Revive Us Again

1 Kings 18:30-40 ESV

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name,” 32 and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” 34 And 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 And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water. 36 And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” 40 And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

There is a certain hymn that I had thought about all throughout my preparation for this series of sermons, particularly this final sermon in our series. That hymn is an all-time favorite of mine, called, “Revive Us Again”.

The final verse of that hymn and the accompanying chorus, goes as follows: “Revive us again; fill each heart with Thy love. May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Hallelujah! Amen! Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Revive us again.”

“May each soul be rekindled with fire from above…” I don’t think that there can be any other words that can be more applicable to the reading of this final sermon in our series this morning.

As we come to our reading for today, we need to be reminded just a little bit about what had taken place prior to what is written here.

Elijah had issued a challenge to King Ahab of Israel to summon all 450 prophets of Baal that were in the land to a showdown atop Mount Carmel. The challenge consisted of both he and they cutting up a bull, placing the flayed pieces of that bull upon their respective altars, and then calling upon God using the names, the identities in which they recognized God.

The Baal prophets would of course, call upon the name of Baal, while Elijah would call upon the name of the Lord, more personally known as Yahweh. Whichever name God responded to by raining fire from heaven to consume the offering would be known by all as the one true God.

Well, after the Baal prophets had raved on and on all day long, from early morning until around 3pm with no answer to their pleas, it was finally Elijah’s turn.

As we look to the beginning our reading, there in verse thirty, we see that Elijah calls “all the people”, all those influential ones who had been gathered on the mountaintop, who were so indecisive about Who they would follow as the one true God, and as he calls them, he tells them “come near to me”, indicating that he tells the people to divert their attention from the failed attempts of the Baal prophets so that they may view his attempt at calling upon the name of the Lord.

Then once the people had came near him to see how his attempt would fair, we read that Elijah “repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down”.

So, this tells us that at some point there had indeed been an altar of the Lord on Carmel, but in time, King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel had it “thrown down” as they attempted to completely rid Israel of the orthodox faith.

And while Baal along with his prophets had proven themselves to be impotent, powerless, these same Baal prophets, the king, the queen, and all the people who thought that Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel was dead and had been exterminated from the land, they were about to see that He is very much alive. And the rebuilding of His altar begins to display that glorious fact.

As we then go on to look at verses thirty-one and thirty-two, we read of the construction of this altar with Elijah taking “twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name,””.

This use of twelve stones served as a reminder to Israel of who they were and who God made them to be. “Israel” means one who has strove with God, been overcome by God, is now ruled by God, and who God sets apart to rule with God. Indeed, this was accomplished so that the people may observe and ask themselves “What are we doing with Baal? We are the Lord’speople!” And so, Elijah built an altar “in the name of the Lord” that is, by the authority of the Lord and approved for the worship of the Lord.

Now, these acts were typical acts when building an altar, but as we continue on here in verse thirty-two, we see an unusual act when we read that Elijah had “made a trench about the altar”.

Now, the reason why that act is unusual when building an altar is because trenches are made for holding water, and of course, water was not a typical element in making sacrifices.

And what makes it even more unusual is the size of the trench as the author tells us that the trench could hold up to “two seahs of seed”, which indicates that it could hold up to sixteen gallons of water. The large measurement which the trench could hold shows that Elijah intended for every drop of water which will be poured upon the altar to be caught in the trench.

As we now move on to verses thirty-three to thirty-five, we see that after digging the trench, Elijah initially proceeded in the typical manner of preparing sacrifices, putting the wood in order, cutting the bull that had been chosen for him into flayed pieces, and laying those flayed pieces on the wood.

But then Elijah did something that most certainly was not typical when he commanded all the people near him to fill four jars with water and to do so three times. Again, we see the symbolism in the number mentioned here, four jars times three; twelve jarfuls of water, symbolizing again the twelve tribes of Israel, reminding the people that they are claimed by and belong to God.

But what is most shocking about this is how Elijah told those who gathered this water in the jars to pour the water on the flayed pieces of bull and on the wood to such an extent that not only was it wet, but it was so soaked that the excess water fell into and filled the trench that surrounded the altar.

