Pastor Andy Davis preaches a verse-by-verse expository sermon on 1 Kings 18:16-25. The main subject of the sermon is Elijah’s meeting with Ahab and the prophets of Baal.
Pastor Andy Davis preaches a verse-by-verse expository sermon on 1 Kings 18:16-25. The main subject of the sermon is Elijah’s meeting with Ahab and the prophets of Baal.
– SERMON TRANSCRIPT –
We’re beginning tonight at 1 Kings 18:16, Elijah on Mount Carmel: “So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah, and when he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you? You troubler of Israel?” “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied, “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel and bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat a Jezebel’s table. So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waiver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal is god, follow him.” But the people said nothing. Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has 450 prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood, but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bowl and put it on the wood, but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord, the God who answers by fire, he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.” Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first since there are so many of you. Call in the name of your god but do not light the fire.” So they took the bull, given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Oh, Baal, answer us,” they shouted, but there was no response. No one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon, Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder,” he said, “Surely he is a god. Perhaps he is deep in thought or busy or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom until their blood flowed. Midday passed and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins. Elijah took 12 stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob to whom the word of the Lord had come saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood and cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. And then he said to them, “Fill four large jar jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood. Do it again,” he said and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered and they did it the third time. The water ran down the altar and even filled the trench. At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed, “Oh, Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, oh Lord, answer me so that these people will know that you, oh Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostate and cried, “The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God.” Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away.” They seized them and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.”
Now this is the story of a climactic encounter, perhaps one of the most dramatic in all the Bible, but it begins rather quietly when you stop to think about it. God had been working carefully and preparing this day for three and a half years. There had already been a contest between God, the true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Baal. Why do I say that? Because Baal was a fertility god, Baal was a rain god and God had been beating him day after day for three and a half years in that there was no rain. And so the contest had already taken place, but now God wanted it seen very efficiently, very dramatically that he alone was the true God, the only God there is. And so he moved Elijah to orchestrate this entire contest. Now, I think it’s important to realize, I think we should aspire to be like Elijah, to look at his courage, to look at his boldness, but realize that none of this was Elijah’s idea. You see, even in his prayer, he said, “I want all these people to know that I’ve done this only at your command.” We can’t make something like this up. We’re not going to throw ourselves off the pinnacle of the temple and hope that God will hold us up. But rather, he only, as a servant of the Lord, does what he’s commanded to do just as the Son of the Father, Jesus Christ, only did and said what his Father had commanded him to do. And so Elijah moved out at the command of God.
But not only had God been setting the stage for this with the drought for three and a half years, he’d also been preparing Elijah for it as well. I was thinking about that this week. I’ve been thinking about Elijah’s life with the widow at Zarephath. And for all that time, he was waiting on God. He couldn’t get around in Zarephath. He couldn’t show himself because you know that Ahab and Jezebel were searching everywhere for him and this was Jezebel’s home area. And so he had to stay at home day after day, hour after hour. What did he do? Well, we’re told to make the most of every opportunity. The only thing he really could do was spend the time in prayer. And so he was praying for his people. He was praying for the widow and for the widow’s son. He was praying for the king and he was praying for the hearts of the people. And little by little, God communicated his will and revealed it to him so that when he came, when the time came for him to take this burden on, he was ready, day after day spent in prayer. And I think about the rhythm of the Christian life. This is a climactic encounter, isn’t it? But before it is, three and a half years of waiting, praying, quiet, and preparation. I think it shows the same thing about us. We can’t be climactically, moment after moment, doing great things for God, but day by day, God is preparing us for the next battle that we’re going to face. We don’t know what it is. We have no idea when God revealed to Elijah what his will was, but Elijah made the most of the time and we saw last time the encounter with Obadiah, the servant of the Lord. Obadiah, somewhat ambivalent character, serving Ahab, a wicked king, but at the same time, courageously caring for the Lord’s, prophets in caves. And so he said to Obadiah, “I’m here. I want to see your master, King Ahab.” And so Obadiah went and got him.
“We can’t be climactically, moment after moment, doing great things for God, but day by day, God is preparing us for the next battle that we’re going to face. “
And so we have this encounter beginning at verse 16, “Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.” Now verse 17 shows us so much of the human heart. Look at it: “When King Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, ‘Is that you, you troubler of Israel?’” Doesn’t that show you a lot? Ahab had had three and a half years of the Lord’s chastening, three and a half years of discipline from the Lord. And when we are disciplined from the Lord, it’s good for us to repent. It’s good for us to come humbly before God and seek forgiveness. It’s good for us to be broken. For the Scripture says, “Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand and in due time, he will lift you up.” but Ahab hadn’t done that at all. His heart was hard and he blamed Elijah for the trouble that had come on Israel, “Is that you,” he said, “you troubler of Israel?” Well, isn’t that striking? I think the fact of the matter is that unless God grants repentance, all of us would’ve been that way too. For all of us, we’re naturally dead in our transgressions and sins. We should not boast too much over wicked king Ahab because we realize our own hearts are hard, aren’t they? And it doesn’t matter the chastening and the discipline that God brings in our lives. We will not repent unless God works it in us. God grants the repentance, and Ahab had not repented. He had wasted his time.
“We should not boast too much over wicked king Ahab because we realize our own hearts are hard, aren’t they? And it doesn’t matter the chastening and the discipline that God brings in our lives. We will not repent unless God works it in us.”
Another commentator that I read said that it’s possible that King Ahab didn’t know Elijah’s name. That’s possible. I don’t know. It’s speculative. But this guy shows up out of nowhere in 1 King 17:1 and says that, “it’s not going to rain, except my word,” and then disappears. What did he say? Who was that? No one knows. So it’s possible he didn’t know who he was. I don’t really know, but either way, what was in his heart floated out through his lips. Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks, “It’s your fault, Elijah!” What blame shifters we are, and so it was that King Ahab blamed Elijah for the trouble that had come on Israel, what was that trouble? Three and a half years of drought. Do you wonder if we’re in drought here in North Carolina? I’m getting serious about this. The other day, there was a big rainstorm coming right for us and it divided and went north and south right around our area. I want to ask a question, are any of you praying for rain here in Raleigh Durham? I think we ought to. All things come from God. It is God that sends rain. Not that we’re overly concerned about our lawns, but realize that all good things come from God. But how much more severe the trial in Israel than no rain for three and a half years and no dew either, no water, no life. Certainly by that time, people had died of starvation and of dehydration. And so that was the nature of the trouble of Israel.
