Great Bible Truths Podcast Episode 145

Lessons from their lives Talk 11 – Elijah

Welcome to talk 11 in our series, Lessons from their lives.

Today our subject is Elijah and we will be looking at a variety of verses from 1 Kings 17-19. We’ll be considering:

The times he lived in

The kind of person he was

The results of his obedience to God

A. The times he lived in

The times Elijah lived in, in many ways were similar to today:

The nation and its leadership were far from God

1 Kings 16:29-33.

30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.

31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him.

32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria.

33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.

Any who did serve the Lord felt very much alone (19:14)

I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.

But there were more worshippers of God than they realised (19:18)

Yet I have seven thousand in Israel – all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.

B. The kind of person he was

Elijah was just like us (James 5:17)

‘Elijah was a human being, even as we are’.

Why does James say this?

1 Kings 19:1-4 NIV

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets (of Baal) with the sword.

So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness.

He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

He was a man of prayer (James 5:17-18)

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

Notice first the simplicity of his prayer for fire from Heaven:

1 Kings 18:36-37

At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed:

Lord, the 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, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.

Notice too his motive for praying this:

so these people will know that you, Lord, are God

Notice finally his persistence in praying for rain

1 Kings 18:42-46

So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ” Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

He was a man of the Word

Notice what it says in Deuteronomy 11:16-17

16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.

17 Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you.

Had Elijah read this?

Did he receive revelation from the Scriptures (as he had them)

or direct from the Spirit but in harmony with the Bible?

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” (1 Kings 17:1)

James tells us that Elijah prayed that it would not rain.

1 Kings does not mention this.

Did he base his prayer on Deuteronomy 11?

Did he pray before or after his visit to Ahab?

Suggested order of events:

He is aware of Deuteronomy 11:16-17

He prays accordingly

He receives revelation as to what God will do

He acts upon it and goes to Ahab

This leads us naturally to our next point:

He was led by the Spirit

1 Kings 17:2-3

2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:

3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine,

17:8-9

8 Then the word of the LORD came to him:

9 “Go at once to Zarephath

18:1-15

1 After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”

2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria,

3 and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the LORD.

4 While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.)

5 Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.”

6 So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.

7 As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?”

8 “Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.'”

9 “What have I done wrong,” asked Obadiah, “that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death?

10 As surely as the LORD your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you.

11 But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’

12 I don’t know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the LORD since my youth.

13 Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water.

14 And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!”

15 Elijah said, “As the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.”

N.B.

Obadiah (12-14) sees the Spirit as totally random and unexpected

Elijah (15) ‘I will present myself’

– the Spirit works to principles

– the Spirit does not force himself on us

He was obedient

1 Kings 17:5

So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.

Then the word of the Lord came to him:
“Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.”
So he went…

1 After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.” 2 So Elijah went …

Note: In each of these passages, wherever God gives Elijah a command, it’s accompanied by a promise. (Cf. Matthew 28:19-21).

C. The results of his obedience

God provided for him

1 Kings 17:2-9

2.Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah:

“Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.
You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”
So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.
The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
Then the word of the Lord came to him:
“Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.”

ravens 17:6 God in the natural

widow 17:7 God in the supernatural

Notice:

God was in complete control – I have directed the ravens (4). I have directed a widow (9)
God met his needs, not necessarily his desires (bread and flesh, oil and flour) – monotonous diet!

He turned the situation around

18:30-39 We know the story well

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve 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, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large 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 around the altar and even filled the trench. At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “ Lord, the 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, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, 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 prostrate and cried, “The Lord —he is God! The Lord —he is God!”

Conclusion

Back to James 5:17 – just like us – we can do it!

But note the plural. God is not looking for a man, but for men and women.

We can turn situations around.

We must be people:

of prayer

of the word

led by the Spirit

obedient to God

God will provide for us

God will use us.