thus
deceived the people with regard to Baal and his prophets. With God's
permission the Evil One was allowed to send fire that burned up Job's
sheep and servants (Job 1:16). According to Revelation 13 the beast out
of the earth will make the inhabitants of the earth worship the
Antichrist and will do great wonders, one of which will be to make fire
come down from heaven (v. 13). But in this open trial between Satan and
God on Mount Carmel, no fire fell for the false priests. No false
religion can put away sin by sending fire to consume the vicarious
sacrifice. No false religion can bestow the Holy Spirit. The prophets of
Baal were doomed to failure.

Baal's Frenzied Priests

Dr. Alfred Edersheim in his Old Testament Bible History gives the
following account of this scene, based on authentic information: "Now
commenced a scene which baffles description. Ancient writers have left
us accounts of the great Baal-festivals, and they closely agree with the
narrative of the Bible, only furnishing further details. First rose a
comparatively moderate, though already wild, cry to Baal; followed by a
dance around the altar, beginning with a swinging motion to and fro. The
howl then became louder and louder, and the dance more frantic. They
whirled round and round, ran wildly through each other's ranks, always
keeping up a circular motion, the head low bent, so that their long,
disheveled hair swept the ground.

"Ordinarily the madness now became infectious, and the onlookers joined
in the frenzied dance. But Elijah knew how to prevent this. It was
noon-and for hours they had kept up their wild rites. With cutting
taunts and bitter irony Elijah now reminded them that, since Baal was
Elohim, the fault must lie with them. He might be otherwise engaged, and
they must cry louder.

"Stung to madness, they became more frantic than before, and what we
know as the second and third acts in these feasts ensued. The wild howl
passed into piercing demoniacal yells. In their madness the priests bit
their arms and cut themselves with the two-edged swords which they
carried and with lances. As blood began to flow, the frenzy reached its
highest pitch, when first one, then others, commenced to "prophesy,"
moaned and groaned, then burst into rhapsodic cries, accusing
themselves, or speaking to Baal, or uttering incoherent broken
sentences. All the while they beat themselves with heavy scourges,
loaded or armed with sharp points, and cut themselves with swords and
lances-sometimes even mutilated themselves, since the blood of the
priests was supposed to be specially propitiatory with Baal" (Vol. VI,
pp. 17,18).

The frenzy of Baal's prophets reached its height at noon. In the
excitement generated by the rhythm and speed of the priests' action, it
would not have taken a great deal for the people watching them to have
been swept off their feet emotionally and to have joined in the wild
orgy. But Elijah was ready for this very thing. He very effectively used
the weapon of sarcasm to expose the intentions of these evil men and at
the same time to insure emotional stability among the observers.

We read in Psalm 2:4 that God will laugh and hold in derision the plots
of those who rebel against His government. Something like this happened
when Elijah spoke as he did. God was using a human instrument and a
human life but with supernatural power behind it. These men were fools,
and God was answering them according to their folly.

We can see God's attitude again in Proverbs 1: "Because I have called,
and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but
ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I
also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a
whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they
call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they
shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the
fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my
reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be
filled with their own devices" (vv. 24-31).

It is possible that Israel had never seen such earnestness and
enthusiasm at any previous time. But such things are no proof that the
cause is good and true. Some people assume that such a display of zeal
and fervor is evidence of spirituality; however, this can be far from
the truth.

Elijah Prepares the Sacrifice

Probably about three hours passed, and it was time to call off the
futile efforts of the idolatrous priests.

Elijah called the people of Israel to come near him, and he repaired the
altar that had been broken down. This was the time of the evening
sacrifice, and final preparations were made for God to answer by fire.

The people were invited to come close because he wanted them to witness
every move. Elijah wanted them to see that no trickery was involved in
what he was doing. Truth does not fear the closest investigation. It
does not shun the light; in fact, it invites it. The broken altar was a
silent witness of the broken fellowship between the people and their
God. It first had to be repaired. Before God could remove the judgment
of the drought, their sin had to be taken care of.

The principle on which God was working appears in 2 Chronicles 7:12-15:
"And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have
heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of
sacrifice. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command
the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I
hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that
is made in this place."

Israel's broken altar should remind us of the danger of our altars being
broken down. What is our relationship with God? Is it kept intact daily?
Or is there a lack of repentance in our hearts? God's instruction to
Israel in the passages quoted from 2 Chronicles is also His recipe for a
revival in a Christian's heart.

Before any of us can do anything for the Lord we must be in right
relationship with Him. Then we must seek to arouse our fellow Christians
to do the same thing. After succeeding here we can reach out to lost
souls. Unfortunately, many of us turn these things around. We preach to
the lost but overlook the need of our own relationship and fellowship
with God. We must first get right with Him before we can do an adequate
job of pointing others to Him. And if we have unconfessed sin in our
life and we do not repent of it, we block our own approach to God. "He
that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and
forsaketh them shall have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). The psalmist said,
"If I regard iniquity in mv heart. the Lord will not hear me" (Psalm
66:18).

The Lord had to remind the Church of Ephesus that they had left their
first love; and unless they returned, He would have to remove the
church. Abraham went to Egypt during a lapse of faith, and it was only
after he came back to the altar that he had a new beginning and fresh
promises from God.

It is very significant that though Elijah was dealing with the Northern
Kingdom during the time of the division of Israel, he used 12 stones,
thus signifying Israel's oneness and unity. It was not God's will for
them to be a divided people.

Once the altar was repaired, Elijah dug a trench around it and had water
poured on the sacrifice and the wood until the trench was full.

The Altar

There are lessons to be learned from the significance of the altar. The
altar itself spoke of prayer and surrender. The trench around the altar
stood for complete separation from any man-made rituals. God's truth has
its source in God and not in men. The woman at the well asked our Lord
where worship should be conducted-in Jerusalem in the temple or on the
mountain set apart by the Samaritans for that purpose. Our Lord told her
that a time was coming when the true worshipers of God would worship Him
in spirit and in truth without the need of any special place designated
for it (see John 4:23). True worship is not created by man. We gather in
our churches, and the services should be conducive to worship. But
though the emotional atmosphere may make people think they are
worshiping, it may not be true worship at all.

Wood was laid on the altar and was necessary for the burning of the
sacrifice. The wood spoke of the cross and pointed forward to the
crucifixion of our Lord. Finally, there was the sacrifice itself on
which the fire was to fall. For the fire to fall was not enough; it had
to fall on the proper object. Fellowship between God and His people
could be restored only when the proper sacrifice was accepted by Him
through fire.

We could never have a proper relationship with God without Christ's
substitutionary death for us on Calvary. He was the sacrifice offered on
our behalf. Only through Him can we approach God. Had He not died, we
would be alienated from God today.

The part the water played in this sacrifice was unique. The fact that it
was poured over the bullock and the wood and filled the whole trench
insured that no ordinary power would be able to consume the sacrifice.
It almost appeared that Elijah was making it hard for God to answer. But
nothing is too hard for God. It is possible that this water was obtained
at a nearby spring that never ran dry. It has been suggested, however,
that the people who had come at Elijah's command may have brought their
own water. It was a very precious commodity since it was so scarce
during the drought. They may have been induced to pour their own water
on the altar. If they did, their action would speak to us of sacrificing
things that we consider precious.

God calls on us to present to Him the most precious thing we have. Paul
wrote about this in Romans 12:1: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

Some may think that their body is not the most precious thing in the
world to them, but for most people it is. Satan asked God for permission
to afflict Job and then said, "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath
will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his
bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face" (Job 2:5). The
Lord gave Satan permission to afflict Job's body, but He did not permit
him to take Job's life. Satan went forth "from the presence of the Lord,
and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown"
(v. 7). Job did not react as Satan predicted, but it was not because the
patriarch did not value his body.

Most of us will do anything we can to keep our bodies in the condition
we would like to have them. We will spend all of our savings if need be
to keep them healthy or to keep them alive as long as possible. The body
is precious indeed, and that is what God wants us to bring to the altar.
Of course, in yielding our body we also yield ourselves. God wants the
whole person.

Elijah told the people to pour water on the altar not once but three
times. They obeyed, and the whole sacrifice and altar overflowed with
water. This reminds us that we may come before God and claim to have
surrendered all, but the Lord may tell us to go and check everything
again. When God does so, it is well for us to ask Him to examine our
lives. We may be surprised at what He will reveal. As we study the Word,
the Spirit works in our hearts and searches the depths of our beings.
This we will have to allow Him to do over and over again. God accepts us
as far as we have gone, but as we learn more truths from the Word, He
reaches deeper into our hearts. He wants everything laid on the altar.

As surrendered and devoted to the Lord's cause as the Apostle Paul was,
he had to admit to the Philippian believers that he had not yet attained
perfection. In order to "apprehend that for which also [he was]
apprehended of Christ Jesus . . . Forgetting those things which are
behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, [he
pressed] toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12,13).

The only way we can seek God's face is to have Him shine the light of
His Word on us. He will show us the evil in our hearts. When we turn
from the evil revealed to us, God will hear us as we pray (2 Chronicles
7:14).

Elijah's Prayer

By having water poured over the sacrifice as often as he did, Elijah
prevented any human counterfeiting or trickery. Then he began to pray:
"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 of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art
God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these
things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know
that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned thy heart back
again" (1 Kings 18:36,37).

This short prayer has only 63 English words (even fewer in Hebrew), and
it takes about 20 seconds to speak them. But the prophets of Baal had
prayed to their idol for several hours and had received no answer at
all. Elijah prayed for 20 seconds, and God answered by fire.

We will find great value in analyzing this prayer of Elijah. He
addressed it to the unchangeable God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, or Israel. This God never changes, and He is our God.

Elijah did not have some special influence with God. The prophet was a
man of like passions as we are. When he addressed God, however, he
sought the vindication of God's name. He said, "Let it be known this day
that thou art God in Israel" (v. 36). Elijah did not pray selfishly; he
sought only the honor of God.

Then Elijah asked God to make it plain to the people that he, Elijah,
was God's servant. A servant, as Elijah used the word, is a person who
is entirely surrendered to another. Christian service, for example, is
not really something we do for Christ. It is doing the things He has
assigned us to do, not what we decide to do. Furthermore, we do not do
those things-Christ, who lives in us, works through us. Through our
total commitment to Him, His work is accomplished in each believer.

Elijah was such a servant. He was willing to be hidden from the public.
He was willing to be mysteriously fed by ravens and then by a widow for
several years, willing to face the man who wanted to take his life,
willing to stand in the lowest place or the highest place if only God
would be honored.

On the surface, at least, the prophets of Baal did not lack devotion to
their god. But in spite of their earnestness, their pleading and their
frenzy, they received no answer. This was because they worshiped idols
and various aspects of nature. They worshiped objects that were created
by the God Elijah worshiped, the unchangeable God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Elijah's prayer differed in character and sincerity from that of the
prophets of Baal. James described it when he said, "The effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16).

Even some Christians seem to misunderstand what this verse means. They
shout in prayer as though God were deaf. They put on a demonstration as
though they had to attract God's attention. Earnestness in prayer does
not involve physical gestures but a condition of the heart and will with
regard to the purposes of God.

Perhaps here we may learn to examine our own prayers. Since Elijah's
prayer was motivated by his desire to see God honored, God answered His
servant. In writing concerning prayer James said, "Ye ask, and receive
not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts"
(4:3). Right motives are essential if our prayers are to be answered.

The Fire Falls

It is only as we ask according to the will of God that God hears us (1
John 5:14). Elijah was on Mount Carmel in the will of God, and his
prayer pleased the Lord. He cried, "Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this
people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned
their heart back again" (1 Kings 18:37). Then the fire of the Lord fell
and consumed the offering, the wood, the stone and the dust and licked
up the water in the trench (v. 38). There was no long wait for this
answer. The prophets of Baal had prayed for hours with no results.
Elijah spoke this brief prayer and God answered.

God's long-suffering and mercy had already been in evidence. For years
He had put up with Israel's backsliding. God is not willing for any to
perish but wants all to come to repentance (see 2 Peter 3:9). But He
will not hold His anger against sin forever. Since He is a righteous
God, He must judge, but He knows the right time to do it.

Elijah had called to the people to come near where he was standing by
the altar, and they obeyed. Then the fire fell and consumed all that was
on and around the altar, but none of the people were touched. The fire
descended in the presence of all but directly on the altar, not on the
people.

This was no ordinary fire but one that exhibited the wrath of Almighty
God. It was supernatural fire that descended from God. It was not the
result of spontaneous combustion or of man's work. It did not come as a
result of natural law.

It first consumed the offering of the sacrifice. Pictured for us in this
is the death of the substitute for man's sin. God in His righteous wrath
could have consumed the people, but He consumed the sacrifice instead.
This reminds us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The offering was consumed before the wood that was intended to burn the
offering. This was God demonstrating His wrath against sin and at the
same time His love for sinners. The very stones of that altar were
consumed by the fire. Even the dust and the water in the trench were
licked up by the flames. Nothing could resist this fire from God.

So it will be when God's final judgment falls on those who have rejected
the mercy provided through Christ's death. Nothing can stop that
judgment when it comes. It will be a "flaming fire taking vengeance on
them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ: who will be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power" when He returns to
this earth the second time (2 Thess. 1:8,9).

In Revelation 20 we are given a fuller view of the judgment of the Great
White Throne. All the evidence is before the divine Judge and those
accused: "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was
cast into the lake of fire" (v. 15). This is what our Savior warned of
during the time of His public ministry when He told of the place where
"their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:44,48).

Elijah acted in faith when he prayed as he did. He had God's Word on
which to base his prayer. That is what made it a prayer of faith. He
asked God to answer in such a way that the people would know he was
God's prophet, acting according to God's Word. God could not refuse such
faith; so the fire fell.

This scene at Carmel also reminds us of the statement in the Book of
Hebrews that says, "Our God is a consuming fire" (12:29). God is a God
of love, but He is also a God of righteousness. He cannot overlook sin.
Fools mock at sin, but God cannot be mocked. If this fire had not fallen
on the sacrifice prepared by Elijah, then it would have fallen upon
those who had rebelled against Him. A person reaps what he sows, for God
is not mocked (see Galatians 6:7). At the present God is dealing in
mercy and showing long-suffering. There is a day coming, however, when
He will be a consuming fire.

It is to our benefit as believers to remember that the fire of God in
our lives consumes the dross of sin and self. Like a refiner of silver,
God applies the heat only until the metal is pure (Zechariah 13:9;
Malachi 3:3).

It is no wonder that the people of Israel at Mount Carmel fell on their
faces when the fire came down and said, "The Lord, he is the God; the
Lord, he is the God" (1 Kings 18:39). The great controversy between Baal
and God was now ended. Three and a half years of waiting for the drought
to end was now over. The people had witnessed the graphic evidence of
the power of Jehovah, who said of Himself, "I AM THAT I AM" (Exodus
3:14). They bowed before their God and Creator.





Chapter 7 Judgment and Mercy

Since God had answered Elijah's prayer by fire and the people had shown
at least a surface repentance, only one more step was necessary before
God could send rain. This was the removal of the prophets of Baal from
Israel. They had been holding the people in spiritual bondage and were a
constant threat to the future development of God's people. The step that
was taken was no cruel act of savagery on the part of Elijah and those
who aided him; it was like the action of a people defending themselves
from alien invasion. The Israelites belonged to God, and the presence
among them of priests and prophets of a false religion was an invasion
of God's territory.

This has its lessons for us with regard to God's attitude toward sin in
our personal lives. We learn in Romans 8:13, "For if ye live after the
flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify [make to
die] the deeds of the body, ye shall live." God's way of defeating the
power of the flesh is to have us put to death the deeds of the body,
done because we have a fallen nature.

Paul wrote to the Galatians: "They that are Christ's have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts" (5:24). The same truth is given in
Colossians: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. .
. . Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth;
fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things' sake the wrath of God
cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked some
time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie
not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his
deeds" (3:3,5-9).

Lying, or false communication, or what other name we may wish to give
it, is a serious evil in God's sight. And when it enters the realm of
the spiritual, it can be extremely dangerous. Back in the Old Testament
God told Israel how they were to deal with prophets who would lead them
astray from the truth. The directions are found in Deuteronomy 13:1-5:
"If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth
thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass,
whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which
thou hast not known, and let us serve them; thou shalt not hearken unto
the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your
God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and
fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall
serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of
dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away
from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and
redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way
which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the
evil away from the midst of thee."

To have allowed the prophets of Baal to continue living and exercising
all their evil practices would have exposed the Israelites to further
corruption. It would have left the impression in the minds of these
priests as well as the Israelites that the prophets of Baal, though
agents of apostasy, were immune from judgment. God said that they were
all to be destroyed. Not one of them was to escape.

Some today would charge God with being cruel for giving such
instructions. We are living in an era that has rejected the Word of God
and that is remarkably ignorant of His Word and His character. Most
people do not know the God of Elijah. They have a philosophy of
coexistence with sin and advocate noninterference with sinners no matter
what they do.

We, as Christians, are held responsible by God to put to death in our
own lives the instruments of sin. We are not to destroy people but we
are to destroy the impulses and desires in our own hearts that would
lead us astray. God gives us the weapons by which this can be
done-weapons that are not carnal, "but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strong holds" (2 Corinthians 10:4, see v. 5). This cannot be
done through the human will but has to be done in the power of the
Spirit.

We learn in Galatians 5:17, "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the
other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." We must be
unsparing in judging the evil tendencies and ways in our own lives if we
are to let God control us and lead us into a closer walk with Himself.
Just as none of the prophets of Baal were to be allowed to escape, so we
are not to look with favor on one single sin.

In Joshua 10 we have the account of a great battle fought by Joshua
against five kings of Canaan. These were defeated and hid themselves in
a cave. Joshua's soldiers put rocks in front of the cave so that these
men could not escape and then they carried word to their leader. His
answer to them was to bring out the kings and not leave them as
prisoners; they were to be put to death.

Again, in Deuteronomy 17:2-5, God showed how severe Israel had to be in
order to keep false teaching and evil men and women out of the land. "If
there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God
giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of
the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant, and hath gone and
served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any
of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; and it be told thee,
and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be
true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed
that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and
shalt stone them with stones, till they die."

Whereas these were literal and physical facts in Israel's history, the
spiritual lesson for us is that sin must be made inactive in our lives.
The New Testament teaches us that through identification with Christ we
have already died to sin (Romans 6:1-7). So then we are to daily put
into practice by faith what we have in reality under grace in salvation
(vv. 11-13).

Elijah obeyed the Lord and killed the prophets of Baal. He probably took
them down the steep mountainside and cast them over the precipice to the
rock-filled river below. When the rains came, the bodies of the false
prophets may have been washed out to sea, which was only a short
distance away. This was an awful end for these men, but it signaled
God's hatred for idolatry and His determination to purge His own people.

What happened in Israel is often true in our own hearts and lives as
believers. We worship idols at times, because anything that takes the
place of God in our lives is an idol. It can be money or homes or
things.

Ahab was a witness to the death of the false prophets and may even have
assented to it because of the emotional impression left on him when he
saw the fire fall from heaven. But if this were the case, it was only
temporary, for he was an apostate who, after receiving the knowledge of
the truth, willfully and deliberately sinned (Hebrews 10:26-29).

Elijah soon put him to the test again, and his real nature showed up.
The prophet said to the monarch, "Get thee up, eat and drink; for there
is a sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink" (1
Kings 18:41,42).

This was a testimony to the faith of Elijah, but it also showed once
more the kind of man that Ahab was.

Before Elijah met him and instructed him concerning Mount Carmel, Ahab
had been searching for pasture for his horses and mules. Apparently he
had little thought for his people. Hundreds of Baal's prophets who had
been fed by him and Jezebel had lost their lives, but Ahab was going
back to his palace to feast. He apparently had no thought of drawing
near to God and humbling himself under His mighty hand.

While Elijah went up the mountain to pray, Ahab went to eat, ignoring
the fact that his land was still suffering, even though rain was
promised, and that it would continue to suffer as long as a false
religion was condoned and promoted by Ahab and his household.