But you know, the true trouble of Israel was deeper than a failure to rain. It was deeper than starvation, deeper than dehydration. It was apostasy from the living God. And Elijah told the truth, didn’t he? Look what he says, “‘I have not made trouble for Israel,’ Elijah replied, ‘But it is you and your father’s family who have troubled Israel. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.’” Now this is so beautiful, isn’t it? You see here the courage, the courage of the man of God. You know, a servant to the Lord is always going to stand up and be reviled at some point. If you’re going to speak the truth, people are going to misunderstand you. You look and see what they said about Paul and Silas. It says in Thessalonica, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here.” Right? They were the troubles of the Greek speaking world. Jesus in Luke 23 was he who disturbed and caused trouble for the people. And so it was also that Elijah was blamed with troubling Israel. But Elijah is a true man of God. Tells the truth. He goes right to the heart of the matter. And first of all, he says, “My conscience is clear. I’ve not brought any trouble on Israel.” Now I think you could read right over that without seeing the significance that he said, “I have not forsaken the Lord. No matter what it cost me, I’m following God.” And at that time, with Jezebel in charge, it cost plenty to be a prophet of the Lord. He said, “I have not brought trouble on my people through sin. My conscience is clear.” You know, I think that’s one thing we have to understand is that to walk with God costs something, doesn’t it? To be willing to stand up and to be counted among God’s people, to be courageously willing to speak the truth as Elijah does here, it’s going to cost you.
I think one of the scariest things that Jesus ever said was something he said to his own brothers in John 7:7. His brothers, who didn’t believe in him at that point, came to him and were giving him advice about his ministry. And Jesus said, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.” Now what does Jesus mean when he says to his brothers, “The world cannot hate you?” Well, because they belong to the world. They were part of the world’s system and therefore the world was going to embrace them. The world was going to love them. But if you’re going to follow the Lord, you have to be willing to put up with the persecution, the rejection of the world. “If the world hates you,” Jesus said, “keep in mind it hated me first.” And so here’s Elijah courageously standing up and saying, “My conscience is clear. I have not made trouble for Israel, but you and your father’s family,” Omri, the father of Ahab, “you are the ones that have troubled Israel.”
And how is it that they have troubled Israel? They had forsaken the Lord’s commands and they had followed the Baals. They had worshiped false gods. And so Elijah, in the spirit of Nathan, the prophet, points the finger right at the king, courageously and says, “You are the man. It’s your fault.” Now, I don’t think he’s being overly simplistic here. We know that each individual Israelite was responsible for his or her walk with the Lord. Each one that had capitulated had bowed the knee to Baal. Each one that had yielded was responsible and would answer for it on judgment day. But a king has a special responsibility. Leaders have special responsibilities. And when Ahab brought in his despicable wife, Jezebel, and when she led the whole nation into sin, he didn’t stop or he didn’t stand up against her. And so ultimately, his modeling of Baal worship destroyed the country. And so I don’t think it’s simplistic for him, Elijah I mean, to zero in on this evil king and say, “You are the one. It’s you who have troubled Israel by your sin. You have turned away from the true and living God. You’ve turned away from the commands of God.”
And what commands is he referring to? Well, how about the first commandment? “I am the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt, out of the land of bondage. You shall have no other gods beside me.” But Ahab had other gods; he had the Baals. In verse 18, it says, “You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.” Now I think verse 19 is fascinating. As I was writing my outline for this, I wanted to write the words, “Who’s in charge here?” You look at verse 19 and notice the tone. Now this is the prophet. This is Elijah, the Tishbite. And who’s he talking to? The king of the nation. And he says, “Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel and bring the 450 prophets of Baal and those 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.” Who’s in charge here? You see, Elijah’s giving orders, isn’t he? He’s telling him what’s going to happen. This is what I want you to do. He’s got in mind already the contest and God had laid it on his heart what would happen. He’s going to summon the people. Now realize the difficulties of this command. He wanted the people from all over Israel. He wanted the leaders, he wanted witnesses and they were going to travel a long way because Mount Carmel was not centrally located, but it was out by the coast. It was off to the side and they were going to be traveling from all over Israel and they were going to go and watch this contest. Well, he doesn’t tell him what he’s going to do. He just says, “Summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel and bring those 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.” He’s giving him orders. And those orders are not easy to follow. And yet, Ahab did it. And not only did Ahab obey Elijah, but so also the people of Israel obeyed the word of the king. They all came. Verse 20, “Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.” Now this is a fascinating thing. Why did Ahab obey the word of the prophet? Well, there’s different reasons. Some commentators said it’s because he wanted rain and he was willing to do anything that Elijah said just so that rain would come on the land again. He realized that his own kingdom was hanging in the balance. People were dying. Even worse, his donkeys couldn’t find grass. And so no matter what, he needed rain. And so he figured, “I have to do what this crazy man says.” But that’s simplistic, isn’t it? And how unbelieving is it to not see the true reason? The true reason is given in Proverbs 21:1, “The king’s heart is like a water course in the hands of the Lord. He directs it whichever way he chooses.” That’s the real reason. You ought look up some time the number of times that God puts a spirit in somebody to do something. Just look that up, the number of times that God put a spirit in a pagan king to invade a country or put another spirit in another king to do this or to do that. God is sovereign over the hearts and minds of kings. Isn’t that good? Aren’t you glad? Don’t you rejoice in that? So we don’t have to be afraid of this or that person takes control of this or that nation. God rules over it all. So even wicked king Ahab, his heart is like putty in the hands of the Lord and he shapes it the way he wants. Or like Proverbs says, “A water course and he directs it whatever way he chooses.” And so Ahab meekly, humbly, quietly, without a word, just simply does what Elijah told him to do, “You assemble those people,” and they were assembled.
“We don’t have to be afraid of this or that person takes control of this or that nation. God rules over it all.”
