My mother told me there was a mix up with the babies at the hospital when I was born. She said she got caught and had to take the other one back.
Elijah meets the king I Kings 16:23-17:1
There are times when we have to see the history of an area as well as what’s happening in the culture in order to understand just what it is that influences their thinking. Let me give you a few examples from our world so you can see what I mean.
When we look at the area of politics, we have to ask ourselves what happened in our generation that has laid a foundation for how we view our world today. I look back to November of nineteen sixty-nine when I was coming home from school in grade nine. Another kid on my street came up and told me the president of the United States was shot and killed. And regardless of what we think of John F. Kennedy now, after all the stories of his immorality and loose living have come out. The killing of John F. Kennedy changed the world as we saw it. Before his term in office the president might have been respected or even ignored but all of a sudden the president became important to everyone.
Then we had the Viet Nam war. Every night on the six o’clock news we were exposed to the pictures of body bags coming back home. And everyone had an opinion on the war. You were either for it or against it. No one said, who cares.
Later on, we had the resignation of Richard Nixon and that changed our view of leadership. People started to see politics from a different standpoint. And in a sense no one in a position of responsibility could be trusted anymore. Just look at our own government today. It seems like they’re on a mission to undermine any kind of morality that exists. On top of that they’re having hearings to determine who’s to blame for the millions of dollars that are missing. The most we can hope for is that our government leaves us alone. They say the scariest thing that could ever happen is for someone to knock on your door and say, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.” Now I’m not saying we aren’t to respect them. We just don’t see them as the answer to the world’s problems.
Think of what’s happened to the financial world. When I was a kid we paid thirty-eight cents a gallon for gas. Now that the price of fuel is metric we have no idea what we paying. At nine-nine point nine a litre it works out to about four-fifty a gallon. If we had to read four-fifty a gallon every time we passed a gas station I think we’d all do a lot more walking.
When I was a kid the American dollar was fixed at a dollar seven Canadian. Now it’s worth anywhere from seventy-eight to eighty-five cents. There was a Canadian robbed in the U.S. a few years ago. When the robber saw the Canadian money he gave it back and said it wasn’t worth taking.
Or think about what’s happening in the world of religion. When I went to grade school there used to be twenty minutes of what was called religious instruction or Bible study every morning and that was ended with everyone standing and reciting the Lord’s prayer. Then a few atheists like Madeline Murray O’Hare got the media spotlight and showed the world how bad we had it and how we needed the separation of church and state. Now since the majority don’t go to church they no longer have any idea what the Bible teaches but they think they do. When I was a Youth Pastor in Guelph we took a video camera to the street and asked people what they believed. Several said they believed parts of the Bible like the Ten Commandments. Then we asked them to name the commandments. Most of them could only come up with two or three. So they believed the ten commandments. They just didn’t know what they were. Anyone know what happened to Madeline Murray O’Hare? The last report was that both she and her daughter were murdered and buried in the desert. Maybe if her friends had a little bit of the religion she rejected she’d still be alive today.
Think of the social changes we are seeing. Now we have the whole western world collecting money for the victims of tidal waves. We have no problem with that. But we do wonder what the purpose is in just feeding people if you’re going to let them die and go to hell. We need to feed them and then reach them with the gospel. I was amazed at the news coverage of the people giving to the victims of the floods. They were people who said they never gave a penny to anything like that before.They were just looking to feel good in the sense that they did something.
When we look at all these areas whether it’s politics, religion or social changes we see how our world is changing right before our eyes and it reminds me of the quote by Alvin Tofler the author of Future Shock who said, “It’s not the change that bothers us so much, it is the rate of change.” We are overwhelmed by the fact that things are no longer the way they were. I remember when I was a kid and the Hoola-Hoop came out. We thought we were experiencing space age technology. Now there are things for sale in the computer ads and I wouldn’t even know what they do.
So much has happened so fast in our days and these are just like Elijah’s times. Just fifty years had passed since the rules of David and his son Solomon. David was known as a man after God’s own heart and Solomon we are told was the wisest man who had ever lived. The times in which they lived were known as Israel’s golden age. And here it is fifty years later and we have one of the most miserable and wicked kings the nation has ever known and he’s confronted by Elijah. I believe in order for us to understand Elijah’s ministry we have to understand something of the political structure of his day.
So we’ll look at what the Bible says about the prophet. Then we ‘ll see the times of the prophet, the role of the prophet and we’ll conclude with the message of the prophet.