The prophets of Baal had been judged, but Ahab had been allowed to go
free. His time was coming. God is a merciful God, but He does not hold
back His judgment against sin forever.

Elijah Prays for Rain

When Elijah declared that there was the sound of abundance of rain, no
rain had as yet fallen. There were no clouds in the sky, no thunder and
lightning, nothing that gave visible proof that rain was imminent. There
was not a physical sign anywhere that rain was on the way. Elijah's
statement was based on his faith in the Word of God.

Elijah knew that the Lord was the Creator and that rain was possible
only as He allowed it. Undoubtedly, the prophet had read Job 28:26,27,
which says, "When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the
lightning of the thunder: then did he see it, and declare it." In other
words, God decided when it would rain and how much it should rain. He
controlled it just as He also controls the sea into which the rivers
run: "When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not
pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth"
(Proverbs 8:29). It is the Lord "who covereth the heaven with clouds,
who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the
mountains" (Psalm 147:8).

God sent judgment on the world in Noah's time through rain (Genesis
7:4,23). Through Amos the prophet, the Lord told us, "And also I have
withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the
harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to
rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece
whereupon it rained not withered" (Amos 4:7). This was why it did not
rain for three years and six months when Elijah prayed earnestly that it
might not rain. It also explains why, when he prayed again, "the heaven
gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit" (James 5:18).

Elijah demonstrated the truth of Hebrews 11:1: "Faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." God told Elijah
it was going to rain, and Elijah believed Him and acted  on what God had
said. That is faith.

"Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the
earth, and put his face between his knees" (1 Kings 18:42). He did not
hang around to receive the congratulations of the people on the
successful outcome of his contest with the prophets of Baal. He needed
once more to be alone with God. While Ahab went to feast, Elijah had
food, as our Savior did, that people knew nothing of.

Those of us who preach the Gospel should follow each sermon with prayer
for God's continued grace and power. Perhaps one reason why more is not
accomplished through our preaching today is that we do not take time to
pray after we have preached.

Elijah stood as a giant among the people at the contest on Mount Carmel.
When he went higher on the mountain and came into the presence of God,
he came as a poor sinner who needed mercy, and he humbled himself. In
facing the forces of Baal, he was as bold as a lion. When he was alone
with God, he hid his face.

Elijah had his servant with him when he went to the top of Carmel to
pray, and after he had interceded he "said to his servant, Go up now,
look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is
nothing. And he said, Go again seven times" (v. 43). Seven times they
went through this, and the seventh time the servant said to his master,
"Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand.
And he [Elijah] said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get
thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the mean
while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a
great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel" (vv. 44.45).

Separation

There are eight different aspects of this prayer that we should
consider. First of all, Elijah withdrew himself from the crowds. This
called for humility on his part. The prophet did not stand before God
proud and arrogant. He did not seem to express a great deal of happiness
for what had happened on Carmel. He put his face between his knees as he
spoke to God.

The Bible tells us to have "boldness to enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus" (Hebrews 10:19). How is this done? The same verse tells
us it is done by the blood of another. We do not enter into God's
presence brashly or with boasting. We do as our Lord told us to: "But
thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut
thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matthew 6:6).

Elijah shut himself off from everybody else so that he could be shut in
with the Lord. This is one of the hardest lessons to learn in prayer-to
shut out the world and be alone with the Lord. By this we do not mean
simply the physical separation into a private place but the calming of
the human spirit, which is so easily upset by the turmoil of the day.
"Be still, and know that I am God," the Lord has said (Psalm 46:10). The
atmosphere of the world is fatal to the spirit of devotion; so it must
be left behind when we enter God's presence. We must take time to rest
before Him. We do not rush into His presence, pray for five minutes and
then end our prayers. Real praying takes time.

Humility

In the second place Elijah's posture shows he was humble and reverent
before God. Before the crowds he was majestic and dignified. As God's
ambassador he pleaded with Israel. But as Israel's intercessor he
pleaded with Almighty God in humility of heart and spirit.

The great victory he had just won did not cause Elijah to act in a
flippant way before God. He did not approach the Lord with a haughty
spirit but was humble before Him. In Hebrews 4:16 we are told to "come
boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need." But this does not mean that we come as
God's equal. It does mean that we come with confidence, knowing that
when we come in the name of Christ, the Father will hear us.

Peter instructed us in these words: "Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all
your care upon him; for he careth for you" (I Peter 5:6,7). James also
made reference to this when he said, "But he giveth more grace.
Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the
humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he
will flee from you" (James 4:6-8). Before Moses could come close to the
burning bush, he had to take off his shoes, because he was standing on
holy ground.

Those who boldly confront and confess sin bow the lowest before Almighty
God. John, who wrote the Gospel bearing his name, three short letters
and the Book of the Revelation, leaned on the breast of Christ, but he
expected no special favors from his Lord. When he was taken up by the
Spirit into heaven and given a view of his glorified Lord, he said, "I
fell at his feet as dead" (Revelation 1:17).

Confidence in God s Word

In the third place Elijah based his prayer on the promises of God. God
had told him to show himself to Ahab, for He would send rain to the
earth. Was it necessary for him to beg God to fulfill what He said He
would do? The promises are given, not to restrain prayer but to
encourage prayer. God gives us promises to show us how we should pray
and to what extent we may expect an answer. These promises are the
signed checks that we must endorse and present for payment.

Our Lord Himself prayed while He was on this earth. To Him the Father
said in Psalm 2:8, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for
thine inheritance." The inheritance was assured to the Son, but He was
told to ask for it. The promise is given, then it must be claimed, first
by prayer and then by faith. This is the message of Matthew 7:7: "Ask,
and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall
be opened unto you." James reminded us that sometimes we have not
because we ask not (see James 4:2). Prayer, then, is saying "amen" (so
be it) to God's promises.

Definite

In the fourth place Elijah's prayer was definite. He did not generalize.
He was specific in what he requested. Too often we simply say "God
bless" this one or that one, but we don't ask for anything specific.

Some time back I received a letter from a man who wrote concerning many
interesting things, and at the close he asked me to answer him. The
matters he wrote about, however, were of such a general nature that I
did not know what he wanted; so I wrote to him asking what he wanted to
know. His second letter was just as general as the first. It left me as
baffled as I had been before. This is often the way we approach God with
regard to requests for different individuals or organizations. Let us be
specific in our asking. We have been blessed "with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). This is a
definite promise and assurance from the Word; so let us, on this basis,
ask God for special and particular things in our prayers.

Fervent

In the fifth place Elijah's prayer was fervent. He prayed earnestly. We
do not need to shout and scream in order to show God that we are
sincere. This is a mistake some people make. They shout as if they had
to shake the walls of heaven before God could hear them.

A man (probably the preincarnate Christ) wrestled all night with Jacob,
and when the Lord finally wanted to leave, His servant Jacob prayed
earnestly. He said, "I will not allow you to leave me unless you bless
me" (see Genesis 32:26). He was deeply sincere. It was then that God
could do specific things for him.

Concerning our Savior Himself, we read in the Book of Hebrews: "Who in
the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from
death, and was heard in that he feared" (5:7). This was definite,
fervent praying on the part of our Lord.

Watchfulness

The sixth aspect is that Elijah prayed with watchfulness. When he asked
God for rain, he sent his servant to see what was happening in the sky.
The first time the servant came back and reported there was nothing; so
Elijah sent him again, but he brought back the same report. The Bible
instructs us to watch and pray, not to wonder and pray. Elijah had an
expectant faith, and he believed God would answer. Mark 11:24 says,
"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray,
believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

Perseverance

In the seventh place we find that Elijah prayed with perseverance. He
prayed and then sent his servant to look. This occurred again and again.
Six times the answer came back that there was nothing to be seen. When
we wait patiently for the Lord, He inclines unto us and hears our cry
(see Psalm 40:1). God will not break His Word. He is a God of truth, but
we must wait for His time. None of us who wait on the Lord shall be
ashamed (see 34:5). He grants the answer, but sometimes He waits and
expects us to persevere.

Assurance

The eighth characteristic of this prayer of Elijah's was the assurance
of an abundant answer. "And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he
said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's
hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get
thee down, that the rain stop thee not" (1 Kings 18:44). Then the
heavens became black with clouds whipped by a great wind, and the rain
fell. In the meantime Ahab rode toward Jezreel.

While Elijah had been living at the home of the widow of Zarephath, a
handful of meal had been all that they had seen at any time; yet it had
been enough to sustain the household for many months. Consequently, a
cloud the size of a man's hand was all that was needed for Elijah to
know that his prayer was answered. This was why God had led him step by
step through the various experiences and trials for the past three and a
half years.

How we need to learn to trust God! He prepares us day by day for greater
things that are coming. "All things work together for good" we read in
Romans 8:28, but do we believe it?

Ahab was urged to journey swiftly to his destination, for soon the river
Kishon would be overflowing, and he had to cross it while he had the
chance.

The little cloud the size of a man's hand was only the first of the
tremendous clouds that were to cover the sky and pour out their waters.
Between the time the first small cloud appeared and the time when the
heavens were completely overcast, Elijah's servant had time to get word
to Ahab. A long time before, Elijah had told Ahab that it would not rain
except when he, God's prophet, said it would. Now he was telling Ahab
that it would rain. This, of course, was all based on the Word of God.
God speaks truth. He cannot lie.

Not only did Ahab ride toward Jezreel, but Elijah ran before him to the
entrance to the city. The rain poured down, and without a doubt, most of
the people who were at Carmel were soon thoroughly drenched. In light of
the drought conditions that had existed for so long, they would have all
been thankful in spite of the fact that they were thoroughly soaked.

The scene as depicted in 1 Kings is remarkable. Ahab was probably still
surrounded by his nobles, riding in all his pomp to Jezreel-at least 16
miles away. Then the rain began to fall, and ahead of the king ran
Elijah in the power of the Lord. The countryside that had seen so much
sun and so little rain was dry and hot and showed the ravages of the
drought. Then suddenly the sky was filled with dark clouds, the
lightning flashed, the thunder rolled, and the rain poured down. The
hand of the Lord was on His prophet, and Elijah outran the chariot to
the gates of the city.

Elijah girded himself for this race, which reminds us of the frequent
lessons in the New Testament concerning the race we run and the need of
being properly prepared for it. We are told to "lay aside every weight,
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and
finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:1,2). We have a race to run; so let
us prepare to run it in God's way.



Chapter 8 A Mighty Man Falls

The events on Mount Carmel had provided a day of triumph for God's
servant. Following the miracle of the fire that fell and consumed the
offering, the rain came and ended the drought in answer to Elijah's
prayer. As Ahab raced toward Jezreel in the pouring rain, Elijah "ran
before Ahab to the entrance" of the city (1 Kings 18:46). After one of
the hardest days in any man's experience, Elijah, under the power of the
Lord, outran the king's chariot for at least 16 miles.

Shortly after this a reaction set in. Ahab went home and told Jezebel
all that had transpired on Mount Carmel, including how Elijah had killed
all the prophets of Baal with the sword. The infuriated queen then sent
a message to the prophet: "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I
make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this
time" (19:2).

The man who just a short time before had run before Ahab's chariot to
the glory of the Lord now ran for his life. "And when he saw that, he
arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth 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 juniper tree: and he
requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O
Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers" (vv. 3,4).

Elijah had been in the midst of a spiritual warfare against forces seen
and unseen. The satanic powers had fought against him, but with strength
provided by the Lord he had won a great victory over them. The armor of
God was on him as he engaged in the battle and emerged triumphant. Then,
shortly after, he suffered a spiritual downfall. How could such a thing
take place, and how can we who are people of like nature escape such a
fall?

Spiritual warfare must begin and be carried on in humility. Paul's words
come to us with new force: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might. . . . For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high places" (Ephesians 6:10,12).

When he girded himself to run to the city of Jezreel, he took a humble
place before King Ahab. He assumed a servant's place as one who wanted
to honor his king. Though Elijah rebuked this monarch for his idolatry,
he still honored him for the office he held.

Our Savior's ministry was conducted in humility. We read in Philippians
2: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but
made himself of no reputation" (vv. 5-7). Just prior to His death, our
Lord showed this humble spirit when He washed the disciples' feet. This
was a lesson to them and to all who call him Savior and Lord-that they
are to live and serve, not in pride but in humility.

Something of Ahab's character is seen in that he let Elijah run before
the chariot. This man of God who had brought such a triumph that day
should have been invited to sit with the king as he journeyed toward his
home in Jezreel. In fact, Elijah should have been made prime minister;
but Ahab cared nothing for the glory of God, even after the terrible
judgment he had witnessed on Mount Carmel.

Elijah was undoubtedly hoping for a revival in Israel. This hope may
have helped give him the extra strength to continue to run those many
miles. He wanted to see what would happen when news of these events came
to Jezebel, who was, in reality, the cause of idolatry in Israel.
Perhaps she would turn to God as the people had when they cried out,
"The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God" (1 Kings 18:39).

On the surface, at least, Ahab seemed to have turned to God. He had
consented to the death of Baal's prophets. He apparently did not raise a
hand in protest as those wicked men were brought to judgment. He seemed
to assent to all the things that took place on Mount Carmel; so Elijah
must have felt there was the possibility of a real revival. No doubt the
prophet hoped the day would end with Jezebel's realizing that she could
not trifle with the things of God.

Elijah went no farther than the gate of the city, but Ahab went on to
his palace and told Jezebel all that Elijah had done.

Possibly it was with a great degree of enthusiasm that he told his wife
of the fire that fell from heaven and consumed the offering, the wood,
the stones and even the dust and the water. After her own prophets had
labored for six hours and nothing had happened, Elijah had prayed a
brief prayer, and God had immediately answered. This was a miracle,
indeed, and it caused the people to shout to the glory of God. Then he
told her about the slaughter of the prophets of Baal. Perhaps there was
a secret hope in his heart that she, too, would be convinced that she
must honor God. He undoubtedly was convinced, but he was not saved. He
knew what he ought to do, but he had no change of heart.

This is often the case with people. They become convinced of the truth
of the Gospel, but they do not actually accept Christ as personal
Savior. Nicodemus was such a person, for he was convinced that the Lord
Jesus could only do the things that He was doing because God was with
Him. But our Lord told this Jewish leader that he needed to be born
again. We cannot get away from that truth: "Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

There was a fatal omission in Ahab's narration of events. He told
Jezebel all that Elijah had done but not what the Lord had done. The
difference is simply this: Ahab was undoubtedly convinced that Elijah
was a prophet of God, but since he himself was not born from above, he
could not see that the events on Mount Carmel were the Lord's doing.
Ahab praised a man. He probably told Jezebel how all the people were for
Elijah. He showed how the authority of the priests of Baal had
evaporated. Elijah had prayed that it would not rain, and it did not
rain for three and a half years. He had also said that it would not rain
until he asked God to make it rain, and this had taken place, just as he
said it would. In spite of this wealth of evidence, Jezebel was not
convinced.

Jezebel's Threat

Perhaps Ahab was amazed at Jezebel's reactions. Her face probably became
red with anger as she listened to how her prophets had died. Ahab was a
weakling whom Jezebel easily stirred up to do what she wanted. In modern
terms we would describe him as a henpecked husband who usually did what
his wife told him to. Jezebel's vicious and vindictive character showed
up in the message she sent to Elijah: "So let the gods do to me, and
more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to
morrow about this time" (1 Kings 19:2).

She was crafty and unscrupulous and merciless. Ahab was a weak tool in
her hands. She was the foreshadowing of the religious woman spoken of in
Revelation 2. There she is used as a symbol of an evil seducer, leading
God's people astray: "Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee,
because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a
prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication,
and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent
of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a
bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation,
except they repent of their deeds" (vv. 20-22).

The Lord was addressing a church in apostolic days, but He was also
speaking to much of the organized church of today, which is no longer
teaching the truth of God but false doctrines.

Then in Revelation 17:3-5 we find the consummation of this system
symbolized in the woman who sits on a scarlet-colored beast, the woman
who is "Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And
Abominations Of The Earth."

Jezebel was insensitive to the presence of divine power, but her tongue
was set on fire by hell. James said, "And the tongue is a fire, a world
of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the
whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on
fire of hell" (James 3:6). She knew she could not harm the Lord, but she
sought to take her revenge on God's chosen servant. Let us not forget
that those who "live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2
Timothy 3:12).

Jezebel's Fear

Jezebel knew that God was almighty, and in spite of the fact that she
threatened God's servant, she was afraid of him. She had the authority
to send soldiers to take his life immediately, but her announcement gave
him 24 hours to flee. Actually she did not dare lay a hand on him.
Apparently she hoped that her threat would make him leave the country.

It is not unusual for people to put on a bold front with regard to
spiritual things. It is only a front, however, for behind it is a heart
of fear. Many are afraid to face the issues of life and eternity, and so
they act as though they have resolved these matters and have no further
concern with them.

Some years ago I conducted an evangelistic campaign in a church that did
not want public invitations to be given. I announced, however, that
anyone who wanted to talk to me about the Lord Jesus Christ and
salvation should stay after the meeting. Among those who remained to
speak to me was a young man whom I knew. I asked him, "Would you like to
be saved?"

He answered, "No."

I then asked him why he had stayed to talk to me. He answered, "I am
afraid to go to hell."

He did not want to be saved, but he was afraid of hell. I finally said
to him, "I will be praying that God will make you willing to be saved."

At 12 o'clock that night he came to see me. By that time he wanted to be
saved.

Let us not lie to ourselves and others concerning our spiritual fears.
There is no point in trying to hide them from God, for He sees our
hearts. We must turn to Him through faith in Christ and find the
solution to our spiritual perplexities.

Elijah's reaction to Jezebel's threat was not consistent with his
character. We would have expected him to demonstrate confidence in God.
The promise in Isaiah is "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose
mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the
Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength"
(26:3,4). But Elijah had no peace of mind or heart. He ran for his life.

Previous to this when he was confronted with danger, the word of God
came to him very clearly. When Elijah's life was in danger for having
told Ahab that it would not rain until he said so, God warned him to
hide himself. When the brook dried up, he was instructed to go to
Zarephath. Then, after three and a half years had passed, Elijah was
instructed to show himself to Ahab because God was going to send rain.
These orders were all clear and definite. But no word came to him from
God concerning this threat. The prophet left on his own.

Had he not sought orders from God? Perhaps he did, but nothing in the
record says he did. Elijah could not see behind the scenes; so he did
not know what was going on in Jezebel's heart. He did not stop to think
that if she had meant to kill him, she could have done so right then and
there when she sent the messengers with the warning. Evidently there was
a lesson Elijah needed to learn. He had stood up for God, but his
success could have led to his destruction.

After Paul had been caught up into the third heaven and received
wonderful revelations from God, he received a thorn in the flesh. God
allowed this to come lest elation and pride, because of the great
revelations given him, would lead him astray (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

Elijah had successfully consummated one of the greatest feats in
history. It is true that God did it through him, but Elijah was the
instrument, and there was the grave danger that he might become proud.
This is a danger that always confronts people who are successful
servants of the Lord. Satan has caught many of them off guard and has
succeeded in causing their withdrawal from effective service.

The principle involved is illustrated well in the case of Saul, Israel's
first king. Samuel, speaking for the Lord, said, "When thou wast little
in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel,
and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? And the Lord sent thee on a
journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites,
and fight against them until they be consumed" (1 Samuel 15:17,18).

Saul fought the Amalekites, but he did not obey God with reference to
their complete destruction. So he was rejected for his pride and
rebellion.

Three Possible Reasons

There were possibly three major reasons why the Lord temporarily allowed
Elijah to follow his own devices. God did not desert him but temporarily
withdrew Himself, first for Elijah's own sake. He did not want His
servant to become a victim of pride and be useless to Him. Elijah needed
to see that by himself he could not do the work of God. Pride is subtle,
and unless it is checked it can end our usefulness.

The second reason was possibly that God intended to discipline Israel
because they had not returned to Him with their whole heart. They had to
reap the fruit of their own sowing. If Elijah had stayed with them, his
presence might have stood in the way of their just punishment.