Verse 20, “Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.” Elijah in verse 21 went before the people and said… Excuse me. I’m sorry. “‘How long will you waiver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, follow him.’ But the people said nothing.” Now I think this verse is absolutely vital for America today. What we’re dealing with here is what you could call syncretism. The idea that we’ve got worship of Jehovah God and we’re going to keep that, we’re going to keep doing that, but then we’re going to bring in other gods and worship them as well. This was always Israel’s problem. For the most part, they didn’t abandon Yahweh. They didn’t stop worshiping the God that had brought them out of Egypt. But what they did do is add the worship of other gods. It’s called syncretism. When I was a missionary in Japan, I noticed that this was a unique problem in ministering to the Japanese people. They were ready, willing and able to accept what you said about Jesus and they would add Jesus to their pantheon of Buddhist gods, deities or Shinto deities, no problem. But if you began to press the exclusivity of the true God, that he is the only God there is and that all other gods are false gods, they’re idols, they don’t exist, then you ran into problems. That’s the very thing they would not accept. Have you noticed that attitude creeping into America? Have you noticed even our leaders saying that Islam is a great world religion? Islam is not a great world religion because great world religions do not lead their adherents to hell. It is not a great world religion. The Arab nations may be great nations, great in power, great in accomplishments, but their religion is a false demonic religion. And we’ve got to be so careful as thinkers in America today. We’ve got to avoid syncretism, taking our Judeo-Christian faith, our Christian heritage, our Christian doctrines, and mingling them in the spirit of tolerance so that we are acceptable to the populace around us. The stumbling stone of the gospel is that it is exclusive. There is no other way to God; that Jesus Christ died on the cross to provide the only way of salvation there is. And that’s a stumbling stone for people, isn’t it? It’s unacceptable. It’s arrogant. Even this past week, some members of our church went out going door to door and knocked on the door and somebody opened and they began to try to share the gospel. It was Herbert Rivera. You can ask him about his experience. And it wasn’t long before the people were very angry, very upset and saying, “You’re so narrow-minded that you think you have the only true way.” Slammed the door in Herbert’s face. Well, I think this is going to be more and more our experience, isn’t it, if we’re preaching the true gospel. It’s one thing to say, “Well, we accept Jesus and we’re going to accept any other gods, the world religions, accept them all as true.” But it cannot be. And Elijah underscores that here, doesn’t he? He said, “It’s not possible for you to accept that the Lord is God and that Baal also is God.” It really is an either/or proposition. Isn’t that the heart of the contest here? Either the Lord is God or Baal is God. They cannot both be gods. And intrinsic to the contest is that only one of them is going to answer by fire from heaven. Not both. God’s not going to leave us in a state of confusion. Only one of them will answer because only one is the true God. We have to be so clear about this, so strong. Think of it this way: do you think that Jesus took on a human body, incarnated himself, walked for 30 plus years in suffering and rejection, died under the wrath of God on the cross to provide one of many ways to salvation? Think about that. One of 16 bridges across the chasm is Jesus. Doesn’t make any sense. He’s the only way and that’s why he had to do what he did. If salvation could come by the law, then Christ died for nothing. If there were other ways to get to heaven, then there’s no need for Jesus to die. But Jesus had to die because there was no other way. Please be clear about this. And if you end up offending some people, it’s all right. They need to be offended because they’re clinging to false gods. This is the stumbling stone, but it’s also the word of salvation and Elijah’s forcing them. He says in verse 21, “How long will you…” And the word is waiver. It literally means to be halt or totter as though you’re stumbling. You’re at a fork in the road and you don’t know where to go. So you start down one line and then you start down the other. You’re going one way; you’re going the other. Is Baal god? Is Jehovah God? Which is it going to be? And so they’re living in consistently. They’re like, in the book of James, “A double minded man unstable in all they do. They’re tottering. They’re wavering.” And he says, “How long is this going to go on?” He’s forcing them to a choice. “You must choose today,” as Joshua said, “whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. But you must choose. You must decide today who God is. Now I think the response is fascinating.
Picture Elijah bringing this word, this message, and then you could hear the wind kind of whistling up over Mount Carmel and people say nothing. Their hearts are hard. They should have acclaimed that of course, Jehovah’s the only God. It was he who had led them out of Egypt. It was he who had brought them into the Promised Land, but they said nothing. Why? Well, because their minds were corrupted by their Baal worship. Their hearts were afraid of Jezebel and the punishments that might come if they declared that Jehovah was God. But they should not have feared Jezebel. They should have feared the Lord. They remained silent. They weren’t silent at the end of the contest of course. They were in full-bore revival at that point. But at this point, nobody will say anything. And herein lies the courage of Elijah. Do you see this? He’s standing pretty much alone. And I think this is so admirable. I think if you have God on your side, who else do you need? He’s standing there filled with the Spirit of the Lord, courageous. And it doesn’t really matter that in front of him are 450 false prophets and a whole nation that won’t even open their mouth and say anything for Jehovah. But he stands alone and courageous and he’s willing to go. The people said nothing. In verse 22, then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left.” He’s feeling it, isn’t he? It’s acute. “I’m standing alone. You people won’t say a word for Jehovah, but I am and I will testify to the truth. I’m the only one left.” Now also, why does he mention this? Why is he the only prophet left? Has something been going on in Israel? You better believe something has, Jezebel’s been murdering prophets. She’s been killing them one after the other. And he is with this statement setting the stage for the wrath of God to fall in the false prophets themselves. What goes around comes around. And so the false prophets of Baal were invariably, I’m sure, involved in collecting the true prophets of Jehovah and putting them to death. Judgment was going to fall on them that day. But he’s setting the stage by saying, “I’m the only one left. All the others have been murdered.” And then he says, “Baal has 450 prophets.” It doesn’t really matter, folks, how popular a view is. Do you realize that? It doesn’t make a difference how many people think what you say is true. “If God thinks it’s true, it’s true. Let God be true.” It says in Romans three “And the whole world a liar.” And so he’s willing to stand alone and testify against 450 false prophets. “I’m alone. And they are 450 in number.”