As we then move on to verses thirty-six and thirty-seven, we read that what follows took place “at the time of the offering of the oblation”. Now, if we remember what we read last week, we know that the Baal prophets ceased their attempts “at the time of the offering of the oblation”. So, that’s important to know because it shows us that while the Baal prophets labored all day long but to no avail, that which Elijah does here and the answer that he receives comes very quickly, as soon as he calls upon the name of the Lord.

And so, as Elijah comes near to the altar as priest, he offers a prayer. And the first, and most important thing that Elijah asks for in his prayer is when he says, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel”.

Now, we need to remember that the challenge here between Elijah and the Baal prophets is to see by which name God would answer. And so, as he begins his prayer, he publicly addresses his prayer to “the Lord” “Yahweh”, the name of God.

Now, names today certainly have meaning attached them, but in ancient times they had a whole lot more meaning to them. A name described the attributes and the character of a person, indeed, most generally, when the scriptures speak of “the name of God” or “the name of the Lord”, what is being spoken of is the general summation of God. And here, God is rightly identified and called upon as “the Lord” or, “Yahweh”.

This is the personal name of Israel’s covenant God and thus, calling on God using this name, His personal name is indeed the only appropriate name to call Him by.

And this is all the more appropriate as Elijah identifies Yahweh, Israel’s covenant God as the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel”, as we are reminded here of the consistent declaration of God, that He blesses Israel, not because of their impressive nature, but because of the covenant that He had made with their fathers, the Patriarchs.

And so, as Elijah identifies the Lord as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, he implores the Lord to remember the covenant that He had made with the Patriarchs by “let(ting) it be (made) known that (day that He is still) God in Israel.”

The people had been faithless and adulterous, they had thoroughly abandoned Yahweh, and therefore, not for this people’s sake, but for the sake of His promise to the Patriarchs does Elijah plead with Yahweh to make it publicly known to all in Israel that He still reigns and rules over Israel.

And Elijah prays also that in answering his prayer, God would cause the people to see that he is but the servant of the Lord, doing only what God has commanded.

And lastly, Elijah prays that the Lord would answer his prayer by sending fire so that “this people may know that You, O Lord, are God,and that you have turned their hearts back.”

And so, as Elijah closes this prayer, he asks not only that the people would know that Yahweh truly is God, but that they would also know that they know that Yahweh is God because Yahweh Himself has powerfully worked in their hearts and minds and has caused them to recognize Him as the one true God.

We may say, “that is a lot to ask” and “for all of that to happen, it’s going to take quite a bit”, but that’s no problem for the Lord, as, when looking at verse thirty-eight, we see the immediate effect of the prayer offered by Elijah as the Lord answered by raining down fire.

Indeed, that this fire descended proves that it came from God. Any man could light the wood and the fire would ascend, but that it descended, came down, it proves that this fire was a supernatural fire which came from God in heaven.

And we are then given even more proof of the supernatural element of this fire as we read that the fire which fell from heaven “consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench”.

Even the stones, the dust was consumed by the fire. But even more amazingly, the water in the big trench was “licked up”, consumed as though it was never there.

How did the people react to all of this? verse thirty-nine tells us that these same people who had been so indecisive at the beginning of this narrative now fell on their faces in holy awe, proclaiming, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God!” they professed that Yahweh is indeed God and therefore it is He alone Who should worshipped. Indeed, they were indecisive no more!

But that’s not all, for now that the people made their confession, they needed to prove their conviction by ridding the land of the spiritual filth. Elijah commanded the people to seize the prophets of Baal to such a degree that not one of them would escape, effectively breaking their allegiance to Baal and his worshippers.

And this was accomplished as the people seized the Baal prophets, brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slaughtered them as the Law of God commands to be done to false prophets, throwing their slain bodies into the brook, which flowed into the Mediterranean Sea.

And as their bodies flowed into the sea, they disappeared and were forgotten… this is the inevitable outcome of every enemy of God.

Beloved, may we, like the prophet, look to the heavens and plead with the most high God to revive us again!

Amen?