In the third place, God possibly wanted to take Elijah to a solitary
place where He could speak to him alone and reveal Himself to him in a
fresh way. He could have done this by a specific command, but apparently
Elijah reached a decision before God's will was made clear to him, and
this is why he ran.

Elijah was not forsaken. His experience reminds us that whom the Lord
loves He chastens and that if we are not chastened, we are not sons
(Hebrews 12:5-10). Regardless of how chastening comes, it is not at the
moment a joyous experience but a grievous one (v. 11). "Afterward it
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby" (v. 11).

Elijah first came to Beer-sheba, which was in Judah, and left his
servant there. This was outside Ahab's kingdom. The prophet continued a
day's journey into the wilderness, sat down under a juniper tree and
asked God to let him die.

God dealt gently with His servant and sent an angel to awaken him and
have him eat. Elijah was refreshed and strengthened and lay down and
slept once more. The second time the angel came to him and said, "Arise
and eat; because the journey is too great for thee" (1 Kings 19:7).

Elijah must have realized then that he had depended on his own intellect
and discernment. He was a man of such faith that he had seen and heard
the rain before it ever fell. Yet he was only human, after all, a man of
like passions as we are. Through the psalmist the Lord promised, "I will
instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will
guide thee with mine eye" (Psalm 32:8). We need to depend on God's
wisdom, not our own.

Trusting in what he thought looked good led to Lot's downfall. "And Lot
lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well
watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even
as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto
Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed
east: and they separated themselves the one from the other" (Genesis
13:10,11). According to the record, Lot took several downward steps, and
each one of them was the result of relying on his own wisdom.

The case of the 12 spies who were sent to the land is another
illustration of how people look at things from their own viewpoint and
do not see these things as God sees them. The account is given in
Numbers 13. Ten of the spies came back with this report: "And there we
saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were
in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight" (v.
33). Their decision was reached on the basis of what they saw-not on
what God wanted them to see.

When a person views things as God does, he chooses a way of life in line
with God's desires. We read that Moses forsook Egypt by faith, "not
fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is
invisible" (Hebrews 11:27). Faith gave Moses vision that went beyond
what the human eye can see. This was the happy experience of Job at the
end of his trials, for he said, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of
the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee" (Job 42:5).

Job had a new vision of the Lord; he understood why things were as they
were, and he abhored himself and repented in dust and ashes (v. 6).

Elijah, when he received the threat from Jezebel, looked at it with
human reason and ran for his life. This time he did not run for the
Lord. His steps were uncertain this time. He apparently had no divine
direction, no word from God as to where he should go. Let us always be
careful to follow the path that God has laid out for us.

Some people tell us that a need constitutes a call. But if that were the
case, some of us would have to be 100 persons, instead of one. Here at
Back to the Bible we receive hundreds of letters telling us of a great
need. These needs are all around us, but we must know from God what
particular need we are to meet. In this way our steps are sure, and we
will certainly be doing the work God wants us to do. Otherwise, we would
be working in circles, and the work of God would not be done.

The following song by Mary Slade pictures for us the blessings that
become ours when we closely follow the Lord.

Footsteps of Jesus

Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling "Come, follow Me!" And we see
where Thy footprints falling Lead us to Thee.

Tho they lead o'er the cold, dark mountains, Seeking His sheep, Or along
by Siloam's fountains Helping the weak:

If they lead thru the temple holy, Preaching the Word Or in homes of the
poor and lowly, Serving the Lord:

Then at last, when on high He sees us Our journey done, We will rest
where the steps of Jesus End at His throne.

Footprints of Jesus, That make the pathway glow! We will follow the
steps of Jesus Where'er they go.

Not Forsaken

Servants of God who have great zeal and courage for God and His truth
become weak and timid when left to themselves. This may explain why so
many Christians are weak and timid today. Do we not know that all things
are possible with God and that without Him nothing is possible?

We can praise God that He does not forsake His people. He is faithful to
us and watches over us though He gives us no visible manifestations of
His presence. The Israelites did not enter the Promised Land when they
should have; yet God did not forsake them though He temporarily removed
His hand of blessing. He assured them, "Be strong and of a good courage,
fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that
doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee" (Deuteronomy
31:6).

When Moses was about to die, he called Joshua and said in the presence
of all Israel: "Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with
this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers
to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it" (v. 7). God's
promise to us is "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews
13:5). The patriarch Job suffered the loss of his family, his wealth and
his health; yet he was never forsaken by God.

Our Lord is the only one serving God who was ever forsaken. He cried out
while on the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Psalm
22:1). He was forsaken so that we who turn to God through faith in Him
would never be forsaken.

Even though we may forget it, God never forgets that "we have this
treasure [the Gospel] in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the
power may be of God, and not of us" (2 Corinthians 4:7). This is why He
told us that He has chosen that which the world calls foolish, weak and
base (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-29). Through such He glorifies His own
name. This is why Paul reminded us that none of us in our work for the
Lord is anything; only God counts, for He gives the increase. "So then
neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God
that giveth the increase" (3:7).

Someone has said, "The best of men are but men at their best." God wants
us to know this: Let God's power be withdrawn, even for a moment, and
one sees that people are only earthen vessels-absolutely valueless and
useless in themselves. This is why the psalmist said, "Verily every man
at his best state is altogether vanity" (Psalm 39:5). Man left to
himself is a failure. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, "For there is not a just
man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not."

Noah, left to himself, got drunk. Lot, left to himself, became carnal.
Abraham, when he did not depend on God, lied concerning his wife. Moses
forgot for a moment where his strength lay and became angry. Aaron
failed to remember that God had assigned different responsibilities to
his servants; so he became jealous. Joshua became careless and hasty in
his decision with regard to Ai and also the Gibeonites. David committed
adultery and murder. Peter became self-sufficient and denied his Lord.
These things happen to us as soon as we, even for a short while, leave
God out of our lives.

In order to give us lasting examples and instruction, God had recorded
for us the experiences of these people. Paul told us this in 1
Corinthians 10:11-13: "Now all these things happened unto them [the
Israelites] for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon
whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but
such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also
make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Just because
others fail we don't need to fail. God has given us these examples so
that we might be forewarned and forearmed, entrusting ourselves to His
keeping and distrusting our own strength.

Still, we find it very easy to criticize another servant of God. When he
falls or falters, we tend to find fault with him. What we often forget
is that the testings others face may be far greater than what we
ourselves have to cope with. It is our responsibility to pray for fellow
believers and uphold them before the Lord.

We must, then, be sympathetic with Elijah, for he was but a man. He
wanted to give up just as we sometimes are tempted to give up. God,
however, never gives up. The Lord wants His own character to be seen in
us, and He will make this possible if we will just lean on Him. Paul
wrote to the Corinthians: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye
stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord"
(15:58).

I have met servants of God who have allowed circumstances alone to
direct their path. At such times I have felt that what they were doing
was not in the will of God for them, but what could I say? Sometimes
they approached me apologetically and sought to justify what they were
doing, declaring that they were having good opportunities to witness for
the Lord. Yet they knew and I knew that such was not the case. My heart
was heavy for them.

The exercise of faith must be constant as we walk with God. We do not
exercise faith in this aspect of salvation once for all. For the new
birth, we trust Christ once for all and are born into His family. Then
"there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Only after we are born again can we walk with God,
but this must be done in the power of the Spirit.

Our Christian walk is a daily walk, a step at a time. It is a life of
faith lived moment by moment. Faith itself is a divine gift from God and
comes through the Word of God. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by
the word of God" (Romans 10:17). So Galatians 2:20 is appropriate again:
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Elijah's Depression

Elijah traveled on foot about 95 miles to the southern border of Judah.
Then he went another day's journey into the wilderness. By that time he
was completely exhausted. He had remarkable physical strength and
endurance, but he had extended himself to the breaking point. He had
first prepared for the "showdown" with the prophets of Baal at Mount
Carmel. There was great pressure on him because of satanic opposition
while he was on the mountain. Then it was necessary to kill the prophets
of Baal. Such invasion of Satan's territory is not done easily. Then
Elijah prayed for rain with great earnestness, and finally he ran about
16 miles to Jezreel to see what results would follow the great triumph
at Mount Carmel. All of this took place in one day.

Satan knows that a tired body is an added opportunity for him, and he
took advantage of it in this case. When Jezebel threatened Elijah, he
seemed to lose control and continued running until he sat under the
juniper tree in the wilderness.

Then he requested that he might die. He felt his labors had been
fruitless. He longed for rest. "It is enough," he said (1 Kings 19:4).
He had hoped to see a great revival, but no spiritual change had taken
place in Israel.

I must admit that there are times when I have wondered, after many years
of radio broadcasting to millions of people, just what has been
accomplished. God has called us to faithfulness, however, not to
success. My hope and trust lie in Him. Is this how you trust Him for the
work He has given you to do?

Some men in the Bible went even further than Elijah did in
discouragement. Jeremiah said, "Cursed be the day wherein I was born"
(Jeremiah 20:14). Job wished that the day of his birth might perish (see
Job 3:3). These men all had natures like ours. They showed what they
could be when God filled them and controlled them and also what they
were when left to themselves. If we did not have this knowledge, we
would be tempted to think they were superhuman instead of ordinary
people like the rest of us.

How inconsistent we can be when we are not walking with the Lord! When
Elijah fled from Jezebel, he fled "for his life" (1 Kings 19:3). Under
the juniper tree he pleaded, "Lord, take away my life" (v. 4). Life,
however, is precious to each of us, and Elijah was no exception. The
picture was not all bad with regard to this man of God, for in his
dejection he turned to the Lord. Though he was still depressed, he
unburdened his heart before God.

How often when things have gone wrong have we turned away from the Lord
in dejection and depression! Sometimes we have even accused Him of
mistreating us. But Elijah didn't do this. He was on speaking terms with
the Lord, though God did not answer his request for death. He had asked
amiss; he was not praying in the Spirit. In fact, Elijah never died, for
God took him to heaven without dying.

God knew that His servant had overtaxed himself and needed a renewal of
his physical life as well as his spiritual life. Our inner life is very
sensitive to our outward condition. Rest is very important to all of us.
Proper exercise is also important. We sometimes forget this, but God
does not. Our physical condition can influence our spiritual condition.

Elijah felt very much alone. He admitted this to God: "I, even I only,
am left" (v. 10). Loneliness is sometimes a penalty that people pay for
being great. Someone sent me the following paragraph:

"A leader is a lonely man. He follows visions that others cannot see. He
moves ahead when others lag behind. He walks in solitude with God.
Driven on by burning desire to achieve goals that to others seem
visionary or impractical (because leaders are not conformists), they are
looked upon with suspicion by the run-of-the-mill crowd. Men who lead
are certain targets for the biting barbs of criticism. Their fearless,
clear, compelling manner makes them a prey to those who do not
understand them. But the church needs leaders today-men who will bear
criticism, who will bear reproach for the cause of Christ; men who will
stand up when others fall, who will go on when others faint. Will you be
a leader?"

God does not leave such men without help however. The following poem is
a testimony to the faithfulness of the women who have stood behind many
Christian workers and helped them in difficult places.

There is one person in your church Who knows your preacher's life. She's
wept and smiled and prayed with him. And that's your preacher's wife!

She knows one prophet's weakest point And knows his greatest power;
She's heard him speak in trumpet tone, In his great triumph hour.

She's heard him groaning in his soul, When bitter raged the strife, As
hand in his she knelt with him- For she's a preacher's wife.

You tell your tales of prophets brave, Who walked across the world And
changed the course of history By burning words they hurled.

And I will tell how back of them Some women lived their lives Who wept
with them and smiled with them. They were the preachers' wives!

Shortly after the Back to the Bible Broadcast began, a day came when I
was very discouraged. I walked the floor saying, "What is the use? We
cannot go on this way." My wife suddenly realized that the Devil was
trying to get both of us discouraged, and she said she would not give
in. She went to be alone with God and to search the Scriptures for a
message from Him. He gave her this verse from Job: "Though he slay me,
yet will I trust in him" (13: 15). God used this verse to lead us out of
that period of despondency. Let us not be too hard on Elijah for
becoming discouraged.

When Elijah had his eyes on the Lord, he faced his foes without fear.
But the moment he forgot God and concentrated on the circumstances,
things changed. He looked at the danger and lost his courage. Centuries
later Peter did the same thing. As long as he looked at the Lord, he
walked on the water and was not afraid. The moment he looked at the
waves, he became afraid and began to sink.

Someone reading this may be living under difficult circumstances.
Perhaps you are living with an ungodly husband whose temper flares up
constantly. Perhaps you feel you cannot take it any longer. Look to
Jesus instead of the circumstances that are affecting you so badly, and
the Lord will give you strength. Trust Him to save your husband.

Or maybe you are living in some situation that you could not avoid, and
yet you feel it is impossible to continue in it. Look to Jesus, and then
you can see your circumstances from the right perspective.

God looked on His servant Elijah with kindness and provided food for
him. The Lord did not forget him. He followed him everywhere. Elijah
learned as we should learn: "He [God] hath not dealt with us after our
sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is
high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our
transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the
Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he
remembereth that we are dust" (Psalm 103:10-14).

The message of the following poem may speak to your heart as it has to
mine:

Hast thou been hungry, child of mine? I, too, have needed bread. For
forty days I tasted naught Till by the angels fed. Hast thou been
thirsty? On the cross I suffered thirst for thee; I have promised to
supply thy need My child, come unto me.

Perhaps thy way is weary oft, Thy feet grow tired and lame. I wearied
when I reached the well I suffered just the same. And when I bore the
heavy cross I fainted 'neath the load. And so I have promised rest to
all Who walk the weary road.

Does Satan sometimes buffet thee And tempt thy soul to sin? Do faith and
hope and love grow weak Are doubts and fears within? Remember I was
tempted thrice By this same foe of thine, But he could not resist the
Word Nor conquer power divine.

When thou art sad and tears fall fast My heart goes out to thee For I
wept o'er Jerusalem The place so dear to me. And when I came to Lazarus'
tomb I wept, My heart was sore. I will comfort thee when thou dost weep
'Til sorrow all is o'er.

Do hearts prove false when thine is true? I know that bitter dart I was
betrayed by one I loved, I died of a broken heart. I loved my own, they
loved me not My heart was lonely, too. I'll never leave thee child of
mine My loving heart is true.

Art thou discouraged in thy work? Does misery seem vain? I ministered
midst unbelief With those of greed of gain. They would not hearken to My
voice But scoffed with one accord Your labor never is in vain If done
unto the Lord.

So have courage, then, My faithful one I suffered all the way. Thy
sensitive and loving heart I understand today. Whate'er thy grief,
whate'er thy care Just bring it unto Me. Yea, in thy day of trouble,
call; I will deliver thee!

Elijah had lost hope of seeing the people of Israel return to the Lord.
Thus life no longer was attractive to him. When hope is gone, life is
not worth living. Perhaps it seemed to Elijah that the Lord had given up
also, but this was not the case. The Lord did not answer the prayer of
His discouraged servant when he asked to die.

The present world has no answer to the turmoil and strife going on in
its midst, but the Church is not without hope. Our hope lies in the
coming of our Lord. This we must never forget.



Chapter 9 God's Kindness to His Servant

We learn from the New Testament, "There hath no temptation taken you but
such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer
[permit] you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1
Corinthians 10:13). Perhaps we think our testings are different from
those experienced by others, but this is not true. They are common to
all people. Circumstances may differ for us, but the tests are the same.
Not all of us may run from someone like Jezebel, but we are subject to
fear and discouragement regardless of the cause.

How comforting to realize that God knows us intimately. The psalmist
declared long ago, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord
pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth
that we are dust" (Psalm 103:13,14). The Lord will either lighten the
burden, or He will increase our strength so that we can bear it.

Another promise of great encouragement to me personally is 2 Timothy
2:12,13: "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he
also will deny us: if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot
deny himself." Elijah failed temporarily to exercise faith, but God did
not abandon His servant. God is faithful to His own.

He did not remove the wicked Queen Jezebel immediately. Neither did He
do some mighty work in Israel. He did, however, make a way of escape for
His dejected servant, giving him the strength he needed.

God's eye had followed every step that Elijah had taken. He did not love
the prophet less than when he stood in victory on Mount Carmel. God's
love is not based on our ability. He will not fail us at any time. His
promise is "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may
boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do
unto me" (Hebrews 13:5,6).

God does not condone or encourage sin in a believer's life. He did not
approve of Elijah's wish for death as a means of rest. But God
empathized with His child and gave him the physical help he needed. God
gave His beloved sleep, just as the psalmist said He would (see Psalm
127:2). Elijah found that though weeping may endure for a night, joy
comes in the morning (see Psalm 30:5).

Good, wholesome, restful sleep is a blessing from God. What healing and
strength lie in becoming unconscious for a time to the things around us.
God watched over His servant, and his mind and heart were quieted and
given peace.

What do we do in wakeful night hours? Someone asked me that one time.
One of the first things I love to do is pray. Sometimes I recite some of
the Scripture verses I have memorized. There are occasions when that is
not sufficient; so I go to my study and spend an hour or more studying
my Bible. There have been times when I have spent four or five hours in
this manner, depending on what God was seeking to do in my heart.

These have always been precious times. I found that God awakened me to
speak to me and deal with my soul in a way that He could not at other
times.

This is what He did for Elijah. "And as he lay and slept under a juniper
tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and
eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals,
and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him
down again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and
touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great
for thee" (1 Kings 19:5-7).

Ministry of Angels

Elijah still had a great distance to go, but God watched over him as he
slept. He was not forsaken but was provided for through rest and food
for a journey that would cover many more miles. Here we have a
demonstration of the ministry of angels to those who are the elect of
the Lord. God's tender care is expressed through the ministry of angels,
who are servants of those who are heirs of salvation. The same angels
who delight to witness God's majesty and greatness also enjoy
ministering to God's saints on the earth.

This action on the part of God is typical of His nature as the God of
grace. He takes no account of our worthiness or unworthiness. His grace
is free and sovereign. He loves His own, and He loves them to the end.

Can you imagine an angel doing such a lowly task as cooking a meal for a
discouraged saint of God, when that angel's regular assignment was to
stand in the presence of almighty God and see Him in His majesty and
glory? There was no grumbling on the part of this messenger. He loved to
do what he did.

When Lot was living in Sodom, an angel came to warn him and to get him
out of that wicked and doomed city. Daniel was cast into the lions' den,
but an angel was with him, sent by God to shut the mouths of the
ferocious beasts.

When Lazarus the beggar died, angels carried him into Abraham's bosom.
When Peter was thrown into prison and the authorities planned to put him
to death, an angel came by night, awakened him and helped him escape
from prison. An angel stood by Paul when the ship he was on was about to
go to pieces and assured the apostle that God would save the life of
every person on board.

The ministry of angels is wonderful to consider. I believe God has
assigned an angel to each of His own. We are engaged in a spiritual
warfare against evil forces and are adequately prepared with the help
sufficient for victory.

Angels play an important role with regard to children. We read in
Matthew 18:10: "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones;
for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the
face of my Father which is in heaven." I believe God has assigned a
special angel to each child.

The psalmist wrote: "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to
keep thee in all thy ways" (Psalm 91:11). This was written concerning
the person who "dwelleth in the secret place of the most High," the
person who fears God (v. 1).

Another precious promise is found in Psalm 34:7: "The angel of the Lord
encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." This is
provision made by God. Angels are sent to minister with God's purposes
in view. It is no wonder, then, that God sent an angel to minister to
His servant Elijah and to prepare him for a long journey he had to take.
The prophet went to Mount Horeb, the same mountain on which Moses had
met God. Perhaps Elijah thought of Moses and his experience when he
presented himself to the Children of Israel and they rejected him. Then
Moses had to flee from Egypt and go deep into the desert, but that was
where God met him. This is what Elijah apparently was looking for also.

At times each of us feels that a different environment would make things
easier for us. We will see, in Elijah's case, what a change in
environment did for him, though he could have had the same experience if
he had stayed in Israel. God did not forsake him. Elijah needed
spiritual refreshing. He needed to get away from the duties of life for
a while and be alone with the Lord. Our Savior did this quite often when
he prayed.