And then he says, “Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood, but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you, call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord and the god who answers by fire- he is God.” Now this is a fair test really because Baal, not only was he a god of rain, but he was also a thunder and lightning god, a god of fire. This was well within Baal’s repertoire, if he really existed. If he was a true god, he should have been able to do this. And the measure of it is the confidence of the false prophets when they begin. Now it’s a new twist to not actually light the fire. They hadn’t done that before, but they felt confident that Baal would be able to answer. And so fair enough, we’re on Baal’s turf. There’d been an altar to Baal erected over the altar of the Lord. There was an altar of the Lord there, verse 30, you can see repairs it. It’s sitting there, but it’s in disrepair. This was territory that Baal had seized for his own. And the answering by fire was something he should have been able to do. Not only that, but Elijah says, “You go first.” Verse 25, “Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first since there are so many of you.'” By the way, that’s the second time he’s mentioned how many of them there are. He’s really underscoring, it’s like, “Me against all of them. 450 of you and one of me. And one of me is all that’s needed for this job. That’s all that we need, is one person to stand up and tell the truth, praise God, since there’s so many of you.” So he is giving all of the advantages, all of the advantages to Baal, but also realize how significant this was. Baal had to go first. Do you understand why? Because God was going to answer with fire. And if he answers first, they’ll never get to Baal doing it. And Baal must be exposed as the fraud he is. And so he must go first and it must go on all day long and it will. There must be many prayers offered and Baal must be revealed to be a fraud. And so he says, “You go first.”
Now it’s interesting, in verse 24, the people answered this time, “What you say is good.” They’re saying, “Wow, that sounds exciting.” They didn’t know up until this point what was even going on. Elijah knew what God wanted. But the idea of a contest and a miracle, “we’re going to see a miracle today. We’re going to see someone, we don’t know who it is, but one of these two gods is going to answer by fire. So we have come to see quite a spectacle.” So they’re excited and they’re moved out of their lethargy. They’re moved out of their fearful silence. “What you say is good. Sounds good. Let’s do it.” And so he says to the prophets of Baal, “Go ahead and choose one of the bulls and prepare it.” And he says, “Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” Now, these false practitioners of religion, we have records of it, sometimes would feed fire in from the bottom, you see. There’s ways that you can deceive simple-minded people. And he said, “Let’s not have any of that chicanery. No tricks, no fire. Do you really believe in your god or not? Keep away from the altar and bring no fire to it. Let’s see if he exists. Let’s see if he can do it. You just pray.” Now realize, there are three central elements to the challenge, aren’t there? There is a sacrifice, there is effectual prayer and there is fire from heaven. Now, I thought much about those three things and I think they must be the center of my ministry as well. Think about it. At the center of the ministry must be a sacrifice. Now, why does the sacrifice have to be at the center? Well, let me tell you something. The reason the sacrifice is there is so the fire doesn’t fall on the people. They certainly deserved it. They were like wood, hay and straw ready to be consumed. But God is merciful, isn’t he? He’s gracious. Is God capable of sending fire down on people? Oh, yes. Later in our study in Elijah, you’ll see it happen. When a captain and 50 men come and fire comes down from heaven on people, God can do it, but he wasn’t going to do it that day because God is patient and merciful. And in Elijah’s prayer, he said, “God’s purpose is to turn the hearts of the people back to him that day.” And so there must be a sacrifice because God’s wrath must be poured out. Our God is a consuming fire. And so at the center of true faith is a sacrifice, a substitute, if you will, someone to stand in our place and to take the wrath and the punishment of God so the fire doesn’t fall on us. And so we know that that is Jesus Christ, represents Christ. Christ is the final sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood, there’ll be no forgiveness of sins. And there must be forgiveness of sins. The people have sinned greatly. And so the first aspect of this challenge is this sacrifice, a bull cut into pieces.
Aren’t you grateful for the sacrifice? Aren’t you glad the fire falls on the animal and not on you? And if you think, “I don’t deserve that,” then I don’t think you understand Christianity. You haven’t been broken by the law because you have transgressed the law and I have too. We all have, haven’t we? We’ve broken the 10 commandments and others besides. And we deserve to have the fire of God fall on us, but rather, it falls on his own Son, Jesus Christ. He is the substitutionary atonement. He stands in our place and accepts the wrath of God. Just as that bull was the focal point of the fire from heaven that day, it didn’t fall on the people.
Secondly, there was effectual prayer. Now first, we’re going to see, and I’m not going to finish tonight, but next time that we see, we’re going to see an example of ineffectual prayer, right? All day long the people, prophets of Baal crying out to a god that doesn’t exist. And they cried out and cried out and there was no answer because Baal doesn’t exist. That’s ineffectual prayer. But then there’s the quiet, simple, brief, effective prayer of a righteous man. That’s all. Just a simple prayer. It’s one of the shortest prayers you’re going to find. I find a shorter one when Jesus stood in front of Lazarus’s tomb, he said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I prayed it for these people standing here so that they will know that you sent me. Lazarus, come forth.” That’s all. No great, long prayer, just like the prophets of Baal go on and on for hours, keeping up empty phrases like the pagans do. There’s nothing like that. Just a simple effective prayer, and God heard.
Third aspect is fire from heaven, fire from heaven. Now, what does this represent? Well, at that point, it represented fire. It wasn’t a representation. It was fire. It was literal fire that came from heaven. But we know that there was another fire that came from heaven. It says of Jesus, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” And so when the Holy Spirit came, there were tongues of fire that came down and separated and came to rest on each of the apostles, the fire from heaven. And it represents the power of God in that ministry. It represents the supernatural, something only God can do. You can lay out the bull and you can pray the prayer but if there’s no fire from heaven, then God is not active there. Don’t you want to see the fire from heaven in this church, in your life? I don’t know what it is, but just something only God can do, something where we can stand and we can see where our church is at now and remember. And then 10 years from now, look back and say, “Only God could have done that. Only God could have accomplished that, leading those people to Christ, the baptisms, the missions, the giving.” 50% of our offering year round going to missions. Wouldn’t that be something? Only God can do that. To look back and say, “Only God could have moved me from where I was at, at that point 10 years ago, to being a faithful, regular, everyday witness for Christ. So that every day I get up thinking I might lead somebody to Christ today.” Only God can do that. To see the movement of God.
I want to see those three things central in my ministry and in this church. Number one, the sacrificial atonement of Jesus Christ right at the center, realizing that all of us deserve the wrath of God, but Jesus came to take it away. Number two, effective, fervent prayer, simple, spirit-led, not something that Elijah made up, but something that he knew that God would answer. And number three, fire from heaven. Now next time we study, we’re going to find out what happens. Of course, I read it, you already know. But we’re going to talk more about that contest and how God glorified himself that day.
