ELIJA – FIRE FROM HEAVEN – PART 5
Last time we listened to Elijah’s appeal to the people:
1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word.
Elijah looks at the crowd in front of him. There is not one who reacted on his earnest appeal. He stretches his nect to see if some one at the foot of the mountain raised a hand.
The Elijah message gave people the exposure to choose between truth and error; between the God of heaven or the destable god Baal of the Phonecians and Sidonians.
End time Elijahs also give people the opportunity to make a choice. What is the choice?
What happens when I reject truth? Who else do I reject in the proses?
1 Kings 18:22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
To be part of the minority was not an issue with Elijah as long as he was the obedient.
Verses 23,24 Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. 24 Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”
Do you think this was a reasonable proposal? If Baal was the god of rain and storm it would not take much to send a lightning to bring fire.
Verses 25,26 Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.” 26 So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.
The priests of Baal fixes their altar. The wood was placed correctly; the bul was slaugtered and placed on top of the wood.
The heathen priests seem to brave but their guilty hearts are ful of feat.
I had the privilege of visiting a few of these heathen altars at places like Gezer, Hazor, Biblos and Petra.
When obelisks were erected nearby human sacrifices were practised
PERFORMANCE
Can you see these priests of Baal dancing around the altar?
The word for “dance” in its root means to jump up and down.
It was a ritual dance in which they eventually went into a state of selfhypnosis.
Their shrill cries echo and re-echo through the forests and the surrounding heights, as they call on the name of their god, saying, “O Baal, hear us.” The priests gather about their altar, and with leaping and writhing and screaming, with tearing of hair and cutting of flesh, they beseech their god to help them. {PK 149.2}
At times their were demonic powers which they hoped would light a fire.
Through the years i came acros these Canaanite deities. What a joke, a sad joke. The devil was making fools of these people.
THEATRICAL
Heathen religion was theatrical. It was a sensual religion of sound and feeling.
Verse 27 And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.”
TOILETS AT BETH SHEAN
Actually Elijah was telling them that if they cry a little louder, Baal may hear them because he sits on the toilet with his own thoughts.
When we replace God’s revealed will for us with manmade laws, we repeat the circus of Carmel.
How did the priests of Baal react to Elisha’s challenge?
Verses 28,29 So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. 29 And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.
Why does God forbade us to cut our bodies in Deuteronomy 14:1?
We are his property. He loves us and we are not allowed to cause unnecessary pain to ourselves.
STRANGE LANGUAGE
“They cried aloud”. What does that mean?
What happened to King Saul when he was controlled by an evil spirit?
1 Samuel 18:10 And it happened on the next day that the distressing spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house.
Some translations said he shouted like a maniac.
One commenatary said people work themselves up to a certain emotional level and then they begin speaking in an un intelligent sound and groaning.
On Carmel people got a picture of true and false religion. What happened there, is baie repeated today
Isaiah give us this serious warning:
Isaiah 8:19,20 And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
To the law and to the testimony!
This is the message Elijah proclaimed at Carmel
This is the message that Isaiah proclaimed at Jerusalem.
This is the message that John the Baptist preached.
This is the message that Jesus preached on the mount of Beatitudes.
This is the message that Paul preached
This is the message that John preached.
Dis die boodskap wat Johannes verkondig het.
This is the message that the remnant church will preach.
OBEDIENCE
My attitude towards the law of God?
Before we can proclaim the Elijah message we need His help to make us obedient children.
REPAIR OF THE ALTAR
Verses 29,30 And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.
The sun is sinking in the west. The priests of Baal who even curse the sungod, is exhausted and their voices hoarse.
Suddenly there is silence. The tired confused priests are quiet.
The crowd got sick and tired of the demonic manifestations of the priests.
Now they wait for Eliajah to see the greatest manifestation of truth on the Carmel
REPAIRING THE ALTAR
Elijah opens his arms and invite the people to come to him. In spite of the fear they sloly walks closer to the prophet.
An elderly man remembers how God’s priests of long sacrifed a lamb upon the altar.
He still remembers how the priest explained how the sacrificial lamb pointed to a coming Messiah who would one day come and die for the sins of the world.
It is quite likely that Elijah repeated the message of the altar to the people.
“My dear people. The only gift that God would accept is the lamb. He does not accept the demonstration of theatrics that you saw today.
“The only sacrifice that God accepts is that of the coming Messiah as represented by the sacrifial offering. It is not my performance that impresses Him but only that of the Messiah.”
Verses 30-33 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” 32 Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs (30 liters)of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.
While Elijah restores the broken altar he explains:
“Apostate church of God. As this altar fell into misuse, so you too had backislidden and useless.
“But just as I am restoring the altar of the Lord, so He wants to restore your broken relationship with Him.”
MORNING AND EVENING SACRIFICES
The “burnt offerings” of the morning and evening were symbols of gratitude and consegration.
They symbolized continual surrender, worship and dedication of the people of God.
The sinner had to receive God’s forgiveness at the altar.
RESTORATION OF THE ALTAR
The Elijah message on Carmel was more than the restoration of a physical altar of the Lord. It was also a call to Israel to come and serve God with a total dedication.
The Elijah message appeals to families and individuals to restore the home altar of devotion. We are called to do this mornings and evenings.
Someone asks Eljah why the bul as sacrifice? Again he explains that the sinner is saved because someone else will one day die in their place.
The Elijah message says we are saved by faith in Jesus without human effort.
Verse 33-35 And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” 34 Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. 35 So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.
The dignified and calm manner in which Eliajah performs his religious duties, stands in contrast to the hysterical shows, screams and jumping of the priests of Baal.
Elijah reminds them that the drought is the cause of their apostacy from the Lord
He calls them to return to God so that curse of drought could come to an end.
Whatch him as he kneels revently before the God of Israel. With his uplifted hands he prays a very simple prayer.
It seems as if the Lord is present and eager to listen to his prayer.
Verse 36,37 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “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. 37 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.”
Kan you see him on his knees in front of the altar? What a moment. This is still what the Elijah message wants to accomplish in our lives.
Elijah had a burden for saving people. This will also be the burden of end time Elijahs.
THE FIRE
Verse 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.
No sooner is the prayer of Elijah ended than flames of fire, like brilliant flashes of lightning, descend from heaven upon the upreared altar, consuming the sacrifice, licking up the water in the trench, and consuming even the stones of the altar. The brilliancy of the blaze illumines the mountain and dazzles the eyes of the multitude.
In the valleys below, where many are watching in anxious suspense the movements of those above, the descent of fire is clearly seen, and all are amazed at the sight. It resembles the pillar of fire which at the Red Sea separated the children of Israel from the Egyptian host. {PK 152.4}
The people coould bear the the heavenly glory no longer. They fall down and worship God.
Verse 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”
This is the marvellous result of the Elijah message. They fall down in and worship the One who alone can give life.
The Elijah message calls us to get rid of idols in our lives. The message calls you and me to come and fall down in consecration before God.
What is your answer, what is mine?