God allowed his servant to take this long, hard journey across the
desert and in grace provided for him and accompanied him. Whether or not
Elijah was actually doing God's will at this time, his motive was
certainly that of seeking to put God first. The Lord did not forsake
him, and He will not forsake us.

We read in 1 Kings 19:8 that Elijah "arose, and did eat and drink, and
went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb
the mount of God." Again Elijah experienced the superhuman strength
provided by the Lord.

He Giveth More Grace

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater; He sendeth more
strength when the labors increase. To added affliction He addeth His
mercy; To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance, When our strength has
failed ere the day is half done, When we reach the end of our hoarded
resources, Our Father's full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure, His pow'r has no
boundary known unto men; For out of His infinite riches in Jesus He
giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!

-Annie Johnson Flint

Like Elijah we all have times of discouragement. None of us are immune.
Pastors are often targets of the enemy in this respect. They preach
faithfully for the Lord but see little response, if any, in the hearts
of the hearers. Less important things begin to take the time of the
members of their congregation. Sunday night attendance dwindles. People
have little interest in prayer meetings. And the average Christian seems
to have lost his zeal for witnessing to those who are unsaved.

Regardless of the cause of our discouragement, let us learn from
Elijah's experience that God is never discouraged. He never gives up.
When God has given us the responsibility for some work or obligation,
let us learn not to give up either.

Sometimes God's plans do not coincide with our plans. Not all of His
plans are short range; many of them are long range. Though he did not
realize it at the time, Elijah was fitting into part of God's long-range
plan for Israel.

God's Love for Elijah

When Elijah was discouraged, he received God's love in a very special
way. God did not rebuke His tired and depressed servant but provided
food, rest, protection, comfort and strength through an angel.

If he had not learned it before, Elijah learned that God's love is
constant. Perhaps he may have feared that he had forfeited that love by
running away from Jezebel and her threats, but God still loved him. The
love of God never changes, even though our awareness of it does. The sun
still shines even though it may disappear from view behind clouds or
appear to go down at night.

The love of God is like that. We may not always be aware of God's love,
but it surrounds us. Circumstances may surround us like a cloud or like
night, but God's love is not changed. It is still with us.

Elijah also learned that God's love is sometimes manifested in a very
special way to meet special needs in our lives. There is no mention of
an angel when Elijah was cared for at the brook Cherith. No angel is
mentioned concerning his stay with the widow at Zarephath. Something
more was needed after this fall by Elijah. God's holiness is offended by
sin, but He remembers our nature. In Elijah's case, in order to assure
the prophet that he was still loved and to bring him to the place of
repentance and usefulness, God sent an angel to help him.

We can see this in Peter's experience. After he had denied the Lord
three times, he wept in bitterness at his own weakness and carnality.
The Lord did not leave him in that condition. The women who went to the
tomb on the morning of the resurrection were told by a young man clothed
in a long, white garment: "Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth,
which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where
they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he
goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto
you" (Mark 16:6,7). The very fact that Peter was singled out here was a
message of love to him. God's love is a giving type of love. Our
affection and consideration for people may be shaken by circumstances
because basically we are selfish. God's love is just the opposite; He is
constantly giving and does not change.

"While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). The Lord
went out after the wandering sheep and carried it home (see Luke
15:3-7). When the Prodigal Son returned, a feast was prepared for him
(see vv. 11-24). All this illustrates the special love of God for the
sinner. God hates our sin, but He yearns over us with tender, unchanging
love. God, who gave His only begotten Son for us, will allow nothing to
separate us from His love.

The Williams translation of Romans 8:31-39 says, "What are we then to
say to facts like these? If God is for us, who can be against us? Since
He did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not
with Him graciously give us everything else? Who can bring any charge
against those whom God has chosen? It is God who declared them in right
standing; who can condemn them? Christ Jesus who died, or rather, who
was raised from the dead, is now at God's right hand, and is actually
pleading for us. Who can separate us from Christ's love? Can suffering
or misfortune or persecution or hunger or destitution or danger or the
sword? As the Scripture says: 'For your sake we are being put to death
the livelong day; we are treated like sheep to be slaughtered.' And yet
in all these things we keep on gloriously conquering through Him who
loved us. For I have full assurance that neither death nor life nor
angels nor principalities nor the present nor the future nor evil forces
above or beneath, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God as shown in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The Apostle Paul closed Romans 11 with these words: "How fathomless the
depths of God's resources, wisdom, and knowledge! How unsearchable His
decisions, and how mysterious His methods! For who has ever understood
the thoughts of the Lord, or has ever been His adviser? Or who has ever
advanced God anything to have Him pay him back? For from Him everything
comes, through Him everything lives, and for Him everything exists.
Glory to Him forever! Amen" (vv. 33-36, Williams).

The third fact Elijah learned concerning the love of God is that His
love endures. Using an angel as His messenger, God first provided Elijah
with food. He had been traveling for a long time in the desert. After he
slept for a while, the angel awakened him and gave him a meal. Then
after a good, long rest, possibly early in the morning, the angel came
again and awakened Elijah and told him to arise and eat because the
journey was too long for him. God's love never stops. It is
long-suffering and kind. It endures all things and will never fail.
After he had rested and was refreshed, Elijah was ready for the next
phase of his ministry.

God offers us, after our day's task is finished, food that is more than
physical. In the morning, before our day's work begins, He provides
fresh bread from His Word for our nourishment and strength.

This is spoken of many times in the Scriptures. Isaiah commented on
this, "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting
God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth
power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth
strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men
shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and
not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40:28-31).

Elijah arose and ate and went in the strength of the food provided for
40 days and 40 nights. When he reached Horeb, the mount of God, "he came
thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord
came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?" (1
Kings 19:9). This question was designed to stir up Elijah's thinking
about his present situation and future ministry.

This was a long distance from the scenes of his labors in Israel. He had
traveled about 95 miles to the juniper tree, and from there he had
traveled about 200 miles more through the desert to reach the place
where Moses had stayed while a fugitive from the Egyptians. Perhaps
Elijah felt that in this place he would be able to speak with God as
Moses had done many years before.

Elijah was not in the will of God when he fled from Jezebel, but
apparently the Lord directed his steps to Horeb in order to make him
useful again. Nevertheless, he had all of those miles to retrace. God is
sovereign in His grace and did not forsake His servant in his hour of
need.

Chapter 10 Elijah at Horeb

 The distance Elijah traveled to Horeb, under normal conditions, could
have been covered in seven or eight days. Why it took him longer we are
not told, but it reminds us of the Israelites' wandering in the desert
for 40 years to complete a journey that could have been made in a few
weeks.

 As Elijah approached the lofty heights of this great mountain, he must
have been reminded of the remarkable dealings of God with Moses and the
Israelites at this place. Here God met Moses at the burning bush. Then
later, when the Israelites were liberated and on their way to Canaan,
God gave them the Law here. This was the same mountain where Moses
interceded for his people that they might not be destroyed. Here they
were victorious over Amalek, and here they experienced the miracle of
water coming from the rock. Although Elijah received no commandment to
go to Horeb, he must have been directed there by the providence of God.

 We need to remind ourselves of what the Bible teaches concerning God's
care for His children. In one place we read: "A man's heart deviseth his
way: but the Lord directeth his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). In another place
God says, "Man's goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand
his own way?" (20:24). The hearts of people are under God's control, for
Proverbs 21:1,2 says, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as
the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. Every way of a
man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts." God
knew the heart of Elijah, and He knew that Elijah was still vitally
concerned about heavenly things and the honor of his God.

 While he was alone in the cave, possibly thinking that he was forsaken,
God asked him, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:9). God was
right there with him in spite of all the fear and strain that Elijah had
labored under.

 The passage says that the "word of the Lord" came to Elijah. This
reminds us of John 1:1, which reads: "In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This could have been none
other than the second Person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, who spoke with Elijah.

 The question "What doest thou here, Elijah?" was an appeal to the
conscience. This type of question leads to self-examination. We should
open our hearts to the Lord and let Him ask this same question of us.
None can escape the ever-present examination of the Lord. He has a right
to ask, "What are you doing here?"

 We learn from Proverbs 16:3: "The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
beholding the evil and the good." A further truth is added concerning
this in 2 Chronicles 16:9: "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro
throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them
whose heart is perfect toward him."

 Elijah's answer to God's inquiry was very frank. He did not seek to
evade the question. He said, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God
of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown
down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I
only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away" (1 Kings 19:10).

 Elijah admitted his thoughts of his own hopelessness. Everything he
said was true, but he did not know the truth about everything in
connection with his own life. He was not aware of God's far-reaching
plan for himself and Israel. He had to learn that God does not
necessarily fulfill His whole plan in the lifetime of one man. One
servant may add one part to God's work, and another may add another
part. All of these parts put together make up the whole. This was what
God was getting ready to teach Elijah.

 Yet, how many of us could answer God's question, "What are you doing
here?" with honesty? How zealous are we about spiritual things? Are we
cold, hot or lukewarm?

 God's reply to Elijah's answer was "Go forth, and stand upon the mount
before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong
wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord;
but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but
the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but
the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice"
(vv. 11,12).

 What would our answer be to the command "Go forth. Stand before the
Lord"? Too many of us take a negative approach to these deep and serious
things in life. We talk about the sins, depravity and wickedness of the
world, but what are we doing to reach people for Christ?

 Today we speak about our nation's moral decline. We criticize the world
and look with displeasure at our young people. What do we do about it
all? Like Elijah, we need a new vision of the Lord. We need to come out
of the cave of darkness and stand before God.

 The next few words in this chapter tell us, "The Lord passed by" (v.
11). Elijah remained in the cave during the time of this great storm and
earthquake and fire, all of which demonstrated the power of God. This
was very much like the time when God spoke to Moses on the mount and the
people of Israel were terrified at the demonstration of God's power in
the elements.

God's Grace

 God, however, did not speak in the wind or in the earthquake or in the
fire. He did not speak to Elijah from the standpoint of the Law but
rather from the standpoint of grace. The still, small voice speaks not
of legal requirements but of God's grace.

 When Elijah heard God speak, he "wrapped his face in his mantle, and
went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there
came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?" (v. 13).
Not the Law but grace broke his heart. It is the goodness of God that
leads us to repentance (see Romans 2:4). Once more Elijah repeated what
we have already quoted from verse 10, but now the Lord is ready to
recommission him.

 Elijah finally realized all was not lost. Though God spoke through the
great demonstrations of nature, He was still going to speak to His
people in grace. The thunder and the fire and the earthquake brought
fear, but only grace brings true revival.

 Too often we seek great demonstrations, crowds and all kinds of
activity, but God brings about revival through dealing with the
individual in the quietness of grace. The thunders of judgment are
necessary, but the still, small voice of the Gospel is what penetrates
the hearts of people.

 In a very real sense Elijah had been a voice of thunder and fire to
Israel. Like John the Baptist, who later thundered the message of
repentance, Elijah had warned a nation in rebellion against God. He was
recommissioned to still speak in that manner, and yet, at the same time,
a promise of grace was given for those who would respond.

Elijah Provided For

 God spoke to Elijah as He did in order to prepare him for a new
commission. Though it was many years later that Peter penned his
epistle, what he wrote will help us as we think about Elijah. The truth
given by Peter most certainly was in God's mind concerning His servant
of old. "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that
hath called us to glory and virtue [energy, efficiency]" (2 Peter 1:3).
God never leaves us without properly equipping us for the work we are to
do.

 We can apply these truths to Elijah and find God saying, in effect,
"Elijah, you need not be despondent or run from Me. There is no need for
you to be afraid. I am your God and have given you all that is essential
and necessary for life. Jezebel will not be able to take your life. I
have made ample provision for your spiritual growth and development.
Remember the blessings of past days-the brook and the ravens, the barrel
and the cruse of oil, the fire that fell from heaven when you asked for
it and the rain that fell through your prayers. Remember, Elijah, I am
the God who made all of this possible. I am your God and have provided
everything you need."

 Perhaps we have felt like Elijah and said, "What is the use?" Perhaps
we have given the best of our lives to accomplish something for the Lord
and feel that we have been left stranded. Perhaps we feel that the enemy
is seeking to destroy all traces of Christianity and belief in the true
God and that he is after our soul too. Perhaps we feel we are the only
one left of all God's people. If so, we need to be reminded, as Elijah
was, that God still had 7,000 who had not bowed their knee to Baal. And
God still is the Almighty God. He is still on His throne. People cannot
dethrone Him, no matter how hard they try. All we need for life and
godliness and Christian service is found in Him.

 Perhaps we have tried hard to overcome temptations and to rise above
our testings. Perhaps we have fought against the overwhelming odds of
modernism in our church. Perhaps we have done so and have found few, if
any, standing with us, and we are about ready to give up our belief in
the fundamentals of the Word of God. Do not give up. God is still in
control of this world and this universe.

 Perhaps we have tried hard to live for the Lord and have failed.
Perhaps we failed today as we failed yesterday and the day before and
are asking, "What's the use?" Let us come out of the cave of darkness
and listen to the still, small voice of God. He tells us that He has
given us all that pertains to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Every
provision has been made for us.

 Again Peter speaks to us: "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give
diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these
things, ye shall never fall" (v. 10). The word "calling" refers to the
fact that God has called us out of this world of sin and provided for us
everything necessary to live a holy, godly life, just as we read in
verse 3. We are called out from human ways and from the rules and
regulations of man-made systems to live our life in Christ. The fact
that God has called us means that He has invited us to share His nature
and power and everything that He wishes us to have.

 In fact, God has promised to come and live His life in us so that He is
our strength, the One who enables us to live a moral life. This is our
calling, and we need to confirm it in our lives. We need to apply it by
faith. To "make it sure" does not mean we put it into a place for
safekeeping or put a padlock on it. It simply means that we accept it
and act upon it because God has provided it.

 The word "election" is based on the sovereign will of God and on the
power and the purpose of God. The same truth is seen where we are told
that we have been chosen in Him. God, for example, chose Abraham from
all the rest of the people in Chaldea. It was not because Abraham was
good in himself but because God decided Abraham was the man He wanted.
The same Lord chose Isaac instead of Ishmael and Jacob instead of Esau.
He has chosen us also for a special work, and He wants to see it
fulfilled in us.

 This was what Elijah found concerning his service. He found he was
chosen to be the voice of thunder and of fire and of condemnation to
Israel. This is what God had chosen him to be, and though the prophet
would not see the fruit of it in his time, nevertheless, fruit would
eventually come from it.

 Because he knew that he had been called to a certain work and that he
could not perform that work in himself, Paul said, "That I may know him
[Christ], and the power of his resurrection" (Philippians 3:10). Paul
wanted the Lord to live His life in him. That was why he decided to
forget the things that were behind. He wanted to lay hold of that for
which Christ had laid hold of him. So he reached out to those things
that were ahead and pressed on toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus (see vv. 12,13). He saw this calling as
an invitation to accept Christ as his very life, a life to be lived in
him anew and afresh from day to day.

Elijah Recommissioned

 When God spoke in the still, small voice to Elijah, the prophet's heart
broke. The God of Israel asked this man to let Him be his life. He said
that He had chosen him to be His voice of thunder and not to be
concerned about the fruit. That was God's business.

 When Elijah recognized the grace of God, he hid his face. But he
listened to the Lord when He said, "Go, return on thy way to the
wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king
over Syria" (1 Kings 19:15). This man was going to be a rod to chastise
Israel, and Elijah was to inaugurate this work.

 He was also to anoint "Jehu the son of Nimshi" to be king over Israel
(v. 16). What Hazael left, Jehu was to finish.

 The third part of the commission was that Elijah was to anoint Elisha
the son of Shaphat to be a prophet in his place. Elijah's work was not
yet finished, but God had chosen a particular person to be his
understudy and to carry on the work that he began.

Laborers Together

 The fact that no one sees all the plan of God and no one sees all the
fruit of his labors for God in his lifetime is taught very clearly in
Hebrews 11. In verses 37-39, the writer said concerning the great heroes
of the faith, "They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted,
were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and
goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was
not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and
caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through
faith, received not the promise." Though they were all faithful and true
to the Lord, they did not see the complete results of their labors in
their lifetime. The record continues: "God having provided some better
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect" (v. 40).
It takes all of God's people from the beginning of time to the very end
to fulfill all that He has planned.

 Over a period of years God adds this member and that member to do a
particular task. This should keep us from discouragement when we fail to
see fruit to any great extent in our lifetime. It may be fruit for which
we have labored hard and long, but because we see little of it we think
God has not worked through us.

 If we are in the will of God, He is working through us. We need to
recognize that we do one particular task, but we see the fruit by faith
but not necessarily by sight. This is what the men of faith did,
according to Hebrews 11. They did not see the fruit in their generation,
but they did see it through faith. Like them we need to learn to fit
into God's plan for us, and we will find that He is coordinating the
work of all His children into one great master plan.

 As we have noted before, Elijah was not consciously running from God,
neither was he bitter. He was disappointed and depressed because he saw
no national revival among the Israelites. He did not see the future as
God saw it. Others would reap where he had sown.

 How true that is in the experience of many today. Pastors labor hard in
seeking to win the lost for Christ and perhaps see little fruit. Then an
evangelist is called in, and he reaps the harvest and often the credit.
Paul said that one plants, another waters, but God gives the increase
(see 1 Corinthians 3:6,7). He is also keeping the books and will give
the rewards properly and justly (see v. 8).

 This is true with regard to our work also. We do not see a great deal
of the fruit that results from our preaching, but we do see some.
Moreover, we rejoice when those who are saved through Back to the
Bible's ministry join local churches where the Bible is taught and
develop and grow under a local ministry. It takes many hands to do the
work of the Lord.

 Once Elijah was restored to fellowship with the Lord, he was
recommissioned and told, "Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of
Damascus" (1 Kings 19:15). Elijah had to go back the way he had come to
fulfill this commission. He had a long journey ahead of him.

 This is the procedure that must be followed by anyone who has
temporarily stepped out of the direct will of God. They must go back to
the place where God's will can be followed once more.

 For example, according to Genesis 12, Abraham was instructed to dwell
in the land of Canaan, but when a famine struck, he went to Egypt. He
stepped out of the direct will of God in doing this and found himself in
deep trouble with Pharaoh. The Lord delivered him and sent him back to
the land of promise; so Abraham "went on his journeys from the south
even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the
beginning, between Beth-el and Hai; unto the place of the altar, which
he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of
the Lord" (13:3,4).

 Abraham lapsed in faith again at Gerar and had to be recalled from that
place into the direct will of God. He had no fellowship with the Lord as
long as he was away from the place God had designated as his dwelling
place.

 Abraham's grandson Jacob went through the same kind of experience.
Because of some things he did he had to flee from the home of his
parents and was away from the land for many years. Then God called him
back to Bethel, but Jacob stayed at Shechem, where some very sad
experiences took place. Then again God called him to go to Bethel and
dwell there "and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee
when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said
unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange
gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: and let
us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God,
who answered me in the day of my distress" (35:1-3). He had to go back
to the place where he left the revealed will of God before he could make
a fresh start.

 The same principle is taught in the Book of the Revelation. To the
Church at Ephesus our Savior said, "Nevertheless I have somewhat against
thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from
whence thou art fallen, and repent [turn around], and do the first
works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy
candlestick out of his place, except thou repent" (2:4,5).

 Peter had to retrace his steps after he denied the Lord and before he
was recommissioned. The Prodigal Son had to return from the far country
to his father's house. He had to retrace his steps. This is not always
easy to do.

 Elijah's journey would take him back through the desert, on through
Jezebel's homeland and all the way to Damascus. Had he stayed at Carmel
and been given the instructions he was given while at Mount Horeb, he
would have had only about 100 miles to go to Damascus. Added to that was
now the distance from Mount Horeb.

 The Word says, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso
confesseth and forsaketh them [leaves them and returns to the Lord]
shall have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13).

 Part of Elijah's recommissioning was to anoint Hazael king over Syria.
This man was to be God's rod of chastisement on Israel. This anointing
was not performed by Elijah, but by Elisha, who was Elijah's understudy.
And when this prophet stood before Hazael, he wept. When asked why, he
replied, "Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of
Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men
wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up
their women with child" (2 Kings 8:12). Hazael was like a tornado
wherever he went. He represented the storm and the destruction of the
fierce winds. This was the answer to Elijah's complaint about Israel's
backsliding.

