"ELIJAH, THE EARLY YEARS"
TEXT: I KINGS 17:1-24
INTRODUCTION
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Today as we continue our study in first Kings we will be introduced to the prophet Elijah, who is one of the most colorful and dynamic characters in the O.T. One writer calls him God’s lightening in the dark days of Ahab’s rule, because Elijah suddenly appears and almost as mysteriously he disappeared into the sky. But sandwhiched in between his entrance and his exit, Elijah left an indelible mark etched upon his time. Elijah is mentioned more times in the NT then any other OT character, at least 30 times.
It was Elijah who was chosen to appear with Moses and talk with Jesus who was transfigured into His glory before the eyes of Peter, James and John, He and Moses talked with Jesus about what Jesus was about to endure in Jerusalem, on the Mount of Transfiguration.
But despite all of this, all he did, all the miracles he performed, James says in James 5:17, "ELIJAH WAS A MAN JUST LIKE US..." You know sometimes we have a tendency to put Bible characters on a different plane, on a high pedestal to where we can no longer identify with them. And this is really tragic, because in reality they were frail, imperfect human beings just like we are. They were subject to the same temptations, the same depressions, the same struggles, they had their ups and downs just like you and I, and God still used them.
And God used Elijah a man from Tisbite, an ordinary town located in the rough and rocky region of Gilead..... because God often uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things.....
So today and the 2 sundays after Easter also, we want to talk about this ordinary man, this greta prophet of God...and glean from his life some valuable lessons.
Elijah arrived on the scene about 900 years before Christ. At this time Israel was politically and economically prospering under the rule of King Ahab. Peace had been established with Judah in the south. And also a mutually advantageous alliance had been formed with the Phoenicians on the coast, who were the undisputed leaders in international trade on the seas.
Peace and prosperity.... not bad things in and of themselves, but before we start a re-elect Ahab campaign -- let’s read on about him. You see there is more to a great leader than simply making us happy, bringing about peace and filling our pocketbooks. Because the ultimate criteria for any leader is what does "THE LEADER" -- WHAT DOES GOD ALMIGHTY THINK ABOUT HIM... After all God is the one who Daniel says brings up and brings down Kings and Kingdoms.
I Kings tells us that Ahab ruled for 22 years and verse 30 says, "HE DID MORE EVIL IN THE EYES OF THE LORD THAN ANY OTHER KING BEFORE HIM." And the Bible goes on to say, "NOT ONLY DID HE CONSIDER IT TRIVIAL TO COMMIT THE SINS OF JEROBOAM (HEY THEIR NO BIG DEAL) BUT HE ALSO MARRIED JEZEBEL A PHOENICIAN PRINCESS, AND HE BEGAN TO SERVE BAAL AND WORSHIP HIM... AND HE SET UP ALTARS FOR BAAL IN THE TEMPLE HE BUILT IN SAMARIA FOR BAAL.."
Ahab’s selection of a mate was not very good.... Jezebel was a terrible women. She was so bad that her name has come down to us as a symbol of evil. Ahab married a women from the nations that God had said you are not to marry.... Tragedy frequently results, if some one marries or has a relationship with, some one who is outside of Christ. Since they do not have the same value and respect for God and his word, they will usually bring us down. God says Bad company destroys good character....
You see Bad company sucks us into a deep and deadly pit... and when, or if, we come to our senses we realize that we are living with and in the filth of pigs; doing things we would have thought when had never done.... Someone has said, "IF YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD AND YOU HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH A CHILD OF THE DEVIL -- IT WON’T BE LONG BEFORE YOU START HAVE SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH YOUR FATHER IN LAW..." God has told his people not to marry outside of themselves .. but Ahab thought he was above the law --
I guess he didn’t learn the lesson from Jeroboam about it being unwise to mess with God -- (And Ahab like Jeroboam would unfortunately not learn this lesson until he was in the grave).
But hey he was King, Right? He was in charge or so he thought, here could do whatever he wanted. And it was profitable from a political standpoint to him to marry the daughter of a man of influence... I mean hey If this relationship gave him something that he needed fulfilled some desire -- who cares what God thinks about it. And even though Ahab was no choir boy before, Jezebel and his relationship to her, dragged him deeper and deeper into the slim of the world and further away from God...
Jezebel was an evil murderess and Ahab was a weak, wicked wimp. Though Ahab was King it was she who controlled the throne, she was the one who welded the power....
Jezebel was a jealous worshipper of Baal... and she was determined to have the worship of her god declared as the official religion of Israel...Baal was the god of fertility, the god of rain and the god of crops.. Baal worship included human sacrifice and was usually accompanied by drunken orgies and all kinds of sexual perversion. This is what made it so popular to the people, and so detestable to God....