I Elijah the prophet
Elijah is considered to be a major prophet of God even though he didn’t write one of the books of the Bible like Jeremiah, Isaiah or even one of the gospel writers. And yet Elijah has a unique position in the plan of God. There are three things mentioned about him in scripture.
1. He was one of the two men in the Old Testament who we are told didn’t have to die. In II Kings 2:11 it says, “He went up in a whirlwind into heaven.” The other man was Enoch. We read in Genesis 5:4 that, “Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him.” And so Elijah was certainly unique in that regard.
2. In Luke 9:28-35 we have the account of Elijah and Moses appearing on the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus was there with His disciples.
Moses represented the law and Elijah the prophets. Both of them testified by their presence that Jesus was the One that they had prophesied about. After all, the law and the prophets prepared the people for salvation but Jesus was the One who accomplished it. It says they spoke about Jesus departure in verse thirty-one but Peter wants to build three tabernacles. He says one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. It seems as though he wants to prolong their stay because he doesn’t understand the significance of their visit. It’s like Peter is putting Jesus on their level and to his mind this was something great. Then a voice came out of the cloud and said, “This is my beloved Son, hear Him.” It’s like God was saying, Jesus is My Son, He is the Messiah and Moses and Elijah had preached to prepare the people for His coming. They were witness and prophets of Him.
The scriptures says “and they talked with Him” They spoke about His impending death which He would accomplish in Jerusalem. They were actually talking about the salvation that He was about to accomplish by His atoning death.
They understood the plan of salvation. They understood the necessity of the death of the Son of God. They even understood the assurance of the resurrection. Their salvation depended on all of it. Just think about it. Just as they stood on the Mount of Transfiguration encouraging Jesus they realized that His impending death was the absolute price for their salvation. And looking from this side of the cross I see the same thing. And yet there are a few things I’m sure of.
- I’m forgiven but I’m still a sinner. The Bible says that my sins are more in number than the hairs on my head. Psalm 60:12, “For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.” The good news is, that God doesn’t fail me. He not only forgives me but encourages me to trust in Him to overcome sin.
- We know that because of who we are as sinners that our works are defective and imperfect. I mean if we are defective and imperfect than how can we possibly do any better? The answer is simple. It’s only by the empowerment of God. Any works we do now we do are in response to His salvation and not to pay for it. Our glory is in Jesus’s work on the cross and nothing else.
So, we know that Elijah didn’t die, then he appears with Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration.
3. And then we see that Elijah was the name the disciples respond with when Jesus asked the question in Matthew 16:14, “Who do men say that I am?” This also tells us that Elijah played a major role in the thinking of the people. It may have had something to do with the prophecy in Malachi 4:5 that says, “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”
So Elijah played a major role in God’s plan not only during the times of his own ministry but also in the New Testament as well.
4. Elijah is also mentioned in the book of James as an example of a common man who was used by God. James 5:16-18, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 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.”
There are a couple of things that I want you to see here. First it says, “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man” Effective and fervent simply means he was sincere and consistent. And describing him as righteous simply means he was right with God. In others words he was sincere and he was saved. As such he had the same privileges as we do. He had open access to the throne of God. Prayer after all, comes from true fellowship with God. Prayer seeks God’s mind to do His will. Through the act of prayer we have the very desire of God communicated to the believer then he responds with the desire to do His will on earth as it is done in heaven. As Robert Law said, “Prayer is not getting man’s will done in heaven. It’s getting God’s will done on earth. So we are to be like Elijah was, both sincere and consistent.
Then it says “he was a man of like passions” which simply means he wrestled with the same sins that you and I wrestle with. The amplified says,”Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have.” He was no saint in a stained glass window. He was just like us. We see the same termed used in Acts 14:5 we read, when the people of Lystra were about to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, Paul said, “We are men of like passions with you.” In other words, we’re the same as you. Or in Acts 10:26 Peter said to Cornelius as Cornelius tried to worship him, “I myself also am a man.” I’m just like you. So, Elijah is an ordinary man just like you or I.
And then we read in verse seventeen where it says, “he prayed earnestly.” Literally in the Greek it means, “he prayed in prayer.” This is a common Semitic idiom for expressing emphasis. We see the same thing over in Luke 22:15 where Jesus spoke to His disciples at the last supper and said, “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.” And here He’s emphasizing His desire. So, in spite of any other problem Elijah faced he was sincere in his prayer.