Pastor Andy Davis preaches a verse-by-verse expository sermon on 1 Kings 18:16-25. The main subject of the sermon is Elijah’s meeting with Ahab and the prophets of Baal.
– SERMON TRANSCRIPT –
We’re beginning tonight at 1 Kings 18:16, Elijah on Mount Carmel: “So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah, and when he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you? You troubler of Israel?” “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied, “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel and bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat a Jezebel’s table. So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waiver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal is god, follow him.” But the people said nothing. Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has 450 prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood, but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bowl and put it on the wood, but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord, the God who answers by fire, he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.” Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first since there are so many of you. Call in the name of your god but do not light the fire.” So they took the bull, given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Oh, Baal, answer us,” they shouted, but there was no response. No one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon, Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder,” he said, “Surely he is a god. Perhaps he is deep in thought or busy or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom until their blood flowed. Midday passed and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins. Elijah took 12 stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob to whom the word of the Lord had come saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood and cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. And then he said to them, “Fill four large jar jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood. Do it again,” he said and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered and they did it the third time. The water ran down the altar and even filled the trench. At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed, “Oh, Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, oh Lord, answer me so that these people will know that you, oh Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostate and cried, “The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God.” Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away.” They seized them and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.”
Now this is the story of a climactic encounter, perhaps one of the most dramatic in all the Bible, but it begins rather quietly when you stop to think about it. God had been working carefully and preparing this day for three and a half years. There had already been a contest between God, the true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Baal. Why do I say that? Because Baal was a fertility god, Baal was a rain god and God had been beating him day after day for three and a half years in that there was no rain. And so the contest had already taken place, but now God wanted it seen very efficiently, very dramatically that he alone was the true God, the only God there is. And so he moved Elijah to orchestrate this entire contest. Now, I think it’s important to realize, I think we should aspire to be like Elijah, to look at his courage, to look at his boldness, but realize that none of this was Elijah’s idea. You see, even in his prayer, he said, “I want all these people to know that I’ve done this only at your command.” We can’t make something like this up. We’re not going to throw ourselves off the pinnacle of the temple and hope that God will hold us up. But rather, he only, as a servant of the Lord, does what he’s commanded to do just as the Son of the Father, Jesus Christ, only did and said what his Father had commanded him to do. And so Elijah moved out at the command of God.
But not only had God been setting the stage for this with the drought for three and a half years, he’d also been preparing Elijah for it as well. I was thinking about that this week. I’ve been thinking about Elijah’s life with the widow at Zarephath. And for all that time, he was waiting on God. He couldn’t get around in Zarephath. He couldn’t show himself because you know that Ahab and Jezebel were searching everywhere for him and this was Jezebel’s home area. And so he had to stay at home day after day, hour after hour. What did he do? Well, we’re told to make the most of every opportunity. The only thing he really could do was spend the time in prayer. And so he was praying for his people. He was praying for the widow and for the widow’s son. He was praying for the king and he was praying for the hearts of the people. And little by little, God communicated his will and revealed it to him so that when he came, when the time came for him to take this burden on, he was ready, day after day spent in prayer. And I think about the rhythm of the Christian life. This is a climactic encounter, isn’t it? But before it is, three and a half years of waiting, praying, quiet, and preparation. I think it shows the same thing about us. We can’t be climactically, moment after moment, doing great things for God, but day by day, God is preparing us for the next battle that we’re going to face. We don’t know what it is. We have no idea when God revealed to Elijah what his will was, but Elijah made the most of the time and we saw last time the encounter with Obadiah, the servant of the Lord. Obadiah, somewhat ambivalent character, serving Ahab, a wicked king, but at the same time, courageously caring for the Lord’s, prophets in caves. And so he said to Obadiah, “I’m here. I want to see your master, King Ahab.” And so Obadiah went and got him.
“We can’t be climactically, moment after moment, doing great things for God, but day by day, God is preparing us for the next battle that we’re going to face. “
And so we have this encounter beginning at verse 16, “Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.” Now verse 17 shows us so much of the human heart. Look at it: “When King Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, ‘Is that you, you troubler of Israel?’” Doesn’t that show you a lot? Ahab had had three and a half years of the Lord’s chastening, three and a half years of discipline from the Lord. And when we are disciplined from the Lord, it’s good for us to repent. It’s good for us to come humbly before God and seek forgiveness. It’s good for us to be broken. For the Scripture says, “Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand and in due time, he will lift you up.” but Ahab hadn’t done that at all. His heart was hard and he blamed Elijah for the trouble that had come on Israel, “Is that you,” he said, “you troubler of Israel?” Well, isn’t that striking? I think the fact of the matter is that unless God grants repentance, all of us would’ve been that way too. For all of us, we’re naturally dead in our transgressions and sins. We should not boast too much over wicked king Ahab because we realize our own hearts are hard, aren’t they? And it doesn’t matter the chastening and the discipline that God brings in our lives. We will not repent unless God works it in us. God grants the repentance, and Ahab had not repented. He had wasted his time.
“We should not boast too much over wicked king Ahab because we realize our own hearts are hard, aren’t they? And it doesn’t matter the chastening and the discipline that God brings in our lives. We will not repent unless God works it in us.”
Another commentator that I read said that it’s possible that King Ahab didn’t know Elijah’s name. That’s possible. I don’t know. It’s speculative. But this guy shows up out of nowhere in 1 King 17:1 and says that, “it’s not going to rain, except my word,” and then disappears. What did he say? Who was that? No one knows. So it’s possible he didn’t know who he was. I don’t really know, but either way, what was in his heart floated out through his lips. Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks, “It’s your fault, Elijah!” What blame shifters we are, and so it was that King Ahab blamed Elijah for the trouble that had come on Israel, what was that trouble? Three and a half years of drought. Do you wonder if we’re in drought here in North Carolina? I’m getting serious about this. The other day, there was a big rainstorm coming right for us and it divided and went north and south right around our area. I want to ask a question, are any of you praying for rain here in Raleigh Durham? I think we ought to. All things come from God. It is God that sends rain. Not that we’re overly concerned about our lawns, but realize that all good things come from God. But how much more severe the trial in Israel than no rain for three and a half years and no dew either, no water, no life. Certainly by that time, people had died of starvation and of dehydration. And so that was the nature of the trouble of Israel.