And the main obstacles to her religious pursuits were the prophets of God... So the evil queen launch a bloody campaign to eliminate this opposition... Many prophets were killed at her command and many more were forced into hiding... This wa snot a good time in Israel.
I Kings 16:33 says, "AHAB DID MORE TO PROVOKE THE LORD TO ANGER THAN ALL THE KINGS BEFORE HIM..." God’s people in the north were living in a moral cess pool... and it is into this dark, deep, decaying pool of humanity that Elijah came thundering into. Dr Smith in his commentary on Kings says, "GOD RESERVED THE GREATEST PROPHET FOR THE WORST AGE.." Jezebel the Baal Worshipper was challenging the existence of God, she was trying to remove God far from the hearts and thoughts of the people, and Elijah was God’s answer -- this evil plot...
As we said earlier Elijah was an outdoors men, from the hill country of Gilead-- his counterpart in the New Testament is John the Baptist. (I picture him as kind of a John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Rocky type, I can see him riding into Samaria and saying "Yo Jezebel").
The name Elijah means, "THE LORD IS YAHWEH." THE LORD IS GOD.. That probably is one reason that Jezebel hated Elijah so much. He not only opposed her god in person, but every time his name was mentioned she was reminded of the true God that she opposed.
Can you just imagine the fury of this wicked women when she received reports such as, THE LORD IS YAHWEH IS COMING TO SEE YOU; THE LORD IS YAHWEH IS PREACHING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS.... You can just about picturing her screaming holding her eyes and saying the next person who says that name is going to die... don’t say it again, I want that man dead...
Today as we study I Kings Chapter 17 we want to look at Elijah, but we also will look at 2 other characters in this unfolding drama -- the widow of Zarephath and God. Let’s see what challenges and lessons we can learn today.
I.FIRST, LET’S LOOK AT ELIJAH AND SEE WHAT WE LEARN FROM HIM IN THIS TEXT.
A.FOR ONE THING WE LEARN TO BE MEN OF COURAGE
Verse one says, "ELIJAH SAID TO AHAB, AS THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL LIVES, THERE WILL NEITHER BE DEW NOR RAIN IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS, EXCEPT WHEN I SAY."
ANYTIME AN ORDINARY PERSON IS CALLED UPON TO GO BEFORE AN IMPORTANT DIGNITARY, THAT IS AN AWESOME RESPONSIBILITY. REMEMBER WHEN GOD CALLED MOSES TO GO SPEAK BEFORE PHARAOH AND MOSES SAID, "OH NO, NOT ME." ELIJAH, WAS A COUNTRY BOY SENT BY GOD TO THE KING OF THE NATION... AND IT TOOK COURAGE ON ELIJAH’S PART TO NOT LET HIMSELF BE INTIMATED BY AHAB’S EARTHLY POSITION..
WHEN CHRISTIAN HERRDER WAS GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, HE WAS RUNNING A SECOND TERM CAMPAIGN AND WAS ATTENDING A CHURCH BARBECUE. HE HADN’T EATEN ALL DAY AND WHEN HE WENT THROUGH THE LINE THE WOMAN GIVING OUT CHICKEN GAVE HIM JUST ONE LITTLE O MEASLY PIECE. HE SAID "MA’AM, MAY I HAVE TWO?" SHE SAID, "NO JUST ONE." HE SAID, "BUT MA’AM I’M STARVED, MAT I HAVE 2 PIECES OF CHICKEN?" SHE SAID, "ONE PER CUSTOMER." HE WAS USUALLY A QUIET AND UNASSUMING PERSON, BUT HE WAS SO HUNGRY HE SAID, "MA’AM, DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I’M THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE." SHE SAID, "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I’M THE LADY WHO GIVES OUT CHICKEN , NOW MOVE ON!!"
It also took courage for Elijah because the message he was bringing was bad news.....
He was going to tell the King that it’s not gonna rain until I say so. There won’t even be dew on the ground. And let’s keep in mind that Baal the god of Jezebel was the god of fertility, crops and rain. Elijah is saying, "Ahab, because you have encouraged the worship of the earth and the worship of rain -- there isn’t going to be any rain and your crops will dry out...and you will see just how weak this so called god Baal really is..."
Because they had turned from God and sought after gods of their own, there land would dry up... and produce no fruit. Much like today when people who turn their backs on God and His ways and seek gods of their own -- watch their lives turn barren, dry and crumble right before there eyes -- the so called god they have given their allegiance to are found to be weak, powerless and unable to nothing, except destroy them.....
