1 Kings 17:1 KJV 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.
I. THE TIMES SURROUNDING ELIJAH
-1 Kings 17 begins with “and.” It was a time of great spiritual darkness. Ahab had provoked God more than any other king in the history of Israel.
1 Kings 16:33 KJV And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
-The problem with Ahab isn’t that he was necessarily a wicked man, he was a weak man. He had literally become the tool of a crafty and unscrupulous woman named Jezebel who incidentally was also his wife.
-He fell under the sway of a spirit of deception and manipulation. After Ahab married her for political reasons, she immediately went to work to destroy Israel and the effects of Jehovah.
• She built a temple to Astrarte in Jezreel that supported 450 priests.
• She built a temple in Samaria.
• She surrounded the land with shrines and groves to Baal.
• She started tearing down as many altars to Jehovah that she could find. (What is neglected will be broken down.)
-Priests of Baal were everywhere and once all of the construction to Baal was completed, she went on the offensive and cranked up the fires of persecution with a passion. Her fury was stoked and her hunger for their blood became insatiable.
-Prophets were hunted down and killed. They wandered about the land in goatskins and sheepskins. Obadiah was a lonely prophet in Ahab’s house who managed to hide a few of them in a cave. He did his best to shield them from the wrath of this terrible queen.
-The Bible indicates that 7000 were hidden away but they were paralyzed with fear.
-When you look at it from a simple point of logic, it appears that all was lost. But the fact of the matter was that the nation could not have been in a condition more ripe for revival.
Isaiah 59:19 KJV So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
-Suddenly on the scene, out of nowhere, appears a man. Here comes Elijah!!!
-Gilead was east of the Jordan River. It was a wild and rough land and it was the schoolhouse that God was going to use to turn into a prophet of fire. Don’t curse your geography. Instead of trying to leave your place, let God take that place to use it to turn you into an anointed vessel of the Lord.
-As he grew, he was earnest for God. He heard of Jezebel tearing down the altars, slaying prophets, building temples, and replacing the altar with idols.
What was this single man of God going to do?
Could one man really make a difference?
What was a wild, unschooled shepherd going to do?
-Elijah comes along and says, “I am tired of this mess. I am tired of the sin, the idolatry, the degradation, and I am tired of backing up!”
-Sometimes a prophet can be pushed, and pushed, and pushed, and pushed until finally he gets his back up against the wall and he draws a line in the sand and says, “Enough!”
-That is when you start allowing your frustrations to become fruitful.
• Lukewarm.
• Apathy.
• Backsliding.
• Going through the motions.
• Waffling Ahab’s.
• Criticism.
• Persecuting Jezebel’s.
• Dissenting voices.
• Torn-down altars.
• Temples that exalt idols.
-All of these things can push a man toward a revival. It can push a church toward revival. These things ought to push us as a church toward revival. It ought to cause churches to be driven to be different.
-He decides that the best thing to do is to barge right in to the king’s court and tell him what God was going to do! That is the answer to the question. . . It is found in James 5:17.
James 5:17 KJV Elias 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.
-He wanted it to be fulfilled. He wanted revival. He desired to see God stand up and show the people who was still on the throne.
-The more he prayed, the more conviction grew! God had already let him in on a secret: If you will shut heaven down, I will turn on the miracles.
-That almost does not sound right to us. . . . Shut down the heavens so that God can work.
II. THE MIRACLES DURING THE SHUTDOWN
-During this time frame while the heavens were closed up, it did not stop the miraculous from occurring in the life of Elijah.
A. The Unclean Feeding the Holy -- 1 Kings 17:3-7
-There are a series of principles that we find when the heavens get shut down:
• 1st -- Something Unclean Can Provide for the Holy.
-Immediately on the heels of Elijah telling Ahab that there would be no rain, God sends him down to brook at Cherith.
-This place where God sent Elijah was a spiritual retreat for him. It was in the back country, hidden away from the eyes of the enemy.