But you know, the true trouble of Israel was deeper than a failure to rain. It was deeper than starvation, deeper than dehydration. It was apostasy from the living God. And Elijah told the truth, didn’t he? Look what he says, “‘I have not made trouble for Israel,’ Elijah replied, ‘But it is you and your father’s family who have troubled Israel. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.’” Now this is so beautiful, isn’t it? You see here the courage, the courage of the man of God. You know, a servant to the Lord is always going to stand up and be reviled at some point. If you’re going to speak the truth, people are going to misunderstand you. You look and see what they said about Paul and Silas. It says in Thessalonica, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here.” Right? They were the troubles of the Greek speaking world. Jesus in Luke 23 was he who disturbed and caused trouble for the people. And so it was also that Elijah was blamed with troubling Israel. But Elijah is a true man of God. Tells the truth. He goes right to the heart of the matter. And first of all, he says, “My conscience is clear. I’ve not brought any trouble on Israel.” Now I think you could read right over that without seeing the significance that he said, “I have not forsaken the Lord. No matter what it cost me, I’m following God.” And at that time, with Jezebel in charge, it cost plenty to be a prophet of the Lord. He said, “I have not brought trouble on my people through sin. My conscience is clear.” You know, I think that’s one thing we have to understand is that to walk with God costs something, doesn’t it? To be willing to stand up and to be counted among God’s people, to be courageously willing to speak the truth as Elijah does here, it’s going to cost you.
I think one of the scariest things that Jesus ever said was something he said to his own brothers in John 7:7. His brothers, who didn’t believe in him at that point, came to him and were giving him advice about his ministry. And Jesus said, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.” Now what does Jesus mean when he says to his brothers, “The world cannot hate you?” Well, because they belong to the world. They were part of the world’s system and therefore the world was going to embrace them. The world was going to love them. But if you’re going to follow the Lord, you have to be willing to put up with the persecution, the rejection of the world. “If the world hates you,” Jesus said, “keep in mind it hated me first.” And so here’s Elijah courageously standing up and saying, “My conscience is clear. I have not made trouble for Israel, but you and your father’s family,” Omri, the father of Ahab, “you are the ones that have troubled Israel.”
And how is it that they have troubled Israel? They had forsaken the Lord’s commands and they had followed the Baals. They had worshiped false gods. And so Elijah, in the spirit of Nathan, the prophet, points the finger right at the king, courageously and says, “You are the man. It’s your fault.” Now, I don’t think he’s being overly simplistic here. We know that each individual Israelite was responsible for his or her walk with the Lord. Each one that had capitulated had bowed the knee to Baal. Each one that had yielded was responsible and would answer for it on judgment day. But a king has a special responsibility. Leaders have special responsibilities. And when Ahab brought in his despicable wife, Jezebel, and when she led the whole nation into sin, he didn’t stop or he didn’t stand up against her. And so ultimately, his modeling of Baal worship destroyed the country. And so I don’t think it’s simplistic for him, Elijah I mean, to zero in on this evil king and say, “You are the one. It’s you who have troubled Israel by your sin. You have turned away from the true and living God. You’ve turned away from the commands of God.”
And what commands is he referring to? Well, how about the first commandment? “I am the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt, out of the land of bondage. You shall have no other gods beside me.” But Ahab had other gods; he had the Baals. In verse 18, it says, “You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.” Now I think verse 19 is fascinating. As I was writing my outline for this, I wanted to write the words, “Who’s in charge here?” You look at verse 19 and notice the tone. Now this is the prophet. This is Elijah, the Tishbite. And who’s he talking to? The king of the nation. And he says, “Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel and bring the 450 prophets of Baal and those 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.” Who’s in charge here? You see, Elijah’s giving orders, isn’t he? He’s telling him what’s going to happen. This is what I want you to do. He’s got in mind already the contest and God had laid it on his heart what would happen. He’s going to summon the people. Now realize the difficulties of this command. He wanted the people from all over Israel. He wanted the leaders, he wanted witnesses and they were going to travel a long way because Mount Carmel was not centrally located, but it was out by the coast. It was off to the side and they were going to be traveling from all over Israel and they were going to go and watch this contest. Well, he doesn’t tell him what he’s going to do. He just says, “Summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel and bring those 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.” He’s giving him orders. And those orders are not easy to follow. And yet, Ahab did it. And not only did Ahab obey Elijah, but so also the people of Israel obeyed the word of the king. They all came. Verse 20, “Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.” Now this is a fascinating thing. Why did Ahab obey the word of the prophet? Well, there’s different reasons. Some commentators said it’s because he wanted rain and he was willing to do anything that Elijah said just so that rain would come on the land again. He realized that his own kingdom was hanging in the balance. People were dying. Even worse, his donkeys couldn’t find grass. And so no matter what, he needed rain. And so he figured, “I have to do what this crazy man says.” But that’s simplistic, isn’t it? And how unbelieving is it to not see the true reason? The true reason is given in Proverbs 21:1, “The king’s heart is like a water course in the hands of the Lord. He directs it whichever way he chooses.” That’s the real reason. You ought look up some time the number of times that God puts a spirit in somebody to do something. Just look that up, the number of times that God put a spirit in a pagan king to invade a country or put another spirit in another king to do this or to do that. God is sovereign over the hearts and minds of kings. Isn’t that good? Aren’t you glad? Don’t you rejoice in that? So we don’t have to be afraid of this or that person takes control of this or that nation. God rules over it all. So even wicked king Ahab, his heart is like putty in the hands of the Lord and he shapes it the way he wants. Or like Proverbs says, “A water course and he directs it whatever way he chooses.” And so Ahab meekly, humbly, quietly, without a word, just simply does what Elijah told him to do, “You assemble those people,” and they were assembled.
“We don’t have to be afraid of this or that person takes control of this or that nation. God rules over it all.”