The message Elijah had to give to Ahab was not good news -- How well do you think it was received? Do you think Elijah as feeling a little afraid to do this? How would you have felt if you were in his sandals...? How do you feel when called upon to bring the same message to a people who have turned their backs on God?
Napoleon often referred to marshall Nye as the bravest man he had ever known. Yet Nye’s knees trembled so badly before battle that he could barely mount his horse. looking down at his knees, when he was finally in the saddle, Nye shouted contemptuously, "SHAKE AWAY KNEES, YOU’S SHAKE WORSE IF YOU KNEW WHERE I WAS GOING TO TAKE YOU." That’s courage to be afraid and go anyway....
One thing Elijah teaches us to have the courage to speak the word of the Lord...
B. WE ALSO LEARN TO BE MEN 0F OBEDIENCE
Two events in this chapter underscore the character or level of Elijah’s obedience....
You see obedience, is to do whatever God says when he says it and to do without arguing or second guessing him. Even when this may not make sense to us at the time or when it doesn’t appear to be a pleasant thing to do.... We need to just do it....
After his first encounter with Ahab -- God told Elijah to go to a ravine east of the Jordan and that Ravens would feed him... And Elijah just went we don’t find him saying, "Come on God I just spoke before the King can’t you put me up in a hotel with room service...I don’t even like Ravens" No he didn’t complain, ask ?’s or make excuses, he just went, because God told him too.....
And the second act of obedience is when Elijah obeyed God when God told him to go and beg food from a poor foreign widow... Now that was a humbling thing to do, and it didn’t seem to make much sense -- but we don’t read him saying, "BUT GOD I DON’T WON’T TO GO THERE, AND I DON’T WANT TO BEG FROM A WIDOW WOMEN, SHE PROBABLY WON’T HAVE ANYTHING GOOD TO EAT ANYHOW.." NO, ELIJAH DIDN’T DO THAT, God said go and the text reads in verse 10, "SO HE WENT...."
That is the kind of obedience we need to have for God... I’ve used thus illustration before but I make no apologies for using it again... When I worked of the power plant on board Nuclear Submarines we had an expression about following procedures.. it went like this "OURS IS NOT TO REASON WHY OURS IS BUT TO VERBATIM COMPLY..." And if verbatim compliance is essential in the navy how much more essential is it in God’s Kingdom....
We need to obey like Elijah -- when GOD says go to church, give the best of your time -- talents and treasures -- take off sin and immorality and put on Christ...etc we need to not make excuses, complain or question we just need to do it..."
WILL WE LEARN FROM ELIJAH’S COURAGE AND OBEDIENCE?
II. LET SEE WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THE WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH....
Elijah came to this poor widow women gathering sticks, a woman who only had a small amount of flour, a woman who was suffering because of the famine (many times innocent people suffer consequences due to THE sins of the wicked).. SHE had no food, and Elijah told her go make some food with her remaining flour, but give me something to eat first.
Though she told him her situation.."Son you’ve come to the wrong person I don’t even have enough food even for myself and my son and I’m just gathering a few sticks to cook our last meal and then I imagine we will both starve... Though she told him her situation she did what he asked nevertheless.
Now from a worldly and physical standpoint this doesn’t appear to make any sense. I mean how could she after giving him food have enough for herself, it did add up...
But there was something about Elijah and the words that he spoke that somehow convinced her to do as he had asked.
And here we see illustrated one of the most basic principles of faith in God.
A faith which God defines as, "BEING SURE OF WHAT WE HOPE FOR AND CERTAIN OF WHAT WE DO NOT SEE.."
Brothers and Sisters sometimes God asks us to trust him to take Him at His word, even when things don’t add up on our fleshly calculators... Things that cause many to ask such questions as:
"YOU MEAN THAT BEING BAPTIZED WASHES AWAY MY SIN.."
"WELL THAT SOUNDS GOOD, BUT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND MY SITUATION, I FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE THAT JUST BY MY WIFE AND I SUBMITTING OUR MARRIAGE TO GOD AND GOING CLOSER TO HIM THAT IT WILL HEAL OUR MARRIAGE -- IT DOESN’T ADD UP.."
"I CAN’T UNDERSTAND HOW THE WAY TO BE HAPPY REALLY HAPPY IS TO DENY MYSELF AND GIVE MY LIFE TOTALLY TO GOD... WHAT ABOUT MY NEEDS AND DESIRES... WILL FINDING GOD REALLY HELP ME FIND MYSELF?"
