Morning Service 2nd August 2009
Elijah calls Ahab to organise not a religious convention but a religious confrontation – ‘the Battle of the Gods’, one writer calls it. It was a Promoter’s Dream: ‘The ultimate power struggle between Yahweh and Baal!’ But it would prove Ahab’s nightmare, and that of Jezebel and the prophets of Baal.
The challenge goes out, and strangely enough Ahab responds. As we saw last week, there is only one explanation for this that makes any sense: it was of God. The Lord exercised control even over this wicked king’s heart. The record of the event we have in the latter half of this chapter.
What was this contest about? No doubt Elijah called for it in response to God’s direction, but why? Three things really,
(1) to demonstrate that Yahweh alone is God.
(2) to prove beyond any dispute that Baal was an impotent idol.
(3) to change the people in allegiance and loyalty from this false god to the true and living God.
In vv20-21 we see that it is more than ‘the battle of the gods’, it was a call to the people of Israel to acknowledge and commit themselves to the Lord God, and to throw out all that would weaken or detract from it.
So we read Elijah’s prayer in v.36-37, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
It is a call to be wholly God’s! And isn’t that exactly the call we need to hear again and again? To rejoice in our Saviour and to serve Him without reserve
1. A Strong Rebuke Uttered
In v.20 we read that in response to Ahab’s convened assembly eager crowds from all over Israel gathered, to Mt Carmel which was located along the prominent range of rolling hills that formed the southern border of the plain of Jezreel. It rose about 500meters about the surrounding plain and was situated near the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, above the modern port o Haifa. (Dillard). It was a fitting site since it lay between Israel and Phoenicia, the lands of the deities in question. Also Mount Carmel was regarded by the Phoenicians as the sacred dwelling place of Baal. No doubt Ahab was highly pleased with this suggested site for the contest because it would have given the Baal prophets a definite advantage; but this did not worry Elijah. It was also a geographically prominent location and thus a fit setting for Elijah’s contest.
The people of Israel who gathered obviously would not be sure what they were going to see. Would it be a miracle? Rain? An end to suffering caused by the drought?
No doubt there was a hush as in marched the king and the prophets of Baal. Then according to v.21 Elijah is the last to appear, coming not to the king, but as we read “to the people”.
He was known at least by word of mouth as a result of the king’s efforts to capture him. What a sense of awe and wonderment must’ve been in their minds as they saw this individual the whole kingdom had been buzzing about! What hatred must have flared at him from the eyes of the false prophets and prophetesses. As one commentator puts it: ‘No tiger ever watched its victim more fiercely. If they may have their way, he will never touch yonder plain again.’ Clearly Ahab watched him defiantly, yet uncertainty and hatred must’ve alternated in his heart.
So the stage was set: Baal’s prophets and prophetesses on one side, Elijah on the other. We do not need to fear for Elijah, for he has God and heaven on his side!
Now it is in this context that Elijah identifies the problem. He says nothing to the false prophets, making no attempt to convert them, rather he turns to the people.
The people no doubt expected Elijah to bless the land and to pray for rain, but God would not give His mercies and blessings until they had acknowledged the rod of God and the cause of God’s displeasure were removed. As M Henry comments: ‘The people must be brought to repent and reform, and then they may look for the removal of the judgment, but not till then. This is the right method. God will first prepare our heart and then cause his ear to hear, will first turn us to him and then turn to us, Psa 10:17. Deserters must not look for God’s favours till they return to their allegiance.’
So Elijah’s first word is a rebuke because he would that they repent without which there is no forgiveness and no blessing. He accuses the multitude of ‘faltering’ between two opinions. The word is literally “limp along on or between two twigs” which is a vivid picture of hesitating, vacillating or tottering from one to another – sometimes over to the side of God, then they lurched like an intoxicated individual to the side of the false prophets. They were not fully decided which to follow. It seems we are to read here that the drought had caused them to think again about God, and even caused them to dread God and so were loath to abandon Him; yet they desired the favour of king and queen, perhaps realising to do otherwise was to risk one’s life. So Elijah upbraided them with their inconsistency and fickleness.
Many today ‘totter’ also! If Elijah was speaking to the wider church today his rebuke would be the same. Who today ‘totter’ or halt between God and another?
The person brought up in a godly home goes out into the world and is dazzled and carried away by its apparent happiness and is drawn aside in the way of sinners. Perhaps not altogether forgetful of early training we find them under an uneasy conscience reading the Bible and praying. They ‘halt’ between two alternatives, not decidedly cleaving to God, giving up all to follow Him.
Others cling to the orthodox creed, they regularly attend church, and claim to have that Spirit within Who turns hearts from sin. Yet when you enter their homes you would soon doubt their claims for there is no discernible difference between them and the world.
Then there is the person brought up in the world and through affliction or coming under the preaching of the Word who came to realise that they must turn to God and serve Him, but surrounded by unbelieving friends and relatives they are afraid to alter their behaviour lest they give offence or get laughed at. So they make sinful compromises, trying to maintain better convictions but neglecting many of God’s claims on them.