Verse 20, “Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.” Elijah in verse 21 went before the people and said… Excuse me. I’m sorry. “‘How long will you waiver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, follow him.’ But the people said nothing.” Now I think this verse is absolutely vital for America today. What we’re dealing with here is what you could call syncretism. The idea that we’ve got worship of Jehovah God and we’re going to keep that, we’re going to keep doing that, but then we’re going to bring in other gods and worship them as well. This was always Israel’s problem. For the most part, they didn’t abandon Yahweh. They didn’t stop worshiping the God that had brought them out of Egypt. But what they did do is add the worship of other gods. It’s called syncretism. When I was a missionary in Japan, I noticed that this was a unique problem in ministering to the Japanese people. They were ready, willing and able to accept what you said about Jesus and they would add Jesus to their pantheon of Buddhist gods, deities or Shinto deities, no problem. But if you began to press the exclusivity of the true God, that he is the only God there is and that all other gods are false gods, they’re idols, they don’t exist, then you ran into problems. That’s the very thing they would not accept. Have you noticed that attitude creeping into America? Have you noticed even our leaders saying that Islam is a great world religion? Islam is not a great world religion because great world religions do not lead their adherents to hell. It is not a great world religion. The Arab nations may be great nations, great in power, great in accomplishments, but their religion is a false demonic religion. And we’ve got to be so careful as thinkers in America today. We’ve got to avoid syncretism, taking our Judeo-Christian faith, our Christian heritage, our Christian doctrines, and mingling them in the spirit of tolerance so that we are acceptable to the populace around us. The stumbling stone of the gospel is that it is exclusive. There is no other way to God; that Jesus Christ died on the cross to provide the only way of salvation there is. And that’s a stumbling stone for people, isn’t it? It’s unacceptable. It’s arrogant. Even this past week, some members of our church went out going door to door and knocked on the door and somebody opened and they began to try to share the gospel. It was Herbert Rivera. You can ask him about his experience. And it wasn’t long before the people were very angry, very upset and saying, “You’re so narrow-minded that you think you have the only true way.” Slammed the door in Herbert’s face. Well, I think this is going to be more and more our experience, isn’t it, if we’re preaching the true gospel. It’s one thing to say, “Well, we accept Jesus and we’re going to accept any other gods, the world religions, accept them all as true.” But it cannot be. And Elijah underscores that here, doesn’t he? He said, “It’s not possible for you to accept that the Lord is God and that Baal also is God.” It really is an either/or proposition. Isn’t that the heart of the contest here? Either the Lord is God or Baal is God. They cannot both be gods. And intrinsic to the contest is that only one of them is going to answer by fire from heaven. Not both. God’s not going to leave us in a state of confusion. Only one of them will answer because only one is the true God. We have to be so clear about this, so strong. Think of it this way: do you think that Jesus took on a human body, incarnated himself, walked for 30 plus years in suffering and rejection, died under the wrath of God on the cross to provide one of many ways to salvation? Think about that. One of 16 bridges across the chasm is Jesus. Doesn’t make any sense. He’s the only way and that’s why he had to do what he did. If salvation could come by the law, then Christ died for nothing. If there were other ways to get to heaven, then there’s no need for Jesus to die. But Jesus had to die because there was no other way. Please be clear about this. And if you end up offending some people, it’s all right. They need to be offended because they’re clinging to false gods. This is the stumbling stone, but it’s also the word of salvation and Elijah’s forcing them. He says in verse 21, “How long will you…” And the word is waiver. It literally means to be halt or totter as though you’re stumbling. You’re at a fork in the road and you don’t know where to go. So you start down one line and then you start down the other. You’re going one way; you’re going the other. Is Baal god? Is Jehovah God? Which is it going to be? And so they’re living in consistently. They’re like, in the book of James, “A double minded man unstable in all they do. They’re tottering. They’re wavering.” And he says, “How long is this going to go on?” He’s forcing them to a choice. “You must choose today,” as Joshua said, “whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. But you must choose. You must decide today who God is. Now I think the response is fascinating.
Picture Elijah bringing this word, this message, and then you could hear the wind kind of whistling up over Mount Carmel and people say nothing. Their hearts are hard. They should have acclaimed that of course, Jehovah’s the only God. It was he who had led them out of Egypt. It was he who had brought them into the Promised Land, but they said nothing. Why? Well, because their minds were corrupted by their Baal worship. Their hearts were afraid of Jezebel and the punishments that might come if they declared that Jehovah was God. But they should not have feared Jezebel. They should have feared the Lord. They remained silent. They weren’t silent at the end of the contest of course. They were in full-bore revival at that point. But at this point, nobody will say anything. And herein lies the courage of Elijah. Do you see this? He’s standing pretty much alone. And I think this is so admirable. I think if you have God on your side, who else do you need? He’s standing there filled with the Spirit of the Lord, courageous. And it doesn’t really matter that in front of him are 450 false prophets and a whole nation that won’t even open their mouth and say anything for Jehovah. But he stands alone and courageous and he’s willing to go. The people said nothing. In verse 22, then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left.” He’s feeling it, isn’t he? It’s acute. “I’m standing alone. You people won’t say a word for Jehovah, but I am and I will testify to the truth. I’m the only one left.” Now also, why does he mention this? Why is he the only prophet left? Has something been going on in Israel? You better believe something has, Jezebel’s been murdering prophets. She’s been killing them one after the other. And he is with this statement setting the stage for the wrath of God to fall in the false prophets themselves. What goes around comes around. And so the false prophets of Baal were invariably, I’m sure, involved in collecting the true prophets of Jehovah and putting them to death. Judgment was going to fall on them that day. But he’s setting the stage by saying, “I’m the only one left. All the others have been murdered.” And then he says, “Baal has 450 prophets.” It doesn’t really matter, folks, how popular a view is. Do you realize that? It doesn’t make a difference how many people think what you say is true. “If God thinks it’s true, it’s true. Let God be true.” It says in Romans three “And the whole world a liar.” And so he’s willing to stand alone and testify against 450 false prophets. “I’m alone. And they are 450 in number.”
