Elijah
Refresher from last week:
Major characters - Elijah, Ahab and Jezebel
Spiritual condition of Israel at that time
1 Kings 18:18b NIV
“You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.”
Last week we saw that Elijah:
- Faceoff with Ahab - no rain unless I say so!
- The LORD sends E. to Sidon - a pagan city
- The LORD provides for E. through a widow
- The LORD sends E. back to Ahab
- E. challenges prophets of Baal to see who is the real God
- The LORD sends rain
- Jezebel’s threat
- E. runs for his life
- Horeb, the mountain of God, spending the night in a cave
1 Kings 19:9-18 NIV (read from the Bible with people following - only put the reference on the projection)
OK. So where did we leave it last week?
1 Kings 19:9b - (read from the Bible)
“And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Do you think that Elijah is going to have to think about his answer?
No Way!!! Elijah has been churning over the reasons in his head for the last forty days and nights!
He knows exactly what he’s going to say!
And here’s Elijah’s reply to the Lord!
1 Kings 19:10 NIV (Read from the Bible)
“I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and put Your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
Elijah had experienced many victories by the hand of the Lord
Now, he’s in a cave and the Lord says, “Come out here to the mouth of the cave. I want to show you something!”
OK. Now this is not the first time the LORD has demonstrated His power and greatness at Horeb, the Mountain of God.
Mount Horeb is where Moses met with the Lord in the burning bush.
At Mount Horeb the Lord provided water from a rock for all of the nation of Israel
At Mount Horeb (AKA Mount Sinai) the Lord gave the Ten Commandments
Exodus 19:16-20 NIV
“On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain.”
1 Kings 19:11-13 NIV (read from the Bible)
“The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’
“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
“After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”
In verse 11 Elijah is instructed to “go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord” and we assume that he was obedient and did as he was told. But if you look at verse 13 it says that when Elijah heard the gentle whisper, “he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”
I don’t know about you but if I was standing on a mountain near a cave and a wind came up that tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks and then an earthquake and then a great fire I’d probably run back into the cave myself. Wouldn’t you???
The Lord had gotten Elijah's attention but He did not speak to Elijah through shouting at him using natural events. The Lord spoke to Elijah in a whisper.
1 Kings 19:12b-13 NIV - read from the Bible
“After the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’”
And Elijah tells Him again but I wonder if his tone of voice has changed at this point?
1 Kings 19:14 NIV - read from the Bible
“I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and put Your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
This time the Lord has a direct reply to E’s response.
He doesn’t explain to Elijah at first but just gives him some directions, more prophecies.
In 1 Kings 19:15-17 NIV (read from the Bible)
the Lord gives Elijah some instructions of what to do when he returns to Israel and what the results will be.
The Lord is planning a reorganization in Israel and Elijah is to be the prophet.
Then, finally, the Lord reacts to Elijah’s claim that he is the only one left.
1 Kings 19:18 NIV - Read from the Bible
“Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel - all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
The LORD is saying, “You are NOT alone! You are NOT the only one left!”
Do you ever feel that way? “I am the only one left?”
OK. Back to the cave …
The Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire.
What was the purpose of the wind, the earthquake and the fire?
Was the Lord demonstrating His majesty and power to Elijah?
Sometimes you’ll be in a gathering where someone needs to get the attention of the people who are gathered so that they can say something.
It can be like that at a church dinner. The room is crowded with hungry people and we need to give thanks to the Lord before we eat but in order to get the attention of everyone in the room someone usually yells like a crazy person or someone whistles loudly. Once people stop talking and turn their attention to the crazy person that person can give thanks to the Lord for the food in a normal voice.
Is that what the wind and earthquake and fire were all about?
If so, it got Elijah’s attention but it didn’t really get his focus off from himself because he repeats the same thing he’s been rehearsing for the past forty days.
The Lord doesn’t try to argue with Elijah, He just instructs him to go back the way he came and what to do when he gets there and … oh … by the way … you are NOT the only one left in Israel!
IMPORTANT POINT - Elijah was obedient and went back!
Do you remember last week in the contest between baal and The Lord how the Lord sent the fire for the burnt offering?
Do you want to hear a very sad story of another man who saw the Lord light the fire under an offering to the Lord?
2 Chronicles 7:1 NIV
“When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.”
Now turn with me to
1 Kings 11:1-9 (read from the Bible with the congregation)
Solomon meeting with the Lord on one end of the spectrum and on the other end of the spectrum he’s bowing down to and building altars for detestable false gods!
How many times must Solomon have heard a still gentle voice in the middle of the night asking,
“What are you doing here, Solomon?”
“What are you doing here, Solomon?”
“What are you doing here, Solomon?”
“What are you doing here, Solomon?”
“What are you doing here, Solomon?”
“What are you doing here, Solomon?”
“What are you doing here, Solomon?”
Elijah went back, that’s what repentance means, turn around and go in the other direction.
Solomon did not! As far as we know, Solomon died in his sin. But, only the Lord knows.
Here is something very dangerous! When the Lord speaks with His still small voice you’d better respond!
Every time the Lord speaks to your heart and you don’t respond it hardens your heart and deafens you to His voice.
“What are you doing here?” gets harder and harder to hear until one day you don’t hear it at all.
You might very well still go through the motions but with a spiritually dead heart.
A dangerous place is to be sitting in church Sunday after Sunday, month after month, year after year ignoring the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit.
Spiritual deafness
Why did the Lord speak to Elijah in a still small voice or a gentle whisper?
A whisper is intimate. In a whisper you can feel the breath of the one speaking to you on your face. They have your full attention. They are in your personal zone with your permission. If they are in front of you, you can look them in the eyes. A whisper is intimate.
The Lord did not speak to Elijah in the wind, earthquake or fire because He was just getting Elijah’s attention so that He could communicate an intimate message.
God CAN shout if He wants to! One day, on the great and awesome day of the Lord, when Jesus returns with the trumpet of God and the shout of the archangel every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord of all, to the glory of God the father.
The Lord may indeed shout at us now in order to get our attention. It may come through some disaster, it may come through sickness or disease, it may come through financial or material loss. Yes, He can and sometimes does shout in order to get our attention but when He speaks to us it is with a gentle whisper.
And, when that gentle whisper says, “What are you doing here?” you will have a choice to make. You can turn completely around and go back like Elijah did or you can harden your heart and end up eternally lost like Solomon.
Pilotage - flying an airplane by compass and maps - watching for landmarks which will validate a true course or indicate drifting off course.
The Word of God with the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit is our indicator of whether we are on course with the Lord or not.
Where are you? Why are you here? What are you doing here?
Time of confession to the Lord.
Time of repentance.
Time of consecration.
Benediction:
Colossians 3:16-17 –
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