 He was also to anoint Jehu, who was to bring judgment on the house of
Ahab. This anointing was also not done directly by Elijah but by Elisha.
Jehu was like an earthquake, shaking the house of Ahab from within.
Jezebel was thrown down from a window of her home, and her body was
eaten by dogs (9:30-37). Jehu killed 70 sons of Ahab in one day and made
a public display of their heads (10:1-10). He also eradicated Baal
worship. This was the answer of God to Elijah's complaint concerning the
worship of Baal and the household of Ahab.

 The third part of his commission was to anoint Elisha to take his
place. This speaks of the power of the Word that was like a two-edged
sword. This was an answer to Elijah's complaint that no prophet of
Jehovah was left. The fire Elijah had kindled would continue through the
ministry of Elisha.

 God uses various instruments to do His work. Hazael, the king of Syria,
brought ruthless judgment upon Israel. Jehu became a scourge to the
house of Ahab and to the followers of Baal. Elisha, by his use of the
Word of God and the power of God, slew the enemies of the Lord and
comforted His people.

 God sometimes uses wicked men to discipline His own children, but when
these men overstep the boundaries God has set for them, judgment falls
on their heads also.

 God also reminded Elijah that there were 7,000 persons left who had not
bowed to Baal. This was all in God's dealing through the still, small
voice of grace. It brought comfort to the prophet's heart. It assured
him that the good work he had begun would be consummated under the hand
of God and in God's time. Elijah did not see the fruit in his day, but
he was promised a fruitful harvest for the future.



Chapter 11 The Call of Elisha

 We must introduce Elisha into Elijah's life at this time in order to
show how God works first through one man and then through another. This
does not mean that God works in the same way through each one, but He
uses each person in a particular way. We have already learned that
Elijah was commissioned to anoint Elisha to take his place. Contrary to
Elijah's belief, there were 7,000 who had not bowed their knee to Baal.
A literal translation of what God said to him is "I will keep me seven
thousand, those who have not bowed their knee to Baal, or whose mouth
has not kissed him" (1 Kings 19:18). Elisha was of this number, and God
directed his call and anointing for just the right time in Elijah's life
and program.

 Elijah was also to anoint Hazael to be king of Syria and Jehu to be
king over Israel. Elijah actually performed only one of these
anointings. The two kings were anointed by Elisha when he took over
Elijah's ministry.

 The outstanding factor concerning the older prophet's life was his
obedience to God. He left Horeb to do God's will.

 Like him, if we are going to be in God's work and have His blessing, we
must be obedient. Men such as D. L. Moody were used because they were
obedient. The great evangelist's life verse was one that spoke of
obedience. He determined he would be obedient to God regardless of what
God told him to do.

 It does not matter whether or not people understand us or think we are
even sane as long as we are true to God. Obedience to Him is the
important thing.

 The meaning of these two men's names is instructive. Elijah means "my
God is Jehovah." Elisha, on the other hand, means "God his salvation."
Just as the names meant different things though both men honored God, so
their life work differed though they both served God.

 Elijah was like Moses in that he vindicated the divine holiness of God.
He was an ambassador of wrath against lawlessness and rebellion. Elisha
was an evangelist, a representative of God's loving-kindness. The main
thrust of his ministry was not to threaten or terrify but to persuade
and to convert people. Both men received their message from God, but the
messages differed. This was what God ordained. Some are called of God to
give a message of condemnation and of judgment while others speak more
of God's grace. The Holy Spirit has absolute sovereignty in giving gifts
and in choosing whom He will to perform specific tasks.

 We learn from 1 Corinthians 12: "Now there are diversities of gifts,
but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but
the same Lord [different ways things can be done under the direction of
the same Spirit]. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the
same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit
is given to every man to profit withal. . . . But all these worketh that
one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will"
(vv. 4-7,11).

 This whole chapter in 1 Corinthians shows that the Body of Christ is
like a human body with many members. No two members have the same task.
Our responsibility is to fulfill the task given us by God and not to try
to imitate someone else.

Elisha's Background

 Elijah found Elisha plowing in a field along with his servants. There
were 12 yoke of oxen, 12 plows and 11 servants. Elisha was in charge of
the last plow. This indicates that he was not farming just a small piece
of land but had a large farm.

 The fact that he was with the 12th yoke of oxen shows that he did not
feel that he was too important, as the proprietor of a large farm, to
work alongside his servants. He was apparently a humble man, and this
reminds us that God, according to 1 Corinthians 1:26, does not call many
mighty to do His work. Elisha was not proud; he was the last man in
line, humble enough to be in the last row following the plow.

 When Elijah found him, he "cast his mantle upon him" (1 Kings 19:19).
The prophet did not have a long talk with him and discuss the various
aspects of the work involved. By casting his cloak over Elisha, he was
simply saying to him that he was God's chosen man and that he was to
follow Elijah. Elisha understood quite well what was meant.

 God exercises the same sovereign right in our lives. He chooses whom He
will. In John 15:16 the Lord Jesus said, "Ye have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth
fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask
of the Father in my name, he may give it you."

 The Apostle Paul wrote about this same matter in 2 Corinthians 5: "And
all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit,
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (vv. 18,19).
This refers to service. The choice is not ours; it belongs to God.

Elisha's Response

 Elisha apparently decided immediately to go with Elijah. It was a
dangerous matter in that day for anyone to make it known that he was
going to follow the Lord. Jezebel's vindictive and cruel spirit was
still being manifested, and anyone declaring himself to be a prophet of
God would be in danger of losing his life. Elijah, of course, had been
spared, and Elisha did not hesitate when he was commissioned.

 He immediately left his oxen, ran after Elijah and said he would like
to stay behind a little while to make a feast and say good-bye to his
friends and his parents.

 I believe he planned a public farewell as a witness to his family and
his friends. This was different from the account recorded in the New
Testament of the person who was asked to follow the Lord but requested
that he might go back and bury his father. He meant, of course, that he
wanted to stay at home until his father died. He wanted to take care of
that family responsibility before he followed the Lord. The Lord Jesus
said, "Let the dead bury their dead" (Matthew 8:22).

Elisha, however, did not say, "Let me bury my parents" but rather "Let
me kiss them good-bye." This was an entirely different situation.

 A great New Testament principle concerning this is given in Luke
14:25-27: "And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and
said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and
mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his
own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his
cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." The word "hate" in
this passage is not used in a bad sense. Our Savior was simply saying
that the person who does not put his family in second place and Christ
in first place cannot be His disciple. We must love the Lord supremely;
if we do, we will put even our closest loved ones in a secondary
position.

 Elijah's answer was "Go back again: for what have I done to thee?" (1
Kings 19:20). I believe Elijah was saying to Elisha that he should
settle the matter with God, not with him. Many times we feel we have to
make excuses to people, but when we are right with God, we do not have
to justify ourselves before others. I think that is what Elijah was
saying to Elisha. God was choosing Elisha; so whatever Elisha did about
it was to be settled with God and not with Elijah.

 Elisha made a complete break with his past. He made a complete
surrender to God and broke off all ties with his old life. He took the
yoke of oxen he had been plowing with-possibly his best-and killed them
for the dual purpose of making an offering to God and giving a feast for
his friends. He used the plow and the yokes as firewood. Thus, he made a
complete sacrifice. His friends and neighbors saw him burning all his
bridges behind him, cutting off all connections with his former life and
property.

 Romans 12:1 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service." Everything we have,
according to this, belongs to God. Sacrifice usually involves death, but
this passage speaks of a living sacrifice. We are to give ourselves to
God to live entirely for Him. If we are to be true servants of the Lord,
this is the kind of sacrifice involved.

After Elisha had provided a feast for the people and kissed his parents
good-bye, he arose and followed Elijah. The older prophet became his
spiritual teacher, and Elisha took the humble place of being his
servant. He served a man in serving God. This is what Joshua did with
regard to Moses, and then God called him to lead the people after Moses'
death. This is the method God sometimes uses in giving men their basic
training for His service. This is not the only method He uses, but this
is the one He used in Elisha's case.



Chapter 12 Elijah Announces Ahab's Doom

 Following the appointment of Elisha, five or six years passed before
Elijah's ministry was again public. He was not inactive during this
period but seems to have been forming schools of the prophets, schools
in which the Bible was taught to young men who were in turn to be
instructors and teachers of the Word of God. Elijah was a spiritual
father and the teacher of many of these young servants of God.

 During this same time, great wars occurred between Israel and Syria.
Ahab took an active part in these, and from time to time prophets of
lesser stature than that of Elijah appeared briefly on the scene.

 Then one day God again told Elijah to appear before Ahab to announce
that monarch's doom. This was due to a very wicked crime he had
committed.

A Terrible Deed

 In the city of Jezreel, near the palace of Ahab, was a vineyard owned
by Naboth. The king wanted this vineyard for himself and asked Naboth to
sell it. Naboth, who was a God-fearing man, stated that he was forbidden
of the Lord to sell the vineyard, for it was his inheritance from his
fathers.

 Ahab acted like a spoiled child when he returned to his palace. He went
to bed and turned his face away from his servants and refused to eat.

 When Jezebel, his wife, learned of his sulking and childish behavior,
she questioned him to find out its cause. Her cruel mind soon devised a
solution, and she told her husband to arise and be cheerful, for the
vineyard was as good as his. She put her plan into action. Through
forged letters and false witnesses and a trial that was a mockery, she
had Naboth put to death with the sanction of law. Apparently his sons
were also murdered at this time, though we are not given the details
concerning their deaths (2 Kings 9:26).

 Though the scheme was Jezebel's, the guilt was shared by her weak and
pouting husband. He had little time to go to Naboth's vineyard and gloat
over his new possession before Elijah stood before him. Faithful to the
trust committed to him by God, Elijah wasted no time in presenting
himself before the king. Ahab's first words to him were "Hast thou found
me, O mine enemy?" (1 Kings 21:20).

 The prophet replied, "I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself
to work evil in the sight of the Lord" (v. 20). Jezebel and Ahab may
have thought they had covered up their crime quite well, but God had
seen what they had done. Nothing was hidden from God's eyes. He neither
slumbers nor sleeps (see Psalm 121:4). All things are open before Him
(see Hebrews 4:13).

 John's description of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Book of the
Revelation adds force to this fact. "His eyes were as a flame of fire;
and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and
his voice as the sound of many waters" (1:14,15). His eyes see all.
Nothing can be hidden from Him. The darkness is like daylight to Him
(see Psalm 139:12). His eyes are eyes of fire.

 God is never mocked. Whatever a man sows, he reaps (Galatians 6:7,8).
Ahab should have remembered that his sin would find him out (see Numbers
32:23). Naboth lay buried under the earth, but the voice of his blood
cried to heaven for vengeance. People may get away with murder before
others, but they never get away with anything before God. We read: "For
we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will
recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews
10:30,31).

 We should never think we can get by with sin. "The eyes of the Lord are
in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:3). A day
of reckoning is coming, and God is keeping the record of all events. He
does not keep books because He forgets but as written evidence to
convince any of us who might dispute the truth.

 Jeremiah stated, "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall
not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the
Lord" (Jeremiah 23:24). In Job we read: "For his eyes are upon the ways
of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of
death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves" (34:21,22). We
can hide nothing from the eyes of God.

 God always denounces sin. Ahab soon learned of God's displeasure and
anger at this terrible deed. God's warnings today are just as clear and
definite. To those so-called ministers who do not preach the Gospel,
Jeremiah said, "Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury,
even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the
wicked" (Jeremiah 23:19). A whirlwind is like a tornado. It is
destructive. The prophet continued, "The anger of the Lord shall not
return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts
of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. I have
not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet
they prophesied. . . . I have heard what the prophets said, that
prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed" (vv.
20, 21,25).

 Still speaking out against these prophets, the Lord said through
Jeremiah: "Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a
hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against
the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his
neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use
their tongues, and say, He saith" (vv. 29-31).

 False prophets today deny that Jesus Christ is the eternal God and that
He came and died for our sins. They also deny that it is necessary for
people to be born again. They try to tickle the ears of their hearers
with teachings that are not from God. God said concerning them, "I have
not sent them, and I am coming like a whirlwind to judge them."

 We can all be sure that our sins will find us out. Adam thought he
could hide from God, but God found him. Cain murdered Abel, but Abel's
blood cried to God from the ground. Achan stole the accursed thing, but
God knew it. Ahab, who was jointly responsible with his wife for the
murder of Naboth, could not escape the eye of God. God found him out.
Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, thought he could do something behind
Elisha's back that would increase his personal wealth, but God saw his
sin and denounced him through the prophet. Ananias and Sapphira thought
they could lie to God and He would not see through it, but they were
wrong. Let no one think he can escape divine retribution for wrong done.

 The Scriptures are very clear on this. In Jude 1:14,15, we learn:
"Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute
judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of
all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all
their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

 Ahab sold himself to work evil in the sight of the Lord, but he could
not get away with it. The Bible declares, "All have sinned, and come
short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). It also states, "The wages of
sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ"
(6:23). Those who, like Ahab, sell themselves to work evil in the sight
of God will be found out. It is true that mercy belongs to God, but
mercy cannot be earned. We cannot merit it. The wages of sin is death.
It is only through the gift of God that we can receive eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 I have known Christians who have sold themselves to sin, even some
Christian leaders, but the Lord warns us: "Know ye not that ye are the
temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man
defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God
is holy, which temple ye are" (1 Corinthians 3:16,17).

 Let us not think we have time on our hands to make things right with
God. Today is the day of salvation. Or if you are already saved but need
to return to fellowship, now is the time to come back to the Lord. Do
not wait until tomorrow.

I may not see The rising of the sun. When evening falls My work all may
be done. So today is mine- Tomorrow may not come.

The Judgments of God

 Because Ahab had sold himself to do evil, God said through Elijah that
He would bring evil upon him and upon his posterity and would cut off
all the male members of his household (1 Kings 21:21). Concerning
Jezebel, God said, "The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that
dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat" (vv. 23,24).

 Ahab postponed his own death through partial repentance. We are told
that "he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted,
and lay in sackcloth, and went softly" (v. 27). Because of this the Lord
said, "I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will
I bring the evil upon his house" (v. 29).

 Ahab's death was, nonetheless, a violent death. Three years later he
was severely wounded in battle and died as a result. "And a certain man
drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints
of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn
thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. And the
battle increased that day: and the king . . . died at even: and the
blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot. . . . So the
king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in
Samaria. And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and dogs
licked up his blood; and they washed his armour; according unto the word
of the Lord which he spake" (22:34,35,37,38).

 Several years later, when Jehu came to Jezreel, divine retribution fell
on Jezebel. Apparently Jezebel thought that her beauty was sufficient to
beguile Jehu; so she "painted her face, and tired her head, and looked
out at a window" (2 Kings 9:30). He would not listen to her and had some
of her eunuchs throw her out of her window. "So they threw her down: and
some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he
bode her under foot" (v. 33).

 After he had eaten, the thought occurred to him that Jezebel was a
king's daughter and ought to be treated with a certain degree of
respect; so he sent men to bury her, but they found nothing more than
the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. When his servants
brought him word, he said, "This is the word of the Lord, which he spake
by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel
shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: and the carcase of Jezebel shall be
as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that
they shall not say, This is Jezebel" (vv. 36,37).

 This was a fearful judgment, but she was an unrepentant rebel against
God. She introduced Baal worship into the palace and into the kingdom
although she had every evidence that God was God. She knew of the
miracles performed by Elijah. She reaped what she had sown.

 Second Kings 10 tells how Ahab's family was destroyed: "And it came to
pass . . . that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and
put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel. And there came
a messenger, and told him [Jehu], saying, They have brought the heads of
the king's sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering
in of the gate until the morning. And it came to pass in the morning,
that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be
righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who
slew all these? Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of
the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab:
for the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah. So
Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his
great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him none
remaining" (vv. 7-11).

 Just before slaying Jezebel, Jehu had put to death Joram, Ahab's son,
who was then king of Israel. Joram had been wounded in a battle with the
Syrians and was recuperating from his wounds in Jezreel when Jehu came
to the city.

 Joram's first words were "Is it peace, Jehu?" (2 Kings 9:22).

 He answered, "What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother
Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?" (v. 22).

 At this Joram fled, but Jehu drew a bow "with his full strength, and
smote Jehoram [Joram] between his arms, and the arrow went out at his
heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. Then said Jehu to Bidkar his
captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the
Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after
Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him; surely I have seen
yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the
Lord; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the Lord. Now
therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the
word of the Lord" (vv. 24-26). So Joram the son of Ahab not only met a
violent death, but also he was buried in the very field his father had
murdered Naboth for.

 God's judgments are sure. "It is appointed unto men once to die, but
after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). We cannot get away from it. God
said it, and that settles it. Another warning in Hebrews is "How shall
we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" (2:3). This was spoken to
those who were already believers but who did not want to go on to
maturity in Christ. Some of us accept salvation from sin's guilt and
condemnation but do not allow the living Christ to be our Lord. "How
shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?"

 We considered previously that Ahab showed repentance when Elijah
pronounced God's judgment on him. The king was terror stricken because
he knew that the words of the prophet would come true. Elijah's word to
him was God speaking to him.

 Ahab's sin was threefold. First, he provoked the anger of God by
sinning against Him. Then he made Israel sin. And third, he sold himself
to work wickedness.

 God's judgment will be severe against men such as Ahab who not only
deny the truth themselves but also lead others down the same corrupt
path. Peter warned concerning this: "But there were false prophets also
among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who
privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that
bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction" (2 Peter 2:1).
There is such preaching in so-called Christian pulpits today, and "many
shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth
shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with
feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time
lingereth not, and their damnation [judgment] slumbereth not" (vv. 2,3).

 The Lord said no one was like Ahab, who sold himself to work wickedness
in the sight of the Lord and who was stirred up by Jezebel his wife (1
Kings 21:25). This was an evil combination and showed that Ahab had his
price. There is a saying, "Every man has his price." This is not true
with regard to the man who is truly committed to God.

 What price will we sell ourselves for? Will it be material gain? Even
some Christians are willing to compromise to gain the riches of this
world.

 The price for other unbelievers and God's people alike is the price of
honor, of profit or of pleasure. Ahab sold himself for his affection for
Jezebel. However, he was not so set in sin that he could not or would
not take a warning seriously. When Elijah pronounced judgment on him, he
forgot his pride and his crown and humbled himself for a while. But his
repentance was one of fear, not of love. It was not genuine.

 First, true repentance causes us to see that our sins are against God
and His love. Second, we see ourselves condemned and guilty, and so we
plead before God. Third, true repentance also reviews the mercies of
God, which are seen in Christ Jesus, His Son. In the fourth place, we
accept God's provision of salvation in Christ, who died for our sins.
Then, in the fifth place, we run from sin as from a serpent, not because
we fear the consequences but because we love Christ. Finally, we present
ourselves to God so that He might truly possess us and use us to His own
honor and glory. Ahab's repentance was not of this nature. Fear of the
punishment, not the awfulness of his sin, caused him to tremble. Had no
curse been placed on him, his sins and evil ways would have pained him
very little. Yet even this humbling of himself, though it was only
partial repentance, brought a delay of judgment. How merciful is our
God!

Elijah's Last Task

 Before tragedy finally destroyed the last of Ahab's family, an incident
recorded in 2 Kings 1 gives us insight into the character of Ahab's
children and the record of the last public act of the Prophet Elijah.

 Following Ahab as king was Ahaziah his son. His rule was very brief,
and his death is an illustration of God's judgment on rebels who persist
in defying God. Ahaziah was the playboy type who enjoyed the privileges
of rulership but wanted nothing to do with its responsibilities. Moab
rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab, and Ahaziah could not
care less. His attitude was to let Moab rebel. It mattered nothing to
him.

