Morning Service, 3rd May 2009
The times of Elijah were not just times of spiritual decline bordering on indifference; they were times of open, defiant and aggressive apostasy. We noted last time from the concluding verses of chapter 16 that this was a period where there was open contempt for the Word of God, corruption of the Worship of God, and with a policy of eradication of Biblical faith the carnage of the people of God. God was out Baal was in, and it was planned to stay that way for Israel. A W Pink assesses this period of history saying, ‘Spiritual death was spread over everything, and it looked as though satan had indeed obtained mastery of the situation.’
As we looked we recognised an increasing resonance with our times, with the spiritual apostasy within the church and the seemingly concerted anti-God policy within the state aimed to minimise and even remove the remnants of biblical influence. How the Baals of human wisdom, sensualism…even family abound!
However, dark days are also days of great opportunity. There is the great opportunity for God’s true servants to take a stand and to witness against the prevailing wickedness – such as we see in Elijah. But it is also a great opportunity for God to work in the midst to bring about change and revival among the people. Things in Israel were bleak, but no so bleak that they couldn’t be turned around, and God was going to raise up a man whose ministry would not only challenge the prevailing and appalling religious and moral state of the nation, but a man through whom God would bring about change in the thinking of the people and in some measure for a period of time at least a change in the spiritual state of the nation.
The motto of the city of Geneva, gratefully celebrating the ministry of John Calvin and others at the time of the Reformation, is ‘Post Tenebras Lux’ – After the darkness, LIGHT. This is a motto that could suitably be applied to the life and ministry of Elijah, and one that we should always remember in days of spiritual darkness, praying that God may scatter the darkness and give us light.
Our great comfort and encouragement in facing such times is reading that in the Bible that in such and even worse times God has maintained pockets of truth and righteousness centred upon a faithful people of God. God is active, and raises up and equips His people to be active. A reality that also comes with a challenge to us today to be faithful and earnest for God.
We are His men and women of all ages appointed to stand and withstand, to stand for truth and righteousness as revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and to withstand the assaults of satan as he seeks to obliterate all reference to God from the consciences and lifestyles of people, including ourselves. We are engaged in a holy war against satan and sin.
That we might be encouraged in this struggle it is good to consider the life of Elijah who bursts upon the scene as a bright light against the background of such spiritual darkness. Matthew Henry writes: ‘Never was Israel so blessed with a good prophet as when it was so plagued with a bad king.’
Elijah stands unique in his day, suddenly and boldly appearing in the very court of the wicked architect of the appalling spiritual state of the nation of Israel, King Ahab. He comes, stands and speaks with all the dignity of an ambassador representing God and bringing God’s message of war to him. It was like a shot across the bows – God was not finished yet, and ungodliness and evil, no matter how things might appear for a period will never win the day.
But who is Elijah? What do we know of him? In seeking to know this man of God we must be careful to refrain from putting him up on a pedestal as one so far above us in abilities, while finding ourselves drawn along by his example to walk as he walked and to talk as he talked – for God.
The Bible calls us to see that here is an ordinary man who with great courage stood where we stand because he was consumed with the glory of God. He was jealous for God’s glory and who wasn’t afraid to serve and honour His God.
As we look at his spiritual journey we will see many parallels with our own, and will be armed and encouraged by his strengths and forewarned by his challenges and weaknesses.
Further as we explore his life and ministry together among the various expositors let me indicate that I have found especially helpful were the sermons of Al Martin who first helped me to appreciate Elijah, which I regard as masterly, as well as the writings of two godly men of former generations F W Krummacher and A W Pink and that of Raymond Dillard from our own time. Those who are familiar with these will find strong echoes of their ministry from time to time.
Now, in turning to the opening words of 1 Kings 17 we are confronted with:
1. An Ordinary Man
What sort of person will God take and cause to stand against this tsunami of evil? Would he be a scholar of great repute? A powerful gifted orator who could win people with his skilled use of words to draw people to his position? Would he be a warrior like David of whom the populace sang songs about?
Well we are told that he came from Gilead, an area east of the Jordan which was noted for its rugged and wild terrain. One described it this way: ‘Its hills were covered with shaggy forests; its awful solitudes were only broken by the dash of mountain streams; its valleys were the haunt of fierce wild beasts.’
Like the terrain so the people. They were tough rugged, solemn, stern, and largely shepherds hardened by an ‘open-air life’. 2 Ki 1:8 describes Elijah as a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist which shows he was tough and poor.
In other words Elijah was not a polished sophisticate or highly educated and trained in the culture of the court or in the arts of debates. He was a plain guy from the bush, who lived on the wrong side of the tracks, and who was accustomed to spending a lot of his time alone.
He is no super human, he is an ordinary man. This does not distinguish him from us. A point which James was at pains to make when he wrote, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours” (James 5:17). Though God can and does work through the identifiable leaders, yet God largely works through ordinary people.
Paul says to the Corinthians “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Cor 1:26-29).