II Times of the prophet
a) There is no prophet mentioned between the rule of Baasha and Ahab. That was a period of twelve years when Elah, Zimri and Omri were kings. We read in I Kings 16:8 that Elah began to reign and that lasted for two years when one night verse nine says he was drinking himself drunk when Zimri the captain of half his chariots went in to the palace and murdered him. Then Israel made Omri who was the captain of the army king and he led the people against Zimri. Zimri only lasted seven days. Then verse eighteen says Zimri went into the palace of the kings house and set it on fire killing himself. I guess it was his way of saying, “If I can’t have the palace for myself then no one will have it.” Then Omri became king after he defeated Tibni and his reign is described for us in verse twenty-five where it says, “But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him.“ So he died and just when the people probably said good riddance Ahab took his place. And verse thirty says that Ahab was more wicked than his father. Verse thirty-one says that it was bad enough for him to walk in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nabat but he took Jezebel as his wife. And then in verse 31-33 we have a list of idolatrous activity. First he served Baal and set up an altar for him to be worshiped in Samaria. Then he made a grove which was a place of immorality and did more to provoke the Lord to anger than all the kings that were before him. In verse 34 we read that in his days Heil built Jericho and laid the foundation with the body of his firstborn and then built the gates with the body of his youngest son. I don’t think we could actually describe the callous nature of these people.
Needless to say, the worship of Jehovah had lost it’s prevalence in the land. Ahab thought so, Jezebel thought so, the false prophets thought so and so did the scattered remnant of hidden disciples. They forget about God and then basically God said, that’s far enough. He has the final word.
If we could say that David was the measure of a good king then Jeroboam was the standard used for plumbing the depths of sin to which a king could go and then lead the people behind him. And knowing who Jeroboam is, is the key to understanding how wicked Ahab is. We are told that the jews went up to Jerusalem three times a year to worship God. They did this according to the law. In order to get the people to stop this Jeroboam decided to change a few things. First he changed the place of worship. He built two temples which he said was for the people’s convenience. One was at Dan in the north and one at Bethel in the extreme south. And at both of these he placed a golden calf which was contrary to the word of God and this also changed the means of worship. Then he changed the dates of the feasts so the people would stop going up to Jerusalem. Rather than going at the times God ordered and they were used to everything was different. And to top all this off, he got rid of the priesthood and put anyone in charge of the temple who paid for the right. It became a franchise worship. If you paid the price you were a priest.
It reminds me of the middle ages when it was prestigious for every family to have someone study to become a priest. For a while they sent the best they had and then rather then send the smartest and most successful of their number they had a tendency to send the dumbest and useless.
So Jeroboam had introduced the calf worship and the purpose of that was to dilute Judiasm. Basically he was saying, do this and your own worship. Let them exist side by side. And now Baal worship was introduced and what they said was, “Do this or die.” I Kings 18: 4 tells us there were prophets cut off by Jezebel and I think it simply means she killed them. So history tells us that Samuel had fought against Baal worship, then David rid the land of it completely and now Ahab brought it back.
I see some similarities in our day. At one time Christianity was considered to be everyone’s religion. It was socially acceptable. You wouldn’t have a picnic in the park without having someone say grace. I remember going to political rallies and being asked to ask the blessing at the beginning of the meeting or to say grace at the meals. Then things changed. The talk was, you can have your religion, all everyone else wants is toleration. Do what you want but don’t stop us from doing what we want. Now common law marriage, Sunday shopping and homosexuality are not only legal but becoming sociably acceptable. And if you practice any kind of faith in school or anywhere else outside the church you may find yourself in trouble.
B) So Jeroboam was wicked, Omri was more wicked than him but Ahab took the cake. It says he married Jezebel and she was a person who was ten times more wicked than he was. In most of these political marriages you never hear of the wife anymore but that certainly doesn’t happen here. Someone said Jezebel spent the first half of her day putting on war paint and the other half on the warpath. She was wickedness personified. I believe God can use a strong woman to influence her husband and family toward godliness or Satan can use her to manipulate them and that’s what happens here.
Their marriage was a political alliance which had far reaching religious consequences. Her father’s name was Eth-baal. He was king of the Sidonions and priest of Asteroth. Knowing her family we could say she was just doing what she had always been doing. She had a temple built for the worship of Astarte in the neighborhood of Jezreel and she supported four hundred and fifty priests from her private purse. She brought Baal worship with her and together she and Ahab built the temple for Baal I mentioned in Samaria. 2 Kings 10:21 tells us that it was large enough to accommodate huge crowds. On top of this shines and temples rose up all over the land. And as I said they also planted a grove. Planting a grove sounds nice like it was some kind of garden to relax in but in fact it was a place of immorality. They had male and female prostitutes. Imagine the disease!