 This brief bit of history about Ahaziah begins with his falling through
a lattice work in his upper chamber in Samaria. The fall was apparently
severe, for he was very ill and wondered if he would recover. He sent
messengers with these instructions: "Go, enquire of Baal-Zebub the god
of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease" (v. 2). Baal-Zebub was
the name under which Baal was worshiped by the Philistines. He was the
god of medicine and also the god of the flies. This, of course, was the
same demon worship that had brought disaster on Ahab and Israel.

 Nothing is hidden from God, and the angel of the Lord "said to Elijah
the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of
Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in
Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron? Now
therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on
which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die" (vv. 3,4). Elijah
immediately departed after delivering this message. This was the last
task God gave him. Just as the prophet had been sent to rebuke Ahab, now
he was sent to rebuke Ahab's son.

 The messengers turned around and went back to the king, who was
surprised to see them so soon. He said to them, "Why are ye now turned
back?" (v. 5).

 "And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto
us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus
saith the Lord, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that
thou sendest to enquire of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou
shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt
surely die" (v. 6).

 Ahaziah then asked them, "What manner of man was he which came up to
meet you, and told you these words?" (v. 7).

 They answered, "He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather
about his loins" (v. 8).

 The king immediately identified the man as Elijah the Tishbite. He was
not ignorant of the part Elijah had played in the history of Ahab and
Israel, but in spite of his knowledge, this new king was worse than his
father. He sent a captain and 50 soldiers to take Elijah prisoner. This
was an open challenge against God Himself. Ahaziah was so proud that he
thought he could fight against God by fighting God's man.

 Do we realize that this will take place again and on a much greater
scale? The Battle of Armageddon will be nothing less than the
Satan-inspired Antichrist's rousing his followers to fight against the
armies of heaven. They will actually believe they can win the contest,
but they will not. Satan always sends his followers to their doom.
Someone reading these words may even be playing into the hands of the
Devil himself. Satan will not be able to rescue anyone from the judgment
of God. In spite of his promises, Satan can guarantee only the wages of
sin, and they are death.

 Evil people will not face the facts of God's judgment. Ahaziah would
not and struck out against the person who dared to proclaim God's
message. It seems to be a human trait to think that we can do away with
God's judgment by striking down God's messenger. How false this idea is,
for God will not be mocked. A person will reap whatever he sows
(Galatians 6:7). God is a consuming fire (see Hebrews 12:29). It is a
fearful thing to face His judgment (see 10:31).

 When people turn from God's truth as proclaimed in His Word, they are
not only rejecting God's messengers, but also they are rejecting God
Himself. Their rebellion is not against men but against God. They will
have to face Him someday. How can they expect to stand in such a
judgment?

 The soldiers found Elijah on the top of a hill. It might have been
Mount Carmel, where he witnessed God's great triumph in sending fire to
consume the offering on the altar. Perhaps Elijah had gone to this hill,
wherever it was, to pray and to fellowship with God. Moses followed this
practice, and so did the Lord Jesus during his public ministry. The
practice speaks of isolation and seclusion-the servant's being alone
with God.

Judgment by Fire

 The captain said to Elijah, "Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come
down" (2 Kings 1:9). The captain may have called Elijah a man of God in
mockery, but God cannot be mocked. Elijah sat in safety, for as God's
representative, he had nothing to fear.

He answered the jibe in these words: "And Elijah answered and said to
the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from
heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty" (v. 10). God vindicated His
servant, and fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.

 On Mount Carmel the fire had fallen and consumed the sacrifice while
the people went free. The prophets of Baal, of course, were an
exception, for they had sold themselves to sin.

 On Mount Calvary, God's wrath fell on His Son, who died in our place
that we might go free. All God asks is that we accept Christ as our
Savior, trusting Him to save us from sin. But those who refuse, those
who will not turn to God, will not find the rest God gives His people.
Instead, they will be judged: "And to you who are troubled rest with us,
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty
angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not [ignore]
God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and
from the glory of his power" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

 These soldiers came without repentant hearts and without a sacrifice,
and so they faced the judgment of their own sin. They did not turn to
God. The warning in the Scripture is "Without shedding of blood is no
remission [of sin]" (Hebrews 9:22). The Bible also warns, "It is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (10:31).

 Elijah's calling down fire on these men was not the result of personal
revenge on his part. He was a true servant of God and reflected the
heart of God, who finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God is
"longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repentance" (2 Peter  3:9).

 The king learned nothing from the loss of these men and sent out a
second captain with 50 soldiers. Perhaps Ahaziah and some of the others
thought that an accident had taken place. They may have thought the
death of these men was caused by lightning and was not the result of
God's direct judgment. But they ignored the evidence that was startling
and clear. The bodies of the slain men were mute testimony to what had
taken place. Elijah answered the second captain as he had the first, and
fire came down from heaven and consumed them (2 Kings 1:12).

 One wonders how blind and calloused a man can become! Ahaziah had sent
more than 100 men to their death; yet he sent a third group with the
same instructions-to bring Elijah in.

 The captain of this third 50 was different from the others. He "came
and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto
him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty
thy servants, be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down
from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with
their fifties: therefore let my life be now precious in thy sight" (vv.
13,14).

 This captain approached God's servant, showing reverence in his heart
for God and pleading for mercy. He showed submission to the living God.
This must have caused Elijah to rejoice, for, like God, he had no
pleasure in the death of the wicked. Nevertheless, judgment has been
sent by God on several occasions to warn the ungodly: "For if God spared
not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered
them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared
not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of
righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; and
turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with
an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live
ungodly" (2 Peter 2:4-6).

 Elijah was assured by the angel of the Lord that no harm would come to
him and that he was to go with the captain and give God's message to the
king in person. Soon after this Ahaziah died, and Jehoram reigned in his
place.

 All who reject Jesus Christ will meet Him in person: "And I saw a great
white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and
another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to
their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death
and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged
every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation
20:11-15).

"Prepare to meet thy God" (Amos 4:12).





Chapter 13 Translation of Elijah

 The closing incident in Elijah's life was perhaps the most touching in
his whole history. He was translated to heaven without having to die.
His ministry may have covered 15 or 20 years, but the public aspect of
it was much briefer than that. At a time of great depression in his
life, when lying under a juniper tree, he had prayed for death, but when
the time of his translation came, he was thankful that God had not
answered that prayer.

 The prophet's translation was to be at a special, designated place.
Elijah had learned long ago that absolute obedience to God's directions
was necessary for God's blessings. Only at the Brook Cherith were the
ravens instructed to bring food to him. Only in the city of Zarephath
was there a widow with a little oil and meal who would sustain him. So
Elijah knew how essential it was to be in the right place in order to
see the fulfillment of God's promises.

 The record of this great event is in 2 Kings 2. In verse 1 we are told
that when the Lord was ready to take Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind
and that the prophet and his servant, Elisha, left Gilgal. He had been
training young men, possibly some of the 7,000 who had not bowed their
knee to Baal. He had established three schools-one at Gilgal, one at
Bethel and one at Jericho. This was not something new in Israel; Samuel
had done this long before. Young prophets who came out of these schools
were used by the Lord, men such as Amos.

 Elijah began his journey from Gilgal to the place of his ascension, and
Elisha insisted on going with him. This journey involved a great test
for Elisha, who was to be Elijah's successor. From the account you may
be led to think that Elijah was reluctant to have Elisha go with him,
but this may well have been part of the test for the younger man. Elijah
was alone in his ministry, and he was humble, and he may have felt that
his coming translation was too sacred a matter to be witnessed by
others.

 We can learn valuable lessons from this experience. If we wish to
behold the glory of God and to be fit vessels to participate in God's
work, we must go on to maturity in Christ.

Gilgal

 As we have already seen, Elijah's journey began at Gilgal. This place
is noteworthy because one of Elijah's schools was there. This was the
place where Elisha was first tested when he stated that he wanted to
follow Elijah.

 Second Kings 2:2 says, "And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here [at
Gilgal], I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha
said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not
leave thee. So they went down to Beth-el."

 Elisha was given the opportunity to stay at Gilgal, which seems to
represent the easy, or comfortable, place for Christian living. It is
not so hard to be a Christian-to be born again, to attend a good
Bible-believing church on Sunday and to attend a prayer meeting during
the week. Private, personal devotions are also beneficial and essential
to the Christian life. These things are usually easy to do in a
comfortable situation without the temptations of the Devil or the flesh.
There is no call for any vital decisions, and there is little or no
participation in spiritual warfare. We can go about our daily lives
anticipating that the Lord will one day call us home to heaven where we
can rejoice forever.

Bethel

 Bethel speaks of something else again. The word itself means "house of
God." This was where Jacob first met God when he fled from Esau. It was
the place to which God called Jacob back after he had been with Laban
for 20 years. It was the place of major decisions in Jacob's life, and
he should have stayed closer to it.

Bethel speaks to us of a once-for-all decision that we as believers must
make. The New Testament also refers to this: "I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service"
(Romans 12:1). There comes a time in our Christian experience when we
each have to face this decision.

 We need to analyze this verse very carefully. It follows a portion in
the Book of Romans in which God definitely outlined the marvelous plan
for the Christian's life. It is to be a life of complete victory, a life
of usefulness to God. Before this can be realized, God must have
complete possession of us. This is seen in the phrase "present [yield]
your bodies a living sacrifice." The Lord has purchased this body for
His own possession (1 Corinthians 6:19,20). We are not our own;
nevertheless, He does not force Himself upon us. He indwells us when we
are born again, but we may give Him only part of our heart. He needs all
of us, however, in order to live His life in us through Christ Jesus our
Lord.

 This is to be a once-for-all decision of yielding our bodies to God as
living sacrifices. The word "sacrifice" itself speaks of death, and yet
this is to be a living sacrifice that speaks of activity. This seeming
paradox is explained by the fact that we are to die to self but to live
unto God through an act of faith. This is taught in Romans 6:11 and is
our reasonable service. Nothing is to be held back. Bethel speaks to us
of this great choice.

 Elijah said the Lord had sent him from Gilgal to Bethel. His had been a
life of receiving direct orders from God and obeying them explicitly.
How would Elisha measure up in these things? That was the test, but
Elisha did not hesitate. The expression "as the Lord liveth, and as thy
soul liveth, I will not leave thee" (2 Kings 2:2) may be restated, "As
sure as God lives in you and in me, I will not leave you." This is an
absolute and final statement. This is a choice from which there is no
backing down.

 Elisha made this decision willingly, and it is the kind of decision God
requires of us. He never forces Himself on us. Once we decide to yield
ourselves to God, there is no limit to what He can do through us. When
we give our bodies to Him completely, we can say, as Paul did, "I can do
all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).

Stating it from another angle, Paul said in Galatians 2:20, "The life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself for me."

 Recognizing then that we must completely surrender to God, let us not
stop at Gilgal, which represents a comfortable Christian life, but let
us go on to Bethel, where He calls us to fully surrender to Him. He does
not ask us all to be preachers or missionaries, but He does ask us to
present our bodies so that He may indwell us completely in every aspect
of our being.

Jericho

 In 2 Kings 2:4 we read: "And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here,
I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho." Elijah said, in
effect, to Elisha that since he had decided to obey the Lord, he would
not be staying at Bethel. He had come a long way in his spiritual life.
So he could afford to stay for a while at Bethel, but that was not what
Elisha decided to do. Again he said, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy
soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho" (v. 4).

 Jericho represents the place of spiritual warfare-entering into
activity against forces of evil for the Lord. This goes far beyond the
average Christian's churchgoing and attending evangelistic
campaigns-which are good-but this goes much further. This is the hardest
phase of Christian living, but one we must enter if we would reap the
greatest benefits in service and rewards. This is not something that is
done in public but in private. There is no glamour to this aspect of the
Christian life, but it results in effective service when entered into in
the power of the Lord.

Three Steps in Israel's Deliverance

 Looking at the three basic steps in Israel's deliverance from Egypt
will help us see what is involved in this truth. First of all, when the
Israelites were slaves in Egypt, they could do nothing to help
themselves. God had to liberate them, and He did. The blood on the door
posts of the houses was the sign of their salvation. The manifestation
of God's power at the Red Sea, which delivered them completely from
Egypt and its armies, speaks of moving from death to life in God
Himself. This was all God's doing. It represents our deliverance from
the guilt and condemnation of sin and emancipation from the world. But
what follows?

 The second great experience for Israel was in the desert. There they
were to learn to follow God completely so that they would be separated
not only from a sinful world but also from a sinful self-life. One
generation never did learn this, for all they did was complain. They
went in circles, wandering in the desert for 40 years. This is true of a
lot of believers who settle down in religious activities. They fail to
go on to complete consecration and separation to the Lord or to enter
into spiritual warfare. They follow a program of weekly church
attendance, but they make no progress in their Christian lives because
they have no purpose beyond attending meetings. This is no better than
the Israelite's wandering in the wilderness and murmuring and traveling
in circles. To do the former is right, but to fail to grow in the
Christian life is sin. "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Romans
14:23).

 The third great experience for the Israelites came when they crossed
the Jordan. Then they came to Jericho and entered into warfare in order
to possess the land. They were useless to God as far as their testimony
was concerned while in Egypt and in the desert. Not until they came to
the land itself could God work through them to possess it.

 We are useless to God as long as we are in the world. We are also
useless to Him as long as we merely follow a church program instead of
getting out of the self-life and into the full life of separation and
warfare represented by Canaan.

 As soon as the Israelites entered the Promised Land, satanic opposition
appeared. We can expect this also as soon as we enter into spiritual
warfare. That is why Ephesians 6 was written. "Finally, my brethren, be
strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole
armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take
unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in
the evil day, and having done all, to stand" (Ephesians 6:10-13).

 In this spiritual warfare God provides armor for our protection where
necessary, and for offensive fighting, He furnishes us with the sword.
Through faith we enter into this active service with Him, which is
climaxed by warfare, through prayer. God needs more prayer warriors
today among His people. Let us join this aggressive group.

Jordan

 Elisha chose to go with Elijah to Jericho just as he had chosen to go
with him to Bethel. But now their journey took them even farther. Elijah
asked Elisha to stay at Jericho, for he said, "The Lord hath sent me to
Jordan" (2 Kings 2:6). Again Elisha refused and journeyed with his
master. Jordan speaks of death. It represents death to the self-life.
Jordan stands as the place of the Israelite's separation from the
self-life in the desert to the life of warfare for the Lord in the land.

 Have we passed through this in our daily experience? True, we have been
born again and have been united to Christ. We have been identified with
Him in His death, burial and resurrection. But not until we appropriate
this by faith and enter into it actively in His name does it mean
anything to us.

 The cardinal chapter of the Bible for this subject is Romans 6. There
we read: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the
body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin"
(v. 6). This speaks of the potential of the Christian life. But in order
to actually enter it, here is what is needed: "Likewise reckon ye also
yourselves [by an act of faith] to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (v. 11). We are to count this
true in our lives.

 All four of the Gospel writers had something to say on this subject. In
Matthew 10:38,39 we read: "And he that taketh not his cross [death], and
followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall
lose it [trying to find his own way in this earthly life]: and he that
loseth his life for my sake shall find it. "If we are willing to give up
our self-life for His sake, we really begin to live.

 In Mark 8:34,38 we learn: "And when he had called the people unto him
with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after
me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. . . .
Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this
adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be
ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy
angels."

 Paul provides a practical demonstration of this. When told by friends
that if he went to Jerusalem he would be made a prisoner and possibly
put to death, he said, "But none of these things move me, neither count
I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy,
and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify
the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24). He was willing to lay down
his life if it would mean completing the ministry that God had entrusted
him with. His self-life had no value to him. This was Elisha's attitude
also when he followed Elijah to the Jordan and beyond.

 A very important decision must be made by all of us. Our Lord said in
Luke 14:26,27, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and
mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his
own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his
cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." We may be children of
God, but we cannot be disciples in the sense of one who is learning and
serving unless we put God in first place-ahead of all earthly ties or
ambitions.

 In John's Gospel our Lord said, "I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it
bringeth forth much fruit" (12:24).

 Along this same line, and encouraging us to make a decision, are our
Lord's words in Luke 14:33: "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that
forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." This is why
Paul said in Philippians 3 that he counted all his personal and early
religious accomplishments as loss for Christ: "I count all things but
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord" (v.
8). Is Christ our Lord? If so, we will not hesitate to go on with Him.

 Turning back again to the story of Elijah and Elisha, we learn in 2
Kings 2:7,8: "And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood
to view afar off: and they two [Elijah and Elisha] stood by Jordan. And
Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters,
and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on
dry ground." This was an act of faith on Elijah's part. God held back
the waters of the Jordan River because of this expression of faith, and
His two servants committed themselves to Him. They did not ask how God
held back the waters but trusted Him to do it.

 Death to the self-life requires faith. We accept by faith our death in
Christ. We do not understand this necessarily, but we accept it by
faith, and we find that it works. When we believe God in these matters,
He takes over. The Christian life is a life of faith, and every step is
a step of faith. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God" (Romans 10:17). Thus the life of faith is the life of obedience to
God's revealed Word.

The Principle of Faith

 Elijah did not stand on the banks of the river waiting for God to do
something. True faith results in action. The river had to part, and
Elijah struck it with his mantle. God had parted the river for Joshua
and the Israelites long before this; so this particular miracle was not
new. What God did once, surely He would do again. The waters parted as
Elijah desired.

 Faith was in operation as he and Elisha walked through the bed of the
river. The water suddenly stopped as though someone had built a dam. No
dam was visible just as the hand of God is not visible. Water that had
already passed continued to recede, and soon the two men were able to
cross on dry ground.

 While they were passing through the bed of the river, they very
possibly saw the water being piled up as the river continued to flow
downstream. How could they be sure that this body of water would not
suddenly give way and drown them? This was where faith entered in again.
Elijah not only had faith in the parting of the water, but both prophets
demonstrated faith by passing through the bed of the river. This shows
that we must by faith appropriate what God has done for us. We must
accept it as a fact and venture out on the basis of it. It is not merely
a matter of saying, "Lord, I believe that You can deliver me from sin
and its enslavement." Faith without works is a dead faith. We must act
on it as did these two men in crossing the Jordan.

 Each of the steps in which Elisha journeyed with Elijah was a matter of
faith. It raises this question: "How do I know that I am separated to
God? Does the reality of my separation depend on how earnest I was at
the time I surrendered my life?" Not necessarily. Earnestness has its
place, but the essential ingredient was faith when we said yes to God.
We place ourselves in His hands, and He does the separating. This
sanctification, or separation, is God's doing. He separates us to
Himself.

 Then what about entering into spiritual warfare? How do I know that God
will answer my prayer and accept my decision? God will do this because
He has said so. We step out in faith, and this applies to every aspect
of our Christian life. Only as God sees us moving forward will He be
able to work on our behalf. We must move forward by faith with Him.

 This is a lesson the Lord taught my wife and me personally many years
ago. The very incident of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River was
the Scripture passage the Lord used to emphasize to us that He wanted us
to step out by faith. This was more than 40 years ago, when God brought
us to Lincoln, Nebraska, to begin the Back to the Bible Broadcast. We
had to step out in faith, burning all bridges behind us. We trusted only
in God, for there was no visible means of support from any other source.

 It has been the same principle of faith that we have sought to follow
all through the years since then. We sign contracts with stations, not
waiting until the money is available. When we believe God wants us to go
ahead, we do so. We undertake missionary work by faith, and God has met
the needs.

Elisha's Request

 After Elijah and Elisha had crossed the river, Elijah said to the
younger man, "Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from
thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit
be upon me" (2 Kings 2:9).

 Elijah's question had unlimited potential. Elisha was first to ask what
he wanted Elijah to do for him. This threw the gate wide open, so to
speak, to this young man. This clearly shows us what God will do for us,
for Elijah could do for Elisha only what God would give. Our Savior said
in Luke 11:13, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto
your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy
Spirit to them that ask him?" How many individuals responded to this
promise before Pentecost? Another great promise is found in Matthew
7:7,8: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth;
and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be
opened." If we do not receive from God, it is because we have not asked,
according to James 4:2.