-The prophets of the groves were eating from Jezebel’s table (1 Kings 18:9) while Elijah was hidden by God down at the brook. Twice a day he was eating ribeye steak and Texas toast that was lightly browned and buttered. He didn’t even have to tip the delivery drivers that came and brought it to him.
-The ravens were what delivered this to him.
• They are birds of prey.
• They are noted for their ravenous appetites.
• They are very large with wing-spans up to 4 feet across.
• They are very fierce in their appearance.
• They were more likely to have attempted to take the meat away from the prophet.
• They fed on dead things and were at best still dirty birds.
• The biggest dilemma for Elijah was that they were unclean!
-Yet out of all of this came the same principle that Samson experienced. Out of a dead lion came from some very sweet honey. Out of the eater came forth meat.
• Joy is often found in the place of conflict.
• Power is often discovered from yesterday’s victory.
• Encouragement is often drawn from the things that have tried to devour us.
• Trials will produce for us the greatest advantage.
• Yesterday’s pain will become tomorrow’s comfort.
-It does not matter that God wants the heavens to be shut down, it matters that God wants to lock down heaven to show the miraculous.
-The nation is going to fall down because of this drought but not God’s man! What God shuts down in the world is not an indicator of what is going to happen in the Church!
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV [19] What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? [20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
-The whole nation can dry up but God is going to make a way for His prophet. He will take something unholy and feed the anointed with it!
B. A Little Can Accomplish A Whole Lot -- 1 Kings 17:8-16
-There are a series of principles that we find when the heavens get shut down:
• 1st -- Something Unclean Can Provide for the Holy.
• 2nd -- A Little Can Accomplish a Whole Lot.
-Next, God allows the brook to dry up from the drought. Elijah is sent on to Zarephath because God understands that he is going to need to eat. My set of circumstances never control God’s ability!
-What is interesting about God sending Elijah to Zarephath is that this is the stomping grounds of Jezebel. He was going to eat in the backyard of his most violent enemy.
-It can look pretty bad sometimes:
• No rain.
• Stifling heat.
• Dirty birds hanging around.
• Having to go to the heathen in Zarephath.
• Dying prophets.
• Hiding prophets.
• Great idolatrous temples.
-Yet not a single one of these circumstances controlled God.
-God said to shut up the heavens with your prayer so that I can be shown alive in the midst of all this foolishness (sin, idolatry, Ahab, Jezebel, and so on).
-Drought was one of the recognized judgments of apostasy:
Deuteronomy 11:16-17 KJV [16] Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; [17] 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.
-God decided to show the folks who were chasing Baal who was in charge. Baal was the supposed god of the sky and the god of fire and before it was over with, God would show that Baal could not bring rain or fire!
-So Elijah ambles on to Zarephath because something little was about to accomplish a whole lot.
-When Elijah asks for something to eat, the widow replies, “We are getting ready to die ourselves.” We are going to eat this little that we have here and when it is gone, we will settle in for starvation to take us.
-Your need can sometimes be the route for somebody else’s miracle! It is just difficult to see it like this sometimes. Through my own hunger someone else will benefit!
-That is why that when God shut down the heaven, He had already decided that there were going to be a string of miracles.
-This little lady finally decided just to follow through on the strange instructions of the prophet.
1 Kings 17:12-14 KJV 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. [13] And Elijah said unto her, 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. [14] 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.
-If you will ever be obedient to God in these kinds of situations, no matter how strange and unexplainable, God will take the heavens that are shut down and perform miracles.
-A little meal and a little oil can accomplish a whole lot. This is the huge dilemma that the devil wants to shut our faith down with!
• All you have is a little meal.
• All you have is a little oil.
• All you have is a little money.
• All you have is a little influence.
• All you have is a little sling and rock.
• All you have is a little jawbone.
• All you have is a little scarlet thread.
• All you have is a little opportunity.
• All you have is a few praying for revival.
• All you have is a little church.
-But that little that we have can suddenly become so powerful in the hands of God.
C. Past Blessing Does Not Cancel Future Trouble -- 1 Kings 17:17-24
-There are a series of principles that we find when the heavens get shut down:
• 1st -- Something Unclean Can Provide for the Holy.