Two things about Jezebel. She was religious with a ‘do your own thing’ kind of religion and in terms of personality she was domineering and arrogant. And that was Ahab’s wife. Verse thirty three sums up Ahab’s life by saying, “And Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.” Now that’s not something you’d want on your headstone.
Do you ever think of how you could sum up your life? Or how someone else would describe it? Someday someone else will do it if you don’t leave any instructions. I remember when my grandmother died. I went to the funeral and the United church minister stood up and muttered a bunch of religious phrases that didn’t mean much to anyone. I think I know what his problem was. He didn’t know her and I doubt if he knew her God.
In one short century the nation of Israel had gone from righteous rulership to rampant evil. As chapter sixteen ends we have total acceptance of idolatry in the land. Ahab thought so, Jezebel thought so, the false prophets thought so and so did the scattered remnant of hidden disciples. The only thing was, they may have forgotten about God but He didn’t forget about them. As we know God always has the final word. So this was the setting for the arrival and ministry of Elijah.
III Role of the prophet.
A) Elijah is compared by many with good reason to John the Baptist. Both introductions of the men open with a description of who in charge of the palace as each of them arrive from the desert. (When you think about them you get the feeling like the whole world is a dark blue tuxedo and these guys are a pair of brown shoes; they don’t fit) And that’s what Elijah and John were like. They didn’t fit in with the world around them and neither one of them cared. They were square pegs in round holes as far as the world was concerned.
We might look at them and say they’re just a little too weird for our liking but the problem with us is. We’re becoming a little too much like the world. I was just reading an article in Christianity Today and a Bible school professor was being interviewed. He said, “Poll after poll show that evangelicals live just like the world and the Bible tells us that those who come to faith in Christ are supposed to be radically transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. He says, evangelical and born again Christians get divorced just as often and sometimes more than the general population. Ninety per cent of the Christians who get divorced do so after they are saved.”
In the area of pre-marital sex Josh McDowell said that evangelical youth are doing 10% better than the unsaved. John Green one of the evangelical pollsters says that about a third of evangelicals say that premarital sex is okay and about fifteen per cent say there is nothing wrong with adultery. One study claims that men who attend church regularly are less likely than the general population to commit domestic violence. The average church member gives 4.2 per cent of his money to the church. Nine per cent of evangelicals tithe. If this is true of us and I hope it’s not then we would say, no wonder the world isn’t beating a path to our door. Why are some people presumably saved but living just like the rest of the world? Is there a lot of people who just join the church because it’s cheaper than the golf club? The truth is, we live in a strange world.
Well, this was the world that both Elijah and John had been sent to minister in. Both of them were independent of the apostate religious system. Neither of them would be looking for a position at the denominational headquarters. Reminds me of a little poem that says, “ Some will love thee, some will hate thee, Some will flatter, some will slight, cease from man and look above thee, trust in God and do the right.” So these men weren’t looking for social acceptance. They came to do the will of God.
Neither Elijah nor John would be popular preachers today. Their message was that God hates sin and especially in those who claim to be His people. We have such a focus on the love of God that we’ve made God look like a wimp who’s going to mope around heaven if everyone’s not having a good time. Someone said, “The clergy of today have made considerable progress. Today it’s as difficult to get into hell as it was one hundred years ago to get into heaven.” If you think I’m exaggerating you need to go to a Christian bookstore and see what the church is reading.
Phillip Keller wrote, “In the latter half of the twentieth century there has been, in Christian circles, an overwhelming emphasis placed upon the love of God. And in its own way this has done great good. But at the same time there has been a pronounced tendency to set aside and pass over the righteousness and justice of God. The net result is that some people think they can sin with impunity.” There comes a point in time when one can no longer be neutral toward sin whether it’s in his town, his family or his life. As Dante wrote, “The hottest place in hell is for those who maintain their neutrality in the face of a crisis.” Elijah couldn’t be neutral, John couldn’t be neutral and I don’t believe that we can either. We are to be light in a dark world exposing sin and salt to prevent further deterioration.