Even the true believer who loves and serves God with all his heart and in all that He commands, but for some reason they fail to make a public total stand on His side, such as becoming a member of the local church. Outwardly separated from the world and none can point to anything in his conduct that is contrary to the Bible, they like being with God’s people yet they don’t take their place with the followers of Christ.
The person who professes Christianity who yet enjoys mixing with other faiths, or even mixing in unbiblical ideas into the Christian faith they profess.
And of course the genuine Christian who makes no positive effort to break with besetting sins. They are involved in activities or organisations contrary to the Bible but they won’t let them go.
2. The Basic Principle Implied
It is simple, really. God had declared it to Israel from the beginning: God is a jealous God as He declares in the second Commandment (Exod 20:5) a point which God underscores in Exod 34:14 as He renews the covenant with them as they were about to leave Mt Sinai for the Promised Land, “for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”.
God clearly indicating that He wants His people to be entirely His or not at all. He will not consent to His people being divided between Himself and the world. The love that He requires is that of “all the heart, all of the soul, all the mind, all the strength”. Jesus said, “He who loves father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me”. We must be wholly the Lords! This is what Elijah was teaching them, and by this exposing their sin and failure. God will not have a divided heart. He will have all or none.
Look at the phrasing here: “If…; if…” There is a mutual exclusiveness to these options. Hold on to one but let the other go! They cannot both be right! The logic is clear: ‘There can be but one God, but one infinite and but one supreme: there needs but one God, one omnipotent, one all-sufficient.’ As soon as the truth is discovered a moment of absolute decision must be acted upon: the one shown false must be repudiated and rejected, cast away.
Here we learn the vital necessity of separation from unbelief if we are to truly be God’s people. Look at 2 Cor 6:14-7:1. Separation from unbelief is established by 5 rhetorical questions in 6:14-16a. Then it is pressed home by the most telling argument: “you are the temple of the Holy Spirit”. Note the conclusion in 7:1. There can be no grey area, no blending. One or the other!
As we think of this we do well to remember Christ’s declared hatred of lukewarmness in Rev 3:15, 16 – “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”
3. The Resultant Action Necessitated
Again we are drawn to the “if…; if…” It demands decision. The time had long since come for this tottering people to make up their mind, to let the false worship go and be destroyed, and to turn wholeheartedly to God.
Moses coming down form Mt Sinai saw people worshipping a golden calf. In Exod 32:26 we read that when he came to them he cried out “Who is on the Lord’s side?” But if we look at this we will notice it is immediately followed by a command to action: “Let him come to me!” Words were not enough, action was required, a clear-cut and public alignment must be made. And the Levites did exactly that.
Now the call that goes out to Israel is that they will declare themselves publicly and wholly for God, and to demonstrate that by willingly doing all that God should require of them.
Likewise we must declare ourselves. Our decision must be public! We are to honour God by standing with Him and for Him. It is important that others stand to, but whether they stand with you or not, you must stand for God.
So Joshua, to refer to those words made so familiar to us as a congregation by the stained glass window by the door, after calling Israel to stand committed to God nevertheless says, in effect regardless of what anyone else will do in this matter, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
Elijah calls Israel to show it by letting go of their paganism. What is God calling you to let go of? Having recognised it, do it; and having done it, remain faithful. The “if…; if…” implies no turning back!
The great tragedy is that we read “but the people answered him not a word”! They could say nothing to justify themselves, yet they would not renounce their false god and sinful life. They sought refuge in silence. Certainly this is better than frivolous excuses so often offered, but they were hiding from decision. As we read on we see Elijah leading them to making this decision and declaration – but better it would’ve been if they had made it now, if they had made it on the basis of known revelation. God was gracious to this people in giving them further inducements, but He is not always so.
‘God demands no more from us than He can make out a title to’ (Henry). Surely we ought to give Him the glory He is due and stop halting between God and sin, between Christ and our lusts. Surely it is folly and clearly dangerous to do anything less than this.
The great tragedy here is that this call from Elijah was met with a dead silence from the people before whom he stood as God’s prophet. Let there be no such silence in our heart! But equally do not let yourself be carried away with naked enthusiasm as later Israel at large were – faith must take residence in the heart and exercise there its control. Passion without heart-known faith is offensive in God’s sight.
Covenant children your godly parents stand before you like Elijah testifying to God whose power and grace is seen in their lives and through them mediated in a general way to your life… yet as you came into this world you were by inherent sinfulness a worshipping of false gods, especially the false god of self… though you know about God and have benefited from his covenant… How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If Christianity be of God, decide for it with body and soul: embrace the cross, embrace Christ by faith and His Kingdom life.
But as we think of our children and as it were plead with them through the Word this day, what of the church? What of ourselves? If Christianity be of God, decide for it with body and soul: embrace the cross; be willing to suffer affliction with the despised people of God; forsake the pleasures and vanities of the world, and employ all your endeavours to promote the kingdom and glory of Christ.