 Let us not blame God if we do not see in our lives what we think ought
to be there. We have either not surrendered our lives to the Lord, or we
have not accepted by faith what God has already accomplished for us in
Christ Jesus, or we simply have not asked.

 On this particular occasion, Elisha showed what was deep in his own
heart. His answer is something for us to ponder as we think of what the
goal in our life might be. Is it success of some kind? Is it something
that God can honor?

 The various testings Elisha had passed through from Gilgal to the time
when he was asked what Elijah could do for him were stepping-stones of
faith. They led up to that great climax. Elisha's answer was "I pray
thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me" (2 Kings 2:9).

 This was in the spirit of Paul's aspiration when he declared that he
had left all things behind him in order that he might attain to the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus (see Philippians 3:8). He
wanted to know Christ and the "power of his resurrection, and the
fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death"
that he might experience daily the resurrection life of Christ in him
(v. 10). He did not feel that he had already attained this, but he
followed Christ and pressed "toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus" (v. 14).

 The question put to Elisha cannot be put to just anybody, for not all
are ready for it. But this verse in the Psalms is the key to receiving
from God the best things: "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he
shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (37:4).

 I have meditated on this verse for many, many years, and though I have
experienced it in part, I am still conscious of failure to always
delight myself in the Lord.

 When our goal in life is to do the will of God, He will show us what we
should make our purpose in life.

 Paul's prayer for the Ephesians and for us is: "That the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your
understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of
his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints" (Ephesians 1:17,18).

 There was an unlimited potential before Elisha, and he wasted no time
in making known his God-given desire.

Elisha Given Elijah's Mantle

 Elisha had sat at the feet of Elijah for about 10 years. He had seen
what it meant to be a servant of God, to have a surrendered heart and a
holy life. He also witnessed how God honors such a person. For his own
part, Elisha was totally consecrated to the Lord. He had passed many
tests from the day that Elijah had cast his mantle on him, and in the
events leading up to the crossing of the Jordan, he had again proved
that he wanted to obey the Lord completely.

 The casting of the mantle upon him was significant. In Jewish customs
it was the sign of adoption as a son. In Elisha's case it meant that he
was adopted by Elijah to be a spiritual heir of the prophet. Just as the
firstborn in Israel had the right to a double portion of the
inheritance, so Elisha, in asking for a double portion of the spirit
that rested upon Elijah, was being consistent with the position he held.
He was not necessarily the first individual Elijah had led into a true
worship of the Lord, but he was picked to be the spiritual son and
successor of this prophet of God.

 Elisha did not ask for more of the Holy Spirit. A person either
receives the Holy Spirit or does not. A true believer always receives
Him. The question we need to ask is "How much does the Holy Spirit have
of me?"

 In asking for a double portion of Elijah's spirit, Elisha was referring
to the ministry he was to inherit. It is no accident that twice as many
miracles were performed by Elisha than by Elijah, and he ministered
twice as long as Elijah. This was not something that was done without
absolute surrender on his part to the Spirit of God. Such a ministry
cannot be fulfilled on the human level. It is a divine work in the first
place and must be energized by God.

 Elijah's answer is given in 2 Kings 2:10: "And he said, Thou hast asked
a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it
shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so." This was not
something Elijah himself could promise, for it was not his prerogative
to give. With his prophetic insight, however, he could say to Elisha,
"If I am carried away in full view of you, then your request is granted;
if not, it is refused." If Elisha saw Elijah being translated, then he
should accept it as a sign from God that his request had been granted.

 Only a man whose spiritual qualities were right before God would be
permitted to view this actual scene. Just as there are sounds we cannot
hear, there are realities we cannot see. The chariot of fire and the
horses of fire were real, though not all who were watching Elijah and
Elisha saw them. The Bible tells us that God has appointed angels as
guardians of His people, and part of His care for us comes through them.
Little children have guardian angels, according to the Scriptures (see
Matthew 18:10), but no guardian angel is humanly visible.

 Fifty young prophets stood by the river watching, but they did not see
what Elisha saw. The Spirit of God did not give them the spiritual
insight needed because they were not prepared for it. Elisha had passed
the test of Bethel, which speaks of separation; the test of Jericho,
which speaks of warfare; and the test of Jordan, which speaks of death
and resurrection. These others had not.

 In 2 Kings 6 is a very good illustration of this whole matter. Elisha
was established as God's prophet and was, of course, the target for
God's enemies. Ben-hadad, king of Syria, made war on Israel but found
that the secret plans that he talked of in his private chambers were
known almost immediately to the king of Israel. The Syrian king learned
that Elisha the prophet was informing the Israelites of his plans, and
so he determined to capture him.

 Soon after, he sent an army to surround the city of Dothan with the
hope of taking Elisha. The prophet's servant discovered this when he
arose early one morning and found horses and chariots encircling the
town. He ran to his master, terrified.

 Elisha said to him, "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than
they that be with them" (v. 16). Then Elisha prayed a remarkable prayer:
"Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha" (v. 17). It took
a special manifestation of God's power for this young man to see the
spiritual forces around the city of Dothan.

 Paul's prayer for the Ephesians and for us is not that our physical
eyes shall see things that ordinarily they cannot see but that our
spiritual vision shall be clarified so our faith will claim God's
promises. Paul prayed for "the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that
ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the
glory of his inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1:17,18).

 Elisha did see Elijah's translation, for we learn: "And it came to
pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a
chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and
Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (2 Kings 2:11).

His great request was answered!


Chapter 14 Elisha Accepts Elijah's Unfinished Task

 The horses of fire and the chariots of fire, I believe, speak of
Elijah's fiery message. He was a prophet of fire. And he came and went
like a whirlwind. It surely is quite significant that this is the
closing scene of Elijah's earthly ministry.

 It was also, of course, the beginning of Elisha's own ministry as he
fulfilled the responsibilities left by his former teacher. This is one
reason why he cried, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and
the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his
own clothes, and rent them in two pieces" (2 Kings 2:12). As Elisha
recognized the seriousness of his responsibility, he realized that in
himself he could not fulfill it. Elijah had been like a father to him.
Now the older prophet was gone, and this left Elisha in the forefront of
the battle.

 I personally have some understanding of the situation. On December 22,
1945, I stood in a mortuary in Kansas, looking on the face of the man
who had meant more to me than any other person on earth-my own father.
Several friends and relatives were standing by when I found myself
overcome by emotion and weeping. Mother came over to me, patted me on
the shoulder and said, "Now son, now son." I told her that it was not
because Dad was gone that I was weeping, though I would miss his
fellowship. It was the sudden realization that many responsibilities
that had been on his shoulders were now transferred to mine. I could no
longer go to him and ask him questions or pray with him or receive
counsel from him. The realization of this overwhelming responsibility
upset me emotionally.

 Elijah, through his ministry and his prayer life, had been a protector
of Israel. This is why Elisha cried, "The chariot of Israel, and the
horsemen thereof" (v. 12). Moses did the same for the Israelites in his
day as he interceded for them before God.

 I believe the tearing of his garments indicated Elisha's recognition of
his own inability and insufficiency. It spoke of his brokenness before
God and his appeal to God for His divine strength.

 I heard a sermon once by a dear brother who came to pastor a church
that had been ministered to for more than a generation by a dearly loved
man of God. This former pastor had been one of God's great, stalwart
soldiers, a spiritual giant in many ways. For a new pastor to pick up
where this former pastor had left off was a difficult assignment. Some
in the church had known only one pastor in 40 years. He meant everything
to them, and it was natural that they would judge a new preacher by the
pattern set by the one who had gone to be with the Lord.

 The sermon I heard by the new pastor was one of the finest on this
subject I have ever heard. His text was from Joshua 1: "Moses my servant
is dead" (v. 2). The man who had been Joshua's leader and Israel's
leader for 40 years was gone. This, however, was not all that God had to
say. He continued, "Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and
all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the
children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread
upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the
wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river
Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward
the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. There shall not any man
be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with
Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Be strong and of a good courage" (vv. 2-6).

 This pastor went on to say, "I realize that many of you wonder if I can
fill the shoes of your former pastor. I can never do that. I did not
come here to fill his shoes. I would have had to turn down this
invitation to pastor this flock if it were not for the consolation that
I have from this message from God to Joshua when he said, 'As I was with
Moses, so I will be with thee.' "

Elijah was gone, but God was still present. God is the ever-living One,
and though His servants are removed from this earthly scene, He
continues, for He never fails. This was what gave Elisha the courage to
accept the challenge, even though he did it with a broken heart. His
acceptance is demonstrated through his picking up the mantle of Elijah.
"He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back,
and stood by the bank of Jordan" (2 Kings 2:13). This garment was a
loose cloak thrown around the shoulders and had become the recognized
dress of the prophets of Jehovah. Elisha entered into that office
accepting the gift of prophecy by faith.

 Picking up Elijah's mantle meant that Elisha would stand with God just
as the older prophet had done. He was assured he could do it because he
had seen Elijah's translation and because the prophet's garment had been
left behind for him.

Recrossing the Jordan

 Elisha returned to the Jordan and "took the mantle of Elijah that fell
from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of
Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and
thither: and Elisha went over" (2 Kings 2:14). The Lord made it possible
for Elisha to cross the Jordan on dry ground as He had done for Elijah.
He was gone, but his God remained.

 It is very possible that Elisha did not feel any different when he
found himself endued with power from above. There is no record that he
had a great emotional experience; nevertheless, he had come to a place
where an act of faith was needed, and he acted. There was no doubting of
God in this action of Elisha's. Rather it was an act of confidence
because he believed that God, who had given Elijah power, was now
empowering him.

 About 3,000 years have gone by since those days. Has God died? Has He
lost power? Is the lack of faith so evident among many people today due
to God's failure or our own spiritual deterioration? This is an age when
we are inclined to be dazzled by the inventions of men, but God is the
same God now as He was in Elijah's and Elisha's time. His power has not
diminished. The question is "Have we made this God our God?" Someone
once said, "Men are looking for better methods, and God is looking for
better men." Elijah and Elisha were specially appointed by God to do His
work.

 There was still another reason why God demonstrated His power for
Elisha in parting the waters of the Jordan. The sons of the prophets had
watched what they could see of the parting of these two men. At least
Elijah's mantle would be visible to them. They saw Elisha pick it up and
then smite the waters of the Jordan so that they parted. We read: "When
the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they
said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet
him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him" (v. 15). There was a
revival among them when they saw the power of God upon the new leader.

 God is still able to bring revival today, and He will when He finds
hearts responding to Him and submitting themselves completely to His
leading and direction. Revival is not necessarily brought about by
prayer. It is accomplished when we believe God and trust Him.

Elisha's Fourfold Heritage From Elijah

 There is no use in studying the Bible if we do not apply its truths to
our lives. This is what we mean by meditating on the Word. We look into
the Word of God, which serves as a mirror and reveals our sin; then we
turn to God and ask Him to cleanse us and to change us to His glory. The
psalmist said, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin
against thee" (Psalm 119:11). Bible truth will mean nothing to us unless
we apply it to our lives.

Elijah s Mantle

 The first part of the heritage Elisha received was the mantle of his
master. When Elijah cast it off, he threw off forever the burden of his
earthly ministry and commission. It is true that, according to some
interpretations of prophecy, he will again appear on the earthly scene,
but that task will not have anything to do with his ministry of some
3,000 years ago. The commission laid down by Elijah was part of the
heritage he decreed to Elisha, so the work begun by the older prophet
would be carried on to its consummation.

 This was symbolically presented in the mantle that Elijah dropped. The
younger man accepted it, but it would have been of little significance
had not God's power been given along with it. God's work, though it is
done by people, must be done in His wisdom and strength.

 There is an important lesson in this for us. Suppose Elisha had said,
"No, I won't have anything to do with this mantle," meaning that he
would not have anything to do with carrying on the work that Elijah had
left. This would have been a serious breakdown in the relaying of God's
work from one servant to another. The Lord Jesus said in John 15:16, "Ye
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye
should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain."
Here we have the evidence that we are divinely commissioned to carry on
the message begun by our Lord.

 In Acts 1 we have the record of our Savior's last meeting with His
disciples before His ascension: "And, being assembled together with
them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but
wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of
me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with
the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (vv. 4,5). The disciples were not to
leave Jerusalem until they had witnessed the coming of the Holy Spirit.
They were concerned about the coming of the kingdom, but the Lord
reminded them that the kingdom was not a subject they needed to be
concerned about at that time.

 Their great need was to wait as He had commanded, for He said, "Ye
shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye
shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had
spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud
received him out of their sight" (vv. 8,9). The same truth is approached
from another angle by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:18: "And all
things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." In the next two
verses he told us what message we are to give to others: "To wit, that
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God
did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled
to God" (vv. 19,20).

 We, then, like Elisha, have been commissioned to finish a task begun by
another. We have been chosen of God for this purpose as was Elisha. But
just as he could not do the work in his own power-and God did not expect
him to-neither can we carry on in our own strength.

 God calls us to absolute surrender of ourselves so that His work
through us will be done as He planned it. We are to glorify God in our
body and in our spirit, which are God's (I Corinthians 6:20).

 We will be called upon at the Judgment Seat of Christ to answer for
what we have done with the heritage received from our Lord. This was of
great concern to Paul, for he said, "Wherefore we labour, that, whether
present or absent, we may be accepted of [pleasing to] him. For we must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may
receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:9,10). Elisha received a
call from heaven to go and do God's work. We, too, have received such a
call to complete the work our Savior began.

Elijah's God

 The second part of the heritage was that Elijah's God remained with
Elisha. Not only did the mantle speak of the call to the work, but he
also had the assurance that the God who worked miracles through Elijah
was with him. This is why he said as he smote the waters of the Jordan:
"Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" (2 Kings 2:14). The mantle would have
been useless if the God of Elijah had not proven Himself to be on the
side of Elisha.

 We not only have been called to work for the Lord, but we also have the
assurance of His presence with us. Not only did our Lord say, "Go ye
into all the world, and preach the gospel" (Mark 16:15), but He also
said, "And, lo, I am with you alway" (Matthew 28:20). We direct our
prayers to the Father through the Son. We can ask, "Where is the God and
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?" in the same sense that Elisha
asked, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?"

The presence of God with us is deeper and fuller than we often think,
for the Lord's Prayer in John 17 is for our oneness with Him and the
Father. "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in
thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that
thou hast sent me" (v. 21). In verse 23 of the same chapter of John, our
Savior said, "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect
in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast
loved them, as thou hast loved me."

 Previous to this time our Lord had said, "If a man love me, he will
keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him,
and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). There should be no question,
then, about the fact that God is with us. He not only has sent us out to
be His ambassadors, but we have the firm assurance of His indwelling
presence.

Elijah's Spirit

 When the waters parted for Elisha at the Jordan River, there was the
witness that the Spirit of God was upon him (2 Kings 2:14). The same
Spirit that energized Elijah energized Elisha. Without the power and the
presence of the Holy Spirit, Elisha's ministry would have been
impossible.

 Elisha may not have felt a bit different when he inherited the Spirit's
presence and fullness in his life, but he accepted it as a fact by
faith. This is something we must do also.

 In writing to the Ephesians, Paul said, "In whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom
also after that ye believed [upon believing], ye were sealed with that
holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his
glory" (Ephesians 1:13,14). We still have the complete inheritance
coming, but the down payment, which is the Holy Spirit, has already been
made.

 It is no wonder, then, that in Ephesians 5 we are told not to be drunk
with wine but to be filled with the Holy Spirit (v. 18).

 The sons of the prophets witnessed the power of God on Elisha, and they
testified that the Spirit who energized Elijah rested on their new
leader.

 The Spirit of God is also given to us to fulfill the appointed task
entrusted to us. There is no excuse, then, for us to say that we cannot
do what God wants us to do. God does not ask us to do it but wants us to
let the Holy Spirit do it in and through us. When we present ourselves
completely to Him, He can accomplish His purposes in our lives.

Elijah s Office

 Elisha was also the heir of the prophetic office. By this, we mean that
he was to carry on the work that Elijah had begun. Elijah was a prophet,
and he had been God's man to rebuke the nation for its Baal worship.
Elisha was to continue this ministry.

 It is part of our heritage to carry on the work that our Savior began.
He had a physical body in which He was born, lived, died and was buried.
His body was resurrected and glorified, and in that body He is coming to
earth again. But he has another Body-the mystical Body, or Church, of
which you and I are members. He has left us here on the earth to carry
on the work. The Book of the Acts opens with the words, "The former
treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do
and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through
the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had
chosen" (1:1,2). He made very clear to the disciples what their
worldwide responsibility was.

 How part of this was carried on is revealed in Acts 13, where we learn
that, as the early church ministered to the Lord, the Holy Spirit said,
"Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called
them" (Acts 13:2). According to Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:20, we are to
carry on the great ministry in the place of our Lord Jesus Himself.

 Perhaps no clearer words concerning this can be found anywhere than in
John 20:21-23: "Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my
Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose
soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins
ye retain, they are retained." This is a glorious heritage the Lord has
left us! Let us accept it and act upon it.





Chapter 15 Looking Back and Looking Ahead

 The reason for reemphasizing some of the following aspects of Elijah's
life is that we might not overlook any basic key to the understanding of
the significance of his life to us.

A Man of Like Nature

 First, the Bible says Elijah was a man subject to like passions, or as
another translation says it, "a man of like nature" (James 5:17, RSV).
God permits us to see where Elijah failed so that we need not think we
are dealing with a perfect man. He was human just as we are; what sets
him apart from most of us is that he fully believed God.

 What Elijah accomplished is possible to us today if God should call us
to such a ministry and if we will believe and trust Him for it. It is
true that we know nothing of Elijah's family background or of his life
before his public ministry began. He appeared suddenly, and he went away
suddenly. Yet he was a man who had the same fallen nature that we have;
he was subject to temptations similar to ours; he faced the same tests
and trials that all humans face. He walked with the same God we have the
privilege of walking with. He sought the Lord for the same things that
you and I seek Him for. We may seek the Lord as Elijah did, for our
Savior made God's will very plain: "Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you"
(Matthew 7:7). The Apostle Paul said, "I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).

 Paul was no different from us, but he was called for a special task.
He, too, like Elijah, gave himself wholeheartedly to the Lord to be
used. God does not call us to be a Paul or an Elijah or an Elisha, but
He calls on us to trust Him as they did and to be as fully committed to
His will as they were. He has a task for us to do, and He equips us with
all the necessary talents and abilities to do it. If we will present our
bodies to Him, He will work in us and through us. Remember, the
Scriptures say, "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do
of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

A Man of Faith

 Second, Elijah walked by faith and not by sight. This makes all the
difference in the world in the effectiveness of a life committed to the
Lord. Because he was a man of faith, he could live by the Brook Cherith
even while it was drying up. The ravens brought him food in the morning
and in the evening just as God said they would, and apparently it did
not bother Elijah one bit that the water was slowly disappearing. By an
act of faith he went to live there in the first place, and he trusted
God throughout that experience. God told him what to do, and that
settled it for Elijah (1 Kings 17:2-7).

 Later he went to live in the home of a widow who expected to cook her
last morsel of bread, and then she and her son would await death by
starvation. But God multiplied the meal in the barrel and the oil in the
cruse, and all three lived on that food for several years. God provided
day by day as the need arose. He did not give them large stores that
would last for years, but His promise was that the daily supply would
not cease, and it never did (vv. 8-16).

 Are we learning to trust God daily? He never forgets or sleeps. He is
always taking care of His own and is constantly looking for a child of
His who will dare to believe Him. Elijah dared to consider God faithful.
How often we have made God a liar by not believing Him! Nothing honors
Him more than faith, but nothing so dishonors Him as unbelief.

 When Elijah heard God's word, he believed it and acted on it. "Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).
Perhaps our faith is not larger than it is because we have not studied
the Word. Our faith will not grow if we do not spend time in the Word of
God itself.

 I have talked to many people with spiritual problems, and when I have
asked them about their personal devotional life, I often found it very
meager. They may read a little before they go to bed at night, but they
do not read the Bible in the morning because they are so busy. Ignoring
the Word is a basic reason for our problems.