"YOU MEAN IT IS TRUE THAT IN CHRIST I CAN BE JOYFUL AND ENDURE ANY AND EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE..."
"YOU MEAN EVEN THOUGH I THINK THAT I AM NOT ABLE TO GIVE GOD THE BEST OF MY (TTT), IF I LEAP OUT -- I’LL SE IT’S TRUE -- IT JUST DOESN’T ADD UP."
Many times God asks us to leap out in faith towards His outstretched arms even when we can’t see where we are going.
One night this week I decided to test Chelsea faith in me, I had helped her up into a tree with high branches and when she wanted to get down she needed help. She was 6 or 7 feet off the ground and she had her back to me... and I told her to let go and just jump backwards and I’d catch her -- and without any hesitation she did it.... That’s what God wants us to do to Him, it is like he is saying, "I KNOW YOU CAN’T SEE WHERE YOU ARE GOING AND IT SEEMS UNCERTAIN BUT I AM HERE AND I WILL CATCH YOU -- TRUST ME -- I WON’T LET YOU FALL...
B. THE WIDOW ALSO TEACHES US WHAT TO DO WHEN
LIFE CAVES IN
Many things can happen in this life (death, sickness, financial problems, marriage problems...etc) things that can bring our world crashing in on us... We think we are standing secure but , like a sudden and intense earthquake -- our world begins shake us violently and threatens to crumble us to the ground... And our once calm world is filled with terror and uncertainty....
For the widow her earthquake was the death of her son... She thought she had been low when food and money were short, but her sorrow reached new depths as she with tear drenched eyes held the only one she had left in the world limply in her arms... O she loved him and enjoyed to hear his laughter and his voice... but he is gone and now she is really alone...
What do we do when our world caves in on us.... When the weight on our shoulders is more than anyone can be expected to bare... Where do we go and where to we turn...
The widow as she held her beloved son in her arms, as she stands before Elijah the prophet of God almighty, as she pours out her deepest emotions at his feet and as she allows him to take the boy from her hands she teaches us a valuable and powerful lesson about what we are to do when our live caves in....
WE NEED TO TURN OUR HEARTACHE, OUR SORROW AND PAIN OVER TO GOD.
WE NEED TO GIVE IT TO THE FATHER OF COMPASSION AND THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT.....
HOW IS YOUR WORLD RIGHT NOW? IS IT STRONG AND FIRM -- GREAT? IS IT SHAKING VIOLENTLY AND CRASHING DOWN ALL AROUND YOU? DOES THE LIGHT SEEM TO HAVE GONE OUT... ? ARE YOU NOT SURE WHAT TO DO OR WHERE TO TURN? GIVE IT TO GOD... GIVE IT YOUR FATHER... YOU KNOW HE REALLY WANTS YOU TOO... TRUST HIM AND TURN IT OVER TO GOD... AND YOU’LL BE SURPRISED WHAT IT CAN DO WITH THE RUBBLE OF YOUR BROKEN LIFE..."
ELIJAH AND THE WIDOW TEACH US SOME GREAT LESSONS, DON’T THEY... COURAGE, OBEDIENCE, FAITH, AND WHAT TO DO WHEN LIFE CAVES IN....
III. NOW LETS CONSIDER WHAT THIS TEXT TEACHES US ABOUT GOD..... IT TEACHES US ABOUT GOD’S PROTECTION, PROVISION AND POWER.
PROTECTION
When God sent Elijah to the ravine, it was not to punish him, but rather it was to protect him. Protect him from Ahab and Jezebel and their men and to protect him from the demands of the people who were going to be living in a drought.
God protects His people and he protects them today too.
Do you believe that? He ism the good shepherd who protects his sheep.
PROVISION
When God supernaturally multiplied the widow’s food, we see vividly displayed the miracle of God’s provision. Even though the land would have no rain, the widow’s jar of flour and her jug of oil, would not run out....
In the midst of famine she was supplied with food... God provided.
Doe God make the same promise today,
"DO NOT WORRY SAYING, `WHAT SHALL WE EAT? OR WHAT SHALL WE DRINK OR WHAT SHALL WE WHERE FOR THE PAGANS RUN AFTER ALL THESE AND YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER KNOWS THAT YOU NEED THEM. BUT SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU AS WELL"
God provides -- if God has provided for you in the past (say amen), if God has in the midst of hard times and difficult situations provided for your needs (amen).
EVEN TOUGH WE MAY BE LIVING IN THE MIDST OF A FAMINE, GOD WILL PROVIDE FORM HIS PEOPLE.