I believe Elijah shines so bright because of the darkness around him. James 5:17 says he was an ordinary man. “A man of like passions.” Just like you and I, he knew fear, loneliness, depression, ambition, lust and everything else we wrestle with. Elijah knew what it was to have problems but he also knew what it meant to walk with God.
He reminds me of John Knox the Scottish preacher who was approaching the throne room of Mary, Queen of the Scots, otherwise known as Bloody Mary. Someone said, “She’s in a bad mood you had better come back another time.” John Knox replied, “Why should I fear a Queen when I’ve just spent four hours in the presence of Almighty God.” Elijah was bold because he knew he spoke for God.
IV The message of the prophet
A) To understand the message one must understand the problem. They had a religion that was merely social. It was all appearance and form but lacked reality. As Isaiah would say later on, “They worshiped with their lips but their hearts was far from God.” They had religion without a relationship. It was like the girl who turned thirty and decided it was time to get married. She bought a ring, ordered some flowers, booked a church, rented an apartment and bought some furniture. She was all ready but there was something missing? No groom! Without Jesus Christ religion is meaningless.
Elijah was speaking to secure, prosperous people who would say, “We go to God’s house on Sunday but He doesn’t come to ours on Monday.”
B) The message
1 “As the Lord God of Israel liveth.” God is alive. Even though you act like He’s not your about to find out the truth. We tend to forget about God and every once in a while a car goes by with a bumper sticker that wakes us up. I’ve seen a few like, “God’s not dead, I spoke to Him this morning.” Or “My God’s not dead, sorry to hear about yours.” My favorite is, “Tithe if you love Jesus, any fool can honk.”
2 He says “God is alive and it’s before Him that I stand.” He’s number one in my life not the king and not the queen, not a boyfriend or a girlfriend, no school, job or any future plans. When I’m conscious that I stand in God’s presence it will affect what I see, what I say, what I want and what I think, what I do and who I am. I may be standing in the presence of the king but I’m only conscious of God. God is number one.
3 Then a very simple message. “There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” No rain. This was a direct challenge to Baal, the storm god. It was a message of judgement. There’ll be no showers of blessing, there’ll be no showers at all. God will send dryness into the land to make the people aware of the dryness in their souls. This reminds us the words Moses said to the people in Deuteronomy 11:17, “that if they turned aside and served other gods and worshiped them, the Lord’s wrath would be kindled against them; and He would shut up the heaven, that there should be no more rain.”
We might wonder, why the drought and the obvious famine that would follow? God had indicated this would be the punishment if the people failed to follow Him. I Kings 8:35 in the first half of the verse says, “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee;” So God was using the weather to get their attention.
This is a hard message to the people but one that each of us who are believers are familiar with to a degree. The message is simply that sin causes suffering and this either ends in judgement or it draws us closer to God.
Conclusion
These were difficult days to be alive let alone be a spokesman who preached against the king. Morally they had Baalism and that told everyone that immorality was not just alright but it was the acceptable way of living. Socially, Jezebel was in charge. Her husband was the king but as we’ll see in the days to come she’s the one who pulls the strings. And as far as religion goes they had four hundred priests telling lies and one prophet to tell the truth.
The times he lived in were definitely difficult to say the least. The role he had was that of a prophet or spokesman for God. And his message was one of judgement since both he and God knew that both the rulers and the people had drifted too far spiritually to listen to God’s word.
God sent Moses, Elijah and John the Baptist to cry out against the decay of their day. They were alone in a sense. And you may stand today the same way. You may be the only one from which people certain can hear the word of God. We often think, “Hey, let someone else do it.” Let me ask you. Who else did God have to reach the Ninevites? Who else was there to preach to Israel in Elijah’s day? Who else will reach the people you come in contact with? As Francis Schaeffer once wrote, “There is no big people and no little people as far as God is concerned, only consecrated and unconsecrated. We need to be like Elijah was, consecrated to the work of the ministry.
In Israel we have a king and queen who are perverted both spiritually and morally. We also have the prophet and later on we find out there are about six thousand people who are faithful to God. They’re hiding in caves but God says they are faithful. The rest of the population was about two million people. Some of them would consider themselves to be religious, some were not. Some were even atheistic but all of them were followers of Ahab. These are the silent majority. Much of our world today fits in with that group. They’re not for Ahab and not for Elijah. Just minding their own business. They have the same attitude toward God. They aren’t for Him and they’re not against Him. They’re just quiet non-believers who are on their way to hell..
