God Of Elijah

GOD OF ELIJAH

Dr. D. K. Olukoya

Beloved, the intent and purpose of our message this week is to appreciate our Lord God from the view point of that great prophet, Elijah. You will recall that it is written that Elijah was a man of like passion as you and I, yet our Lord God manifested Himself in his life in such extraordinary ways that sometimes makes one wonder why such responses from God are not so common today. What was it about Elijah that distinguished him from the rest and made God so endeared to him? You will discover as you read along.

Our first scripture is taken from 2 Kings 2:11-14,

"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: And Elisha saw it, and 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. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan. And he 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."

There is a significant position for Elijah in the whole of God’s programme. Look at 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."

So, if Elijah did not come, the Lord said He will smite the earth with a curse. Luke I : 5-30 tells us the wonderful story of John the Baptist; the way he was conceived and the prophecy about him. For 400 years, God did not speak to anybody and the first time He decided to start talking was through a tremendous and wonderful man called John the Baptist, a fore-runner of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that "There is no prophet greater than him." How can a prophet be greater than a fore runner of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is not possible. Jesus Christ is the fullness of the divine revelation to man. So anybody that came to advertise Him has to be the greatest of the prophets. Luke 1:12-13 says, "And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him. Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John." Then in verse 14, He gave a wonderful prophecy; "Thou shall have joy and gladness: and many shall rejoice at his birth. 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 turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, 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." When John the Baptist was born, he was an unusual man. If Elijah and John the Baptist were to be pastors of churches today, I am sure many people will run away from them, be cause fire will fall down on fornicators inside the service, and they will roast there or sinners would be somersaulting at the back for committing an offence against the Lord God of Elijah.

In addition their clothes would be smelling, because they did not change clothes too often neither did they put on perfume, but they had power. Please note, we do not say that people should not have their baths. No, after all, physical cleanliness is said to be a good compliment of godliness. One good thing about the ministry of John the Baptist is that he was a very precise person. He always went straight to the point and his words were like fire. It was John the Baptist that said, "The axe is laid to the root of every tree and any tree that does not bear a good fruit shall be cut down and thrown into fire." He was the one that called the scribes and Pharisees. "You generation of vipers, who asked you to flee from the wrath to come?" Hot messages. Those are the kinds of preachers we need now. The Elijah kind of message, the Elijah kind of spirit, the Elijah kind of power; the spirit of violence in the kingdom. Those are the kinds of people we need to operate in our generation. The church of God is not looking for cosmetologists or powerful dressers, what we need in the house of God now, are surgeons who would take knife and cut her through. It may be painful but these are the kind of pastors that we need now whose messages are the messages of the last days. The message of John the Baptist was "Any tree that does not bear good fruit shall be cut down and thrown into the fire." And God is still doing that now. All the useless trees growing in the house of God, all the useless ministers, useless workers, useless members, that are all over the places are now being cut down and removed as the last days are here. Where do you stand? That is the question.