 It may not always be easy to take time in the morning for personal
devotions, but if we want to grow spiritually, we must take that time.
We must get our sense of values properly adjusted and realize what is
most important for our lives. What do we consider more important-what we
are doing or what God wants to do in our lives? Starting the day with
God is the most important thing for any of us. Elijah heard God's word
and believed it and acted upon it.

 Faith without works is dead (see James 2:17), but Elijah's faith wasn't
dead. He acted on what he believed. Obedience is simply faith in action.
Obedience trusts God and goes ahead.

A Man of Separation

 Third, Elijah walked in complete separation from the evil around him.
In many places people want Christian workers who are good mixers. They
say this is necessary if we are going to win young people or some other
group that is hard to reach. We feel they cannot be raised to our
spiritual standard; so we get down to their low spiritual level. This is
not the way God wants to reach them, and it is not the way Elijah lived.

 We are not called to win the world to Christ but to witness against its
sin using the Word of God. This is to be done by our lives as well as by
the Word. Elijah separated himself from the evil around him. He was a
pilgrim and a stranger who never fraternized with evil in order to win
evil men to the Lord.

 He lived among such people, but he was not one with them in practice
and belief. No doubt, many considered him unsociable and as having a
"holier than thou" attitude. If we are right with God, what difference
will it make how we are charged by those who disagree with us? Let them
go ahead and say what they want to say if our own lives before God are
right and our hearts are humble. If we do manifest a "holier than thou"
attitude, then we are at fault. But just because someone accuses us of
having such an attitude does not mean it is true.

 A biblical principle is laid clown for us in Hebrews 13:13,14: "Let us
go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For
here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come." Though this
was not written in Elijah's day, nevertheless, this was the principle by
which he lived. He was willing to suffer what was necessary in order to
live for God. He followed God and God alone.

 This does not mean that we have to shut ourselves off from all contact
and all responsibility to the society in which we live. We have to weigh
our different responsibilities in the light of God's call to us for
service. We need civic-minded Christians, but they must by all means
maintain a separated, holy life.

 I am constantly invited to join this group or that group, but I realize
that if I were to do so, I would have to neglect the work to which God
has called me. To let lesser things interfere would be to disobey God.

A Man of Intercession

 Fourth, Elijah was mighty in his intercession. This was not an easy
task but a hard one. His heart was constantly burdened for the people of
Israel. His prayer on Mount Carmel is typical of the burden of his
heart: "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this
day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I
have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that
this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast
turned their heart back again" (1 Kings 18:36,37). Elijah was a great
intercessor for his people. His prayers were largely on their behalf.
This was one reason why God gave him such glorious vindication time
after time.

A Man of Courage

 Fifth, Elijah was a man of great courage. In order to understand this
better, we must distinguish clearly between natural bravery and
spiritual boldness.

 Elijah, when left to himself, was anything but brave. After he had
dared to stand against Ahab and a hostile nation and the vindictive
prophets of Baal, he fled when threatened by a woman (1 Kings
18:21-19:3). As long as he dared to trust God he was as bold as a lion.
The moment he took his eyes off God he was the opposite. The person who
truly fears God does not fear other people.

 God recorded all of this, not to excuse our sin but as a warning that
when we do not stand with God, even for a moment, we will fail and fall.
Though greatly honored by God, Elijah's sins were not glossed over.
Though he was endued with the power of the Holy Spirit in order to
accomplish the tasks assigned to him, sin was never eradicated from his
life. In his own flesh he was still a sinful man. This is why we are
warned that we should take heed, because the person who thinks he stands
can easily fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).

 We are just as dependent on God for the maintenance of our spiritual
life and the spiritual graces He has given us as we are for God's
bestowment of them on us in the first place.

 God vindicated the ministry of Elijah by taking him home without dying.
Human nature being what it is, he was probably branded an enthusiast, an
alarmist, a firebrand, and his message was probably brushed aside. If he
had died a natural death, some of these skeptics might have been
confirmed in their unbelief. But when God took him away as He did,
without dying, He placed His stamp of approval on the ministry of His
prophet.

 This is exactly what the Rapture will mean to unbelievers who presently
poke fun at those who believe the Bible. This event will be one of the
most nerve-shaking events in all history, when millions of these
"fanatical, Bible-believing Christians" will suddenly be gone and the
apostate, ecumenical church left. That great event will vindicate those
who have dared to believe the old-fashioned truth of the Word of God.

A Man of Obedience

 A sixth lesson we learn from Elijah's life is that it is not good for
us to try to tell God how our lives should be lived. Elijah asked at one
time that he might die, but God did not answer this plea, for He had
something far better for His servant. God always has a better plan for
us than we can ever devise; so let us never try to tell God what our
lives should consist of.

Another thing we learn from Elijah's experience is that, though he did
not pass through death, his translation helps us see what death is for
the believer. It is not a state of being but an act. It is not a
condition but a passage. There is no interval of unconsciousness. Death
for the believer is being absent from the body and present with the
Lord. By an act of birth we enter into natural life; by an act, called
death, believers enter into real life.

 The translation of the believer who will be on the earth when Christ
returns for His Church is expressed very clearly in 1 Corinthians
15:51-53: "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." This must be
something like the experience of Elijah when he was translated.

Elijah's Rewards

 Some of Elijah's rewards are presented in Scripture. Others, we are
sure, will not be evident until we get to heaven.

 This makes us consider some preliminary matters with regard to God's
plans and the timing He ordains concerning those plans. We are
admonished in Galatians 6:9: "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in
due season we shall reap, if we faint not." God's plan for any of us
contains a great deal of mystery, but we must trust Him. He has not told
us to understand what He does but to trust what He does. He has a
long-range plan for this world in which each one of us has a part if we
walk in obedience to the Lord.

 James threw further light on this subject: "Be patient therefore,
brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth
for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it,
until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish
your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one
against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge
standeth before the door" (James 5:7-9). This again reminds us that we
need patience with regard to the plans of God and constant trust in His
wisdom, grace and power.

 A third passage of Scripture that is very important is the last part of
Hebrews 11. This particular chapter lists great men and women of faith
and concludes with this final word concerning them: "(Of whom the world
was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens
and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report
through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect" (vv.
38-40). The Amplified Bible translates this section as follows: "[Men]
of whom the world was not worthy, roaming over the desolate places and
the mountains, and [living] in caves and caverns and holes of the earth.
And all of these, though they won divine approval by [means of] their
faith, did not receive the fulfillment of what was promised, because God
had us in mind and had something better and greater in view for us, so
that they [these heroes and heroines of faith] should not come to
perfection apart from us, [that is, before we could join them]."

Your Part and Mine Are Vital

 God has one great long-range plan and program for man that began with
Adam and will conclude with the renovation of the heavens and the earth.
Every part of this program will fit together, and each believer will
fill a place in it. We cannot see what is ahead, nor do we know all that
has been accomplished in the past. We do not even know what all is being
done for the Lord in our own generation. But each one of us, as we walk
with the Lord, fits into the plan that ties in with what has gone on in
past generations and prepares the way for what is coming in future
generations. That is why it is so essential for us to be obedient in
every detail of our Christian experience. We may think our part is small
and wonder how God could use us in His overall plan, but God overlooks
nothing, and to Him nothing is unimportant. We must be sure that we
fulfill the requirements He lays down for us.

 An illustration will help us here. In the plan of God Moses was God's
great lawgiver. That was one of the great contributions he made during
his service. Elijah, on the other hand, was God's great reformer to
bring God's people back to the Law of Moses. Each servant of the Lord,
then, contributes his part to God's work, and all will be included in
the rewards given. Hebrews 11 provides us with a small list of some who
have had a part in God's work. This list is increased generation after
generation, and you and I have a share in it.

Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration

 Elijah was not only chosen to witness in the days of Ahab but also on
two occasions following that, hundreds of years apart. His earthly
ministry possibly lasted for only 15 years, but he ministered again
briefly on the Mount of Transfiguration and will come back to earth to
witness at a time still future.

 When Elijah went to Horeb and heard the still, small voice of God, he
probably had little understanding of what God wanted from him. He had
been discouraged because the revival he was looking for did not take
place in his generation. It is very likely that when he appeared with
the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, he understood in a
better way what God's program involved.

 This was a very important event in the life of our Lord and is recorded
for us by three of the Gospel writers--Matthew in chapter 17, Mark in
chapter 9 and Luke in chapter 9. Our Lord went to the top of a mountain
to pray and took with him Peter, James and John. While He prayed, "the
fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and
glistening. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses
and Elias [Elijah]" (Luke 9:29,30).

 This remarkable experience took place soon after the Lord had asked the
disciples how people were identifying Him. Some thought He was John the
Baptist; some thought He was Elijah; still others thought He was one of
the other prophets.

 Then Peter spoke up and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God" (Matthew 16:16). Following this event, Jesus told His
disciples about His death on the cross and His resurrection from the
grave. Peter, not understanding the meaning of Christ's words and what
God's program involved, rebuked Him: "Be it far from thee, Lord: this
shall not be unto thee" (v. 22).

 This was one reason why Moses and Elijah were included in the
Transfiguration experience. They had played a significant part in
Israel's history-Moses as the giver of the Law and Elijah as the prophet
who warned his people of the judgment that followed the breaking of the
Law. Now they had come to meet the Savior and talk with Him concerning a
matter of even greater importance. They spoke to Him of His "decease
which he should accomplish at Jerusalem" (Luke 9:31). The word "decease"
is literally "exodus." They not only talked about His death, but they
probably also talked about every part of the program of God that was
ahead. Christ's death on Calvary was very near, and Moses and Elijah now
could see what it all meant. Moses could now understand how the Law was
given to bring people to Christ. Elijah now understood why he had
preached judgment in his day but did not see the completion of that
program. Now he was about to see the grace of God manifested on behalf
of all mankind. The suffering and death of Jesus were the heart of it.

 The Lord was to die and to be buried, but that was not all. They spoke
of His "exodus," and that would include His rising from the grave and
His departure to heaven.

 These men spoke to our Savior about His death and resurrection in the
hearing of the disciples, and this gave them a better understanding of
God's program also. It was possibly also an encouragement for the Lord,
who was both God and man. He was facing death as a man, which made this
a serious hour for Him. So Moses and Elijah spoke to Him concerning the
coming events. Elijah in particular, knowing something of the meaning of
the still, small voice, would talk about the grace of God that was to be
manifested.

Elijah's Final Witnessing

 The Bible tells us that Elijah will take part in one further act on the
earth. The prophecy concerning this is in Malachi 4:5,6: "Behold, I will
send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the
children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come
and smite the earth with a curse." This was foreshadowed in the coming
of John the Baptist, but John made it very clear that he was not Elijah.

 In Zechariah we learn that two olive trees will witness in a special
way for the Lord in the latter days (4:2,3). Further details are given
in the Book of the Revelation: "And I will give power unto my two
witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore
days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two
candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will
hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their
enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be
killed" (11:3-5). This is the very kind of thing that we saw in the
experience of Elijah. Soldiers were sent to take him, but he prayed down
fire from God, which devoured them.

 The passage in Revelation deals with the second half of the seven-year
Tribulation. These witnesses will have the power to shut up heaven so
that it does not rain, and they will have the power to turn the waters
to blood and to smite the earth with plagues as often as they will (see
v. 6). The withholding of the rain reminds us of Elijah, and turning the
water into blood and smiting the earth with plagues was done previously
through Moses.

 Though Moses is not spoken of in the Bible as coming back again in the
sense that Elijah is spoken of, it seems reasonable to suppose that he
is the second witness. He was on the Mount of Transfiguration with
Elijah and the Savior. We would not be dogmatic about this, for others
identify the second witness as Enoch because, as they point out, he did
not die. But we know that one of them is Elijah. We further read
concerning them: "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the
beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against
them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies
shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called
Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified [old Jerusalem]. And
they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their
dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead
bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall
rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another;
because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And
after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into
them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them
which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto
them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and
their enemies beheld them" (vv. 7-12). This is undoubtedly the reward
that God will give Elijah for his faithfulness.

 We, too, shall be rewarded if we are faithful and true witnesses. If we
are not ashamed of Him and suffer with Him, we shall rule and reign with
Him.




Chapter 1 6 Elijah's God Still Lives

 Assured of the fact that a double portion of Elijah's spirit rested on
him and knowing that the prophetic office was now his to carry on,
Elisha demonstrated his faith when he came to the Jordan River and
struck it with the mantle. He asked this great question: "Where is the
Lord God of Elijah?" (2 Kings 2:14). This was not a question of doubt
but a question that expected an affirmative answer. The Lord God of
Elijah opened the waters for Elisha, just as He had done for Elijah.

 This is still a question after 3,000 years and is one that needs to be
demonstrated in your life and mine. Too many people have a very small
view of God. They think of Him as Someone to run to when they are in
trouble, and they call on Him only when they feel they need Him. Some
are irreverent and border on blasphemy when they think of our God, the
Lord God of Elijah, as the "man upstairs."

 These low views of God lead to doctrinal errors. This is one reason why
many people look to some kind of experience rather than to God Himself.
They want some gift of the Holy Spirit rather than the Holy Spirit
Himself. And low views of God contribute to a failure to apply Christian
principles to conduct. Thousands of problems arise when we hold such
views. We lack perfect obedience. We lack conviction of the sinfulness
of sin because we do not see the holiness of God. We view Him as we do
ourselves rather than as the infinite God to be held in awe and respect.

 How can we describe such a God when we ourselves are finite? I can tell
you some things I have learned about Him or have experienced. Then, for
some things in this closing section, I am indebted to the late A. W.
Tozer, who had a way of stating truth that is hard to improve on. His
book "The Knowledge of the Holy" has been very helpful to me.

 Elijah's God is the incomprehensible God; He is beyond human ability to
fully understand or grasp. This is what Zophar meant when he said to
Job, "Canst thou by searching find out God?" (Job 11:7). Our Lord said
that no one knows the Father, except the Son (see Matthew 11:27). The
Father can be known only through Jesus Christ our Lord (see John 14:6).
Furthermore, no one knows the things of God but the Spirit of God (see 1
Corinthians 2:11). Indeed, He is the incomprehensible God-but He is our
God.

 He is also the self-existent One. In science every effect must have a
cause. There can be no result unless something produces that result.
Some scientists honor God in their work, but others want nothing to do
with Him. They try to eliminate God from His universe because they
cannot account for Him or explain Him.

 Nevertheless, every person receives life from God. It is a gift from
God. Man is dependent on Him. God is self-existent, but we must depend
on Him for every breath we take.

 In his book Mr. Tozer illustrated this truth by reminding us of a
sunbeam. When it is cut off from the sun, it simply perishes. So a
person apart from God would perish if cut off from the benefits he
receives from God. Elijah's God is the self-existent One, and He is my
God.

 Elijah's God is the self-sufficient One. I can give nothing to Him that
He has not first given to me. Nothing is above Him or beyond Him. He
cannot be promoted, neither can He be degraded. Dr. Tozer wrote: "Were
all human beings suddenly to become blind, still the sun would shine by
day and the stars by night, for these owe nothing to the millions who
benefit from their light. So, were every man on earth to become atheist,
it could not affect God in any way. He is what He is in Himself without
regard to any other. To believe in Him adds nothing to His perfections;
to doubt Him takes nothing away."* He is the self-sufficient and
self-existent God, and He is our God.

*The Knowledge of the Holy, by A. W. Tozer, Harper & Row, Publiahers,
Inc., 1961, pp. 39,40.

God is not frustrated. He is never in need of our help and needs no
defenders. He needs no one; yet when faith is present in a human heart,
He will work through that person. Philippians 2:13 says, "For it is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." But
all our works, even those done in faith, can add nothing to God's
self-sufficiency.

 The God of Elijah is an eternal God. He dwells in all eternity. He has
always existed. We are creatures of time and were created for eternity
so that we could live with Him, but we had a beginning. God had none.
Learn to know the God of Elijah. He is our God. Can you say for
yourself, "He is my God"?

 The God of Elijah is infinite. We are poor creatures, constantly
frustrated and hemmed in by all kinds of limitations from within and
without. Is it not wonderful and satisfying to turn to God, who is
limitless in His powers and expressions? All nature has limitations, but
God has none. His gift of eternal life is in Christ, and it is
limitless.

 The believer has the life of God in him. This is the eternal life we
receive through faith in Christ.

 The mercy of God is infinite. His love is measureless and boundless.
God, as to His nature, is love, and because He is infinite His love is
infinite also. This is Elijah's God. This is our God.

 Elijah's God is immutable, or unchangeable. He never differs from
Himself.He never varies from what He is. He never changes. He can never
be more holy, nor can He be less holy, for He is holiness itself. God
has always been what He is and will always be what He has been. God does
not change. He is the God of Abraham, and Abraham's unchanged God is my
unchanged God.

 Elijah's unchanged God is my unchanged God. There is wonderful comfort
in knowing an unchanging God in a changing world. "I am the Lord, I
change not" (Malachi 3:6). With all our scientific knowledge, we have
not changed God. The sad fact is that our scientific knowledge has not
brought us any closer to knowing God. Only through the Word can He be
known, and He is unchanging.

 Elijah's God is omniscient; that is, He is all-knowing. Psalm 139 is a
classic portion of Scripture dealing with this subject. This psalm can
frighten us if we are running from God, but it can comfort us if we are
being tested and afflicted. God knows all about us. And His knowledge
about us is perfect. His knowledge has never been less, so that He had
to learn more. He does not need to learn anything, and He has not
learned anything, for His perfect knowledge cannot be added to. In
Isaiah 40:13,14 is this statement: "Who hath directed the Spirit of the
Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he
counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment,
and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?"

 God knows all things. If knowledge could be added to Him, He would be
imperfect and therefore could not be God. God never discovers anything,
for He knows all things. He is never surprised or amazed, for nothing
ever catches Him unaware. He knows us thoroughly. He is all-wise. In
fact, the Bible says that Christ has been made unto us wisdom (see 1
Corinthians 1:30). Elijah's wise God is our God.

 Elijah's God is also the omnipotent God; that is, the Almighty One. He
is all-powerful and sovereign. He has the right to do what He wants, and
He has the power to do what He wants. In order to reign, God must have
power. Because He is sovereign, He can do what He wants to do at any
time, for He has the right to do so. But in order to do so, He must be
the all-powerful God. This is Elijah's God, and my God. Do you recognize
Him as your God?

 While God has delegated a certain amount of power to His creatures, He
has not lost any power in doing so. He is still the same God. Science
discovers how God's power operates, but science does not add to God's
power. We do not know what electricity is, but we are learning how to
use it. We do not know all that can be known about atomic power, but we
are slowly learning how to put it to good use. These are powers in
nature, and our God, the all-powerful One, is the God of nature.

 Elijah's God is omnipresent. This simply means that God is present
everywhere at the same time. He is close to everything and everyone. God
is above and beneath and beside all things. He cannot be excluded from
anything. But this does not mean that God and His universe are one and
the same. He is separate from what He has created, and yet He is present
with it at all times.

 The climax of all of this is that Elijah's God is a faithful God. He
cannot deny Himself. A failure to be faithful would mean imperfection.
God is perfect; so unfaithfulness cannot occur in Him. We can count on
Him to be faithful in everything He has promised to do for us. Since God
is who He is, He cannot be different from what He is. He must remain
faithful in all His words and acts.

 But He is beyond all of this, for if we could describe God in human
language, God would be no greater than another human being. So He is all
we have said and much more.

 "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how
unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who
hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? or who
hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For
of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory
for ever. Amen" (Romans 11:33-36).

Elijah's God Still Lives

Elijah made a sacrifice To offer to Jehovah; It had been wet with water
thrice, Baal's sacrifice was over; Elijah pray'd, the fire came down,
And lick'd the water all around, And doubting ones believ'd and found
Elijah's God was living.

Elijah's God still lives today And answers still by fire; My friend,
just let Him have His way, He'll grant your heart's desire, Consume the
sacrifice you make And bid your slumb'ring soul awake, And chains of
inbred sin will break, Elijah's God is living.

Elijah's God still lives today, To take the guilt of sin away; And when
I pray my heart's desire, Upon my soul He sends down fire. --Rev. W.
Grum



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