And God’s provision extend beyond the physical.
Even though our world may be living in the midst of a spiritual and moral famine... a famine where many are hope and joy starved...
God’s people have a food supply from the hand of God and can be feasting on an abundance of hope and joy.
OUR GOD PROTECTS AND OUR GOD PROVIDES.
AND OUR GOD IS POWERFUL
HE IS "ALL POWERFUL" HE HAS ALL POWER....
AND WHEN THE SON OF THE WIDOW LAY ON HIS BED -
- ALL OF HIS LIFE HAD LEFT HIS BODY -- HE WAS DEAD. AND GOD WHO IS THE AUTHOR OF LIFE -- GOD WHO IS THE LIVING GOD... POURED LIFE BACK INTO THAT BODY... AND THE BOY LIVED AGAIN.
ONLY GOD CAN GIVE LIFE
ONLY GOD HAS THE POWER TO RAISE A BODY DEAD
PHYSICALLY
AND ONLY GOD HAS THE POWER TO RAISE UP FROM THE DEEPS OF SIN, A BODY THAT HAS SOLD ITSELF TO DEATH... ONLY GOD RAISE US UP TO LIVE A NEW LIFE....
AND JUST AS GOD’S GREAT POWER NEARLY 3,000 YEARS AGO IN THE HOME OF THE WIDOW SHATTERED THE CHAINS OF DEATH -- GOD IS STILL IN THE DEATH DESTRUCTION BUSINESS TODAY....
IT IS AMAZING THE THINGS GOD CAN DO WITH ONE TOUCH OF HIS POWERFUL HAND.
WELL, IT WAS BATTERED AND SCARRED AND THE AUCTIONEER FELT, IT WAS HARDLY WORTH HIS WHILE.
TO WASTE TOO MUCH TIME ON THE OLD VIOLIN, BUT HE HELD IT UP WITH A SMILE.
IT SURE AIN’T MUCH, BUT IT IS WE GOT LEFT, I GUESS WE OUGHT TO SELL IT TOO.
NOW WHO’LL START THE BID ON THIS OLD VIOLIN, JUST ONE MORE AN WE’LL BE THROUGH.
AND THEN HE CRIED OUT, ONE, GIVE ME ONE DOLLAR WHO’LL MAKE IT TWO, ONLY TWO DOLLARS WHO’LL MAKE THREE.
THREE DOLLARS TWICE, NOW THAT’S A GOOD PRICE BUT WHO’S GOT A BID FOR ME.
RAISE UP YOUR HAND AND DON’T WAIT ANY LONGER, THE AUCTIONS ABOUT TO END.
WHO’S GOT FOUR JUST ONE DOLLAR MORE, TO BID ON THIS OLD VIOLIN.
WELL THE AIR WAS HOT AND THE PEOPLE STOOD AROUND AS THE SUN WAS SETTING LOW.
FROM THE BACK OF THE CROWD A GRAY HAIRED MAN CAME FORWARD, AND PICKED UP THE BOW.
HE WIPED THE DUST FROM THE OLD VIOLIN AND TIGHTENED UP THE STRINGS.
THEN HE PLAYED OUT A MELODY PURE AND SWEET, SWEETER THAN ANGELS SING.
AND THEN THE MUSIC STOPPED AND THE AUCTIONEER WITH A VOICE THAT WAS QUIET AND LOW.
HE SAID WHAT AM I BID FOR THIS OLD VIOLIN, THEN HE HELD IT UP WITH A BOW.
THEN HE CRIED OUT ONE, GIVE ME ONE THOUSAND, WHO’LL MAKE IT TWO ONLY TWO THOUSAND WHO’LL MAKE THREE.
THREE THOUSAND TWICE WELL, THAT’S A GOOD PRICE, BUT WHO’S GOT A BID FOR ME.
THE PEOPLE CRIED OUT WHAT MADE THE CHANGE WE DON’T UNDERSTAND
THE AUCTIONEER STOPPED AND HE SAID WITH A SMILE, IT WAS THE TOUCH OF THE MASTERS HAND.
NOW YOU KNOW MANY MAN WITH A LIFE OUT OF TUNE, IS BATTERED AND SCARRED BY SIN.
AND HE IS AUCTIONED CHEAP TO A THANKLESS WORLD, MUCH LIKE THAT OLD VIOLIN.
THEN THE MASTER COMES AND THE FOOLISH CROWD THEY NEVER UNDERSTAND.
THE WORTH OF A SOUL AND THE CHANGE THAT IS WROUGHT JUST BY ONE TOUCH OF THE MASTERS HAND.