• 2nd -- A Little Can Accomplish a Whole Lot.
• 3rd -- Past Blessing Does Not Cancel Future Trouble.
-I am going to just briefly pass over this third miracle for the sake of time because this thing could turn into a four hour sermon. In fact, I very well may preach about Elijah for the rest of the summer!
1 Kings 17:17 KJV 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.
-After these things came to pass. . . what things? The miracle of meal and oil. God had provided a huge miracle that saved the widow and her son from starvation but now the boy had gotten sick from something else and had died.
-Sometimes life weighs very heavily on us but all in all, God is still in charge and He is still good!
D. What Acts Up Is About To Be Exposed -- 1 Kings 18:17-46
-There are a series of principles that we find when the heavens get shut down:
• 1st -- Something Unclean Can Provide for the Holy.
• 2nd -- A Little Can Accomplish a Whole Lot.
• 3rd -- Past Blessing Does Not Cancel Future Trouble.
• 4th -- What Acts Up Is About To Be Exposed.
-In case you haven’t noticed, all of these miracles have occurred while the heavens were shut down. No rain had graced Israel. It is pushing on 3 ½ years and everybody is getting tense and nervous.
• Ahab is aggravated.
• Jezebel is mad.
• Obadiah is afraid.
• Obadiah’s prophets are in caves.
• The seven thousand are living in fear.
-The drought has exacerbated the whole situation. Ahab is demanding a confrontation.
1 Kings 18:17-19 KJV And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? [18] And he answered, 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. [19] Now therefore 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.
-Ahab is like your flesh. . . weak. . . waffling. . . whining. . . and there are times that a full blown confrontation has to occur.
-The business of confrontation will work in your life. You have to confront some things before the fire is ever going to fall (Ephesians 4:17-22):
• Walking in the vanity of your mind.
• A darkened understanding.
• Being alienated from the life of God.
• Ignorance has ruled long enough.
• Blindness of heart.
• Being past feeling.
• Given over to lasciviousness.
• Working uncleanness.
-Paul said to put all of these things off! Then he said that when the fire falls there are some things that you need to put on (Ephesians 4:23-32):
• Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
• Put on the new man.
• Hunger for righteousness and holiness.
• Put on truth.
• Put on longsuffering.
• Give yourself to labor.
• Let purity flow from your mouth.
• Let encouragement flow out of your life.
• Pursue the Spirit of God.
• Embrace kindness.
• Work toward forgiveness.
-Spiritual confrontation is good for us because whenever we are willing to confront the false prophets of Baal, the fire always falls.
-This is exactly what happened on the mountainside in Carmel. When the prophets of Baal showed up, they begin to show out.
• They climbed up on the altar (18:26).
• They cried, screamed, and wailed in an effort to implore Baal (18:28).
• They cut themselves until blood was pouring (18:28).
• They “prophesied” all day long and nothing happened (18:29).
-They proved out the fourth point: What acts up is about to be exposed.
-This is the way that the devil works best. Whenever he is about to be exposed and thrown out of comfortable surroundings, he starts acting in all manner of loud and uncouth ways.
• The young man in Mark 9 that was possessed by the devil would throw himself to the ground, into the fire, or into the water and would froth at the mouth.
• The young girl in Acts 16 loudly proclaimed, “These men are of the most High” before she was delivered.
• In Mark 5, the demoniac was confined to the tombs, he ran around breaking chains and creating chaos.
-This is the pattern with the enemy. He will make a whole lot of racket before he is about to be exposed. There are some avenues of exposure that has been going on for a little while now!
III. CONCLUSION
Romans 8:37 KJV Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
-There are a series of principles that we find when the heavens get shut down:
• 1st -- Something Unclean Can Provide for the Holy.
• 2nd -- A Little Can Accomplish a Whole Lot.
• 3rd -- Past Blessing Does Not Cancel Future Trouble.
• 4th -- What Acts Up Is About To Be Exposed.