This is a humbling truth, but it is also one that removes excuses from us for it tells us that the key ingredient is not our intellectual, social or physical abilities but God’s grace a He works through us. The qualities he possessed were qualities any of us can possess. He was just a man, like we, in God’s hands. God shapes and uses ordinary people to do His work. Don’t think for a moment ‘God can’t use me, I am just an ordinary person’. So was Elijah.
2. A Godly Man
This ordinary man stands out not simply because of how he dressed, uncultured language skills, nor for his sheer physical presence. He stands out in a generation of rampant and unbridled ungodliness because of his godliness. He was a man of God, who lived up to his name, “my God is Yahweh” – a name which excludes all other gods. A name of which he was not ashamed though it must have stood out as a reminder to God’s enemies of their sin every time they thought, said or heard of this man.
To Elijah his name was not a mere convention. Listen to his testimony before the King as he speaks of the Lord the God of Israel: “…before whom I stand”. He saw himself as God’s servant, eagerly ready to do His bidding. He makes it clear from the outset his faith and commitment to God as primary, supreme, and controlling all that he is and does.
We see this attitude to God also in his comments to God in 1 Ki. 19:10, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” He was consumed with the glory of God, even when it looked as if he was alone in that concern, when it was both unpopular and dangerous to show that concern. The honour of His name meant more to him than anything else.
As news of what was happening in Israel came across the Jordan he became very jealous for the Lord of Hosts. This led to prayer – James 5.17a, “and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain”. In 1 Kings 17:1 it is said to include even the dew which in desert lands would normally still fall at night. It was to be a total dry.
How do we respond to this apparent harshness of this prayer? By noting that Elijah was clearly aware of Duet 11:16, 17 which declares that the lack of rain was part of God’s judicial curse upon an unfaithful Israel. If in the face of Israel’s religious and moral wickedness the threatened judgement was not executed, would it not appear that God was but a myth, a dead tradition? Would it not confirm what the priests of Baal taught, that God was dead.
Elijah’s declaration to King Ahab “As the Lord God of Israel lives..” served as a reminder of (1) their covenantal relationship with God, (2) that God is alive, and (3) that idols are lifeless!
Yes the measure taken was drastic but what are national reverses in comparison with the loss of God’s favour? The fact revealed here is that it is Elijah that had a true sense of values. To Him God and His honour must be first, and that without that nothing else matters.
He was a godly man. This ought not to distinguish him from us. What do people see of our spiritual calibre? We should speak and act as those who see God standing before us, being concerned for His honour, eagerly ready to serve Him.
3. A Courageous Man
The dilemma which this godly yet ordinary man must’ve faced! ‘What can I do?’ must have come up constantly in his mind. Confronted with such sinfulness he must’ve thought ‘Something must be done but I am only one!’ As he looked at the task of going to the king and rebuke him he must’ve thought ‘I don’t have the background, the experience – I won’t even get to the king for I am only a man of the wilderness, what can I do?’ Satan would’ve driven this home: ‘You can’t do it, you’re hopeless!’
But his concern for the honour of the Lord came first, and he took this love for the Lord to the natural, logical and consistent point of speaking to the very king responsible. A very daunting experience for anybody, especially for one who’s life was far removed from the life of court.
Where was the source of His courage and strength?
1. His prayer life – The thing that we should see here in the light of James 5:17 is that he didn’t pray for this after he had seen Ahab, but before When you compare 18:1 (“in the third year”) with James 5:17 (“3 years and 6 months”) then he was praying for upwards of 6 months before! James also tells us that he prayed “earnestly”, it was far from occasional or haphazard. Prayer in private was the source of his power in public. He could stand unabashed in the presence of the wicked king because he knew what it was to kneel in humility before the King of kings.
2. His knowledge of God – His declaration “As the Lord God of Israel lives” tells us that Elijah had a knowledge of God. On all sides open recognition of God had ceased but Elijah was not swayed by public opinion. He who knows God is strong and doesn’t fear men.
3. His consciousness of God’s presence – this is seen in the words “before whom I stand”. He was not only assured of God’s existence bit conscious of being in His presence. He saw himself as standing in the presence of God even as he stood before Ahab. If the Almighty was with him why should he tremble before a worm of the earth?
He was a courageous man, and here is the secret of his courage. Now this may distinguish him from us! But again it ought not. God “has not given us a spirit of timidity” said Paul to Timothy, but “a Spirit of power…”
It is so easy to see spiritual darkness and degradation… and say nothing, to say what can I possibly do? But that’s not the issue – it is but ‘What can God do?’ He can use the one as easily as the many. He uses the weak to confound the mighty of the world. We might find ourselves to be only one voice but what does that matter if God magnifies its power? So much can be done by one voice being courageous for God. Elijah was but one voice – but it was it was at least one, a voice that was lifted up out of a vital relationship with God that stirred up a passion for God – and what a difference it made. Let us follow the lead of Elijah in being “very jealous for the Lord God”. The stronger our relationship with God will we see more clearly not only what needs to be done, we will find the courage to do it.
God uses ordinary people who are people of faith and love Him being consumed with His honour, people who readily obey His Word and follow Him where He leads them. That is, a Christian – for that is what we are by the grace of God.