And then he says, “Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood, but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you, call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord and the god who answers by fire- he is God.” Now this is a fair test really because Baal, not only was he a god of rain, but he was also a thunder and lightning god, a god of fire. This was well within Baal’s repertoire, if he really existed. If he was a true god, he should have been able to do this. And the measure of it is the confidence of the false prophets when they begin. Now it’s a new twist to not actually light the fire. They hadn’t done that before, but they felt confident that Baal would be able to answer. And so fair enough, we’re on Baal’s turf. There’d been an altar to Baal erected over the altar of the Lord. There was an altar of the Lord there, verse 30, you can see repairs it. It’s sitting there, but it’s in disrepair. This was territory that Baal had seized for his own. And the answering by fire was something he should have been able to do. Not only that, but Elijah says, “You go first.” Verse 25, “Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first since there are so many of you.'” By the way, that’s the second time he’s mentioned how many of them there are. He’s really underscoring, it’s like, “Me against all of them. 450 of you and one of me. And one of me is all that’s needed for this job. That’s all that we need, is one person to stand up and tell the truth, praise God, since there’s so many of you.” So he is giving all of the advantages, all of the advantages to Baal, but also realize how significant this was. Baal had to go first. Do you understand why? Because God was going to answer with fire. And if he answers first, they’ll never get to Baal doing it. And Baal must be exposed as the fraud he is. And so he must go first and it must go on all day long and it will. There must be many prayers offered and Baal must be revealed to be a fraud. And so he says, “You go first.”
Now it’s interesting, in verse 24, the people answered this time, “What you say is good.” They’re saying, “Wow, that sounds exciting.” They didn’t know up until this point what was even going on. Elijah knew what God wanted. But the idea of a contest and a miracle, “we’re going to see a miracle today. We’re going to see someone, we don’t know who it is, but one of these two gods is going to answer by fire. So we have come to see quite a spectacle.” So they’re excited and they’re moved out of their lethargy. They’re moved out of their fearful silence. “What you say is good. Sounds good. Let’s do it.” And so he says to the prophets of Baal, “Go ahead and choose one of the bulls and prepare it.” And he says, “Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” Now, these false practitioners of religion, we have records of it, sometimes would feed fire in from the bottom, you see. There’s ways that you can deceive simple-minded people. And he said, “Let’s not have any of that chicanery. No tricks, no fire. Do you really believe in your god or not? Keep away from the altar and bring no fire to it. Let’s see if he exists. Let’s see if he can do it. You just pray.” Now realize, there are three central elements to the challenge, aren’t there? There is a sacrifice, there is effectual prayer and there is fire from heaven. Now, I thought much about those three things and I think they must be the center of my ministry as well. Think about it. At the center of the ministry must be a sacrifice. Now, why does the sacrifice have to be at the center? Well, let me tell you something. The reason the sacrifice is there is so the fire doesn’t fall on the people. They certainly deserved it. They were like wood, hay and straw ready to be consumed. But God is merciful, isn’t he? He’s gracious. Is God capable of sending fire down on people? Oh, yes. Later in our study in Elijah, you’ll see it happen. When a captain and 50 men come and fire comes down from heaven on people, God can do it, but he wasn’t going to do it that day because God is patient and merciful. And in Elijah’s prayer, he said, “God’s purpose is to turn the hearts of the people back to him that day.” And so there must be a sacrifice because God’s wrath must be poured out. Our God is a consuming fire. And so at the center of true faith is a sacrifice, a substitute, if you will, someone to stand in our place and to take the wrath and the punishment of God so the fire doesn’t fall on us. And so we know that that is Jesus Christ, represents Christ. Christ is the final sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood, there’ll be no forgiveness of sins. And there must be forgiveness of sins. The people have sinned greatly. And so the first aspect of this challenge is this sacrifice, a bull cut into pieces.
Aren’t you grateful for the sacrifice? Aren’t you glad the fire falls on the animal and not on you? And if you think, “I don’t deserve that,” then I don’t think you understand Christianity. You haven’t been broken by the law because you have transgressed the law and I have too. We all have, haven’t we? We’ve broken the 10 commandments and others besides. And we deserve to have the fire of God fall on us, but rather, it falls on his own Son, Jesus Christ. He is the substitutionary atonement. He stands in our place and accepts the wrath of God. Just as that bull was the focal point of the fire from heaven that day, it didn’t fall on the people.
Secondly, there was effectual prayer. Now first, we’re going to see, and I’m not going to finish tonight, but next time that we see, we’re going to see an example of ineffectual prayer, right? All day long the people, prophets of Baal crying out to a god that doesn’t exist. And they cried out and cried out and there was no answer because Baal doesn’t exist. That’s ineffectual prayer. But then there’s the quiet, simple, brief, effective prayer of a righteous man. That’s all. Just a simple prayer. It’s one of the shortest prayers you’re going to find. I find a shorter one when Jesus stood in front of Lazarus’s tomb, he said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I prayed it for these people standing here so that they will know that you sent me. Lazarus, come forth.” That’s all. No great, long prayer, just like the prophets of Baal go on and on for hours, keeping up empty phrases like the pagans do. There’s nothing like that. Just a simple effective prayer, and God heard.
Third aspect is fire from heaven, fire from heaven. Now, what does this represent? Well, at that point, it represented fire. It wasn’t a representation. It was fire. It was literal fire that came from heaven. But we know that there was another fire that came from heaven. It says of Jesus, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” And so when the Holy Spirit came, there were tongues of fire that came down and separated and came to rest on each of the apostles, the fire from heaven. And it represents the power of God in that ministry. It represents the supernatural, something only God can do. You can lay out the bull and you can pray the prayer but if there’s no fire from heaven, then God is not active there. Don’t you want to see the fire from heaven in this church, in your life? I don’t know what it is, but just something only God can do, something where we can stand and we can see where our church is at now and remember. And then 10 years from now, look back and say, “Only God could have done that. Only God could have accomplished that, leading those people to Christ, the baptisms, the missions, the giving.” 50% of our offering year round going to missions. Wouldn’t that be something? Only God can do that. To look back and say, “Only God could have moved me from where I was at, at that point 10 years ago, to being a faithful, regular, everyday witness for Christ. So that every day I get up thinking I might lead somebody to Christ today.” Only God can do that. To see the movement of God.
I want to see those three things central in my ministry and in this church. Number one, the sacrificial atonement of Jesus Christ right at the center, realizing that all of us deserve the wrath of God, but Jesus came to take it away. Number two, effective, fervent prayer, simple, spirit-led, not something that Elijah made up, but something that he knew that God would answer. And number three, fire from heaven. Now next time we study, we’re going to find out what happens. Of course, I read it, you already know. But we’re going to talk more about that contest and how God glorified himself that day.
