Mount Carmel Series

In 1 Kings 18:16-40, we learn about Elijah's great victory at Mount Carmel. As spoken of previous, King Ahab and his wife Jezebel were doing wicked in the sight of the Lord due to their idolatry. While Jezebel was an idolater and murderer, Ahab in some ways was worse because he allowed it to happen.

This is one of the reasons the world has so much trouble. Too many people are standing by allowing a toxic person to cause problems in the families, schools, churches, communities, workplaces, social groups, etc. There's a saying, "All it takes for evil to prosper is for good men to stand by and do nothing." If you are aware that evil is happening and you don't speak and act against it, you become as guilty as the individual doing wrong.

Of course, wisdom must be used to stay safe, but never turn a blind eye when you see an innocent person being attacked with physically or verbally.

Three years into the drought, the Lord tells Elijah to present himself to King Ahab and tell him that He will send rain soon. This was actually very dangerous since Jezebel was murdering the true prophets of God. Obadiah: another prophet of God, had hidden 100 prophets in 2 caves to ensure their safety. He was also in charge of the palace. During this time, Obadiah and Elijah met up and Elijah told Obadiah that he was here. 1 Kings 18:1-8

Obadiah was worried he was going to be killed if Elijah disappeared before Ahab would arrive, but Elijah swore by God that he would be there. 1 Kings 18:9-15.

When Ahab arrived, Elijah sure enough was there. Ahab then asked, "Is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel? 1 Kings 18:16. It's interesting that Ahab was so arrogant and hypocritical to call Elijah a troublemaker when he and Jezebel were running around making God angry with their idolatry and murders. Ahab forgot all about that. But that's how a lot of people are. They spend years doing terrible things to people, but then turn around and accuse others of being troublemakers over less. Such a person shouldn't be taken seriously.

Elijah reminded Ahab that it was him and his family that were the troublemakers because they wouldn't obey God's commands and have worshipped the images of Baal. 1 Kings 18:18 Elijah then told Ahab to summon the people of Israel to join him at Mount Carmel along with the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. It's interesting how when people do evil, they very rarely do it by themselves. But the righteous don't necessarily need to have many people backing them up because the armies of Heaven and the cloud of witnesses are for them always. Hebrews 12:1

After Ahab had summoned the people of Israel and prophets to Mount Carmel, Elijah asked them a serious question. "How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him. If Baal is God, then follow him!" 1 Kings 18:19-21

The nation of Israel had a lot of trouble staying faithful ever since the first freed generation sinned with the golden calf. Exodus 32 They didn't know that sin was going to follow them from generation to generation. After Joshua died, the book of Judges showed that when a judge rose, they followed God. But when the judge died, they went back to worshipping false gods. This caused them to get into bondage with other nations.

Every time they got into bondage or overtaken; they would cry out to God for deliverance. He would deliver them only for them to go back to their idolatry. We must make the decision as to whether we will serve the one true God or the false gods of the world. We can't go back and forth because A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:8

It was then Elijah issued a challenge to show who is truly God. This was a very high-pressure situation because he was one prophet and there were 450 false prophets of Baal. 1 Kings 18:22. Sometimes we must stand alone against an army. But remember David was by himself when he faced Goliath. He only had a sling and a stone. 1 Samuel 17:40-50. If you know God is on your side, you can face anything and anyone.

The challenge was this. Two bulls were to be cut into pieces and placed on the wooden altar without a fire. The prophets of Baal were to select one bull while Elijah took the other one. The prophets of Baal were to call on Baal and Elijah was to call on the true God. The god who answered by fire was the true God. And the people agreed. 1 Kings 18:23-24