“Elijah on Mount Carmel” (Part 2)

K. Adrian Scott

August 23, 2026

Review.

Elijah is a 9th century prophet of the Lord in Israel whose people in the eyes of God have turned to evil, as they have now begun to worship and serve the idol god, Baal, the pagan God of rain and fertility. There have also been places of worship that were built by Ahab, the king of Israel and Samaria, for the explicit purpose of worshiping not only this false god, Baal.

Israel knows better, since they had firsthand experience with the Yahweh, the God of Israel, who miraculously and mercifully delivered Israel out of chilly grip of slavery in Egypt. The God of Israel’s fathers and mothers, Yahweh, made it possible for Yahweh’s people Israel to cross the sometimes-tempestuous Red Sea, and while doing so, God delivered Israel on the deliverance side of the Sea even without their clothes getting wet because God caused them to cross over on dry ground!

Elijah’s tenure as prophet was tenuous, even dangerous, since he served simultaneously during the reign of King Ahab, one of the most notorious and wicked kings in Israel’s history. And not only is King Ahab wicked, but he marries a woman by the name of Jezebel who is at least equally wicked, if not more so. Because it was Queen Jezebel who had recently ordered the murder of one hundred of the Lord’s prophets in a failed attempt to silence the Word of God.

According to our text, it was in the third year of the drought that upon the command of God, Elijah is to come out of hiding and go appear before King Ahab - “Go, make an appearance before Ahab, so I may send rain on the surface of the ground. 2So Elijah went to make an appearance before Ahab.”

Most likely Elijah was not excited about his new assignment since King Ahab had blamed Elijah for the three years of hell on earth in Israel, since it had not rained during that entire span of time. But Elijah went anyway. In this verse we see the common grace of God in action where out of the abundance of God’s love for the world, including the perpetrators of evil, the Lord is compelled to exercise His patience and mercy. God gives grace to King Ahab in the form of another chance, and all he has to do is acknowledge the Lord of Israel as the one, true God of the universe.

King Ahab had been looking for Elijah in every place it was reported that Elijah was seen, but each time King Ahab responds and goes to the place where Elijah was last seen, when the king arrived Elijah was already gone. Don’t you see here the protection of the Lord upon Elijah’s life. Friends, may I say that while Satan is plotting against us, the Lord has already planned our escape!

v. 7; “As Obadiah was traveling along, Elijah met him. When he recognized him, he fell facedown to the ground and said, “Is it really you, my master, Elijah?” 8 He replied, “Yes, go and say to your master, ‘Elijah is back” (NET Bible).

Obadiah is eventually convinced by Elijah to go back to his boss, Ahab, and tell him that he has found Elijah, and Elijah wants to meet with him. “As certainly as the Lord of Heaven’s Armies lives (whom I serve), I will make an appearance before him today” (v. 15).

When King Ahab and the prophet Elijah meet, King Ahab is obviously angry and in verse 17 he calls the prophet a troublemaker -

v. 17; “When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, ‘Is it really you, the one who brings disaster on Israel?”

v. 18; And Elijah the Prophet responds by saying, “Elijah replied, “I have not brought disaster on Israel. But you and your father’s dynasty have, by abandoning the Lord’s commandments and following the Baals.”

Preaching Point.

I would imagine Elijah is wondering, ‘why me? Why does trouble always seem to find me when all I am trying to do is be obediently faithful to God’s Word. I loved it when I was living by the brook Cherith, and no one bothered me, and I could be alone with my thoughts. I didn’t ask for this fight, but God called me and I had to answer. Why does life have to be so difficult, and why all this pain?’ Maybe Elijah the Prophet said something like what Peter said in his worst days, ‘I am going fishing.’

Question. When the pressures of life seem to relentlessly come down on you, do you ever feel like walking away and going fishing, or shopping, or leaving for vacation?

Telling the Story – The Text.

v. 19; “Now send out messengers and assemble all Israel before me at Mount Carmel, as well as the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah whom Jezebel supports.”

Vv. 20-21; “Ahab sent messengers to all the Israelites and had the prophets assembled at Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long are you going to be paralyzed by indecision? If the Lord is the true God, then follow him, but if Baal is, follow him!” But the people did not say a word.”

Preaching Point.

Note, there is no compatibility between the worship of the false idol, Baal, and the worship, adoration and service to the eternal Creator and sustainer of the Universe, Jehovah. It is impossible to marry the idols of King Ahab and Jezebel’s religion who has inspired them to do unimaginable evil, with our great God of peace who has consistently revealed Himself in opposite ways of Baal by manifesting Himself in mercy while clothing Himself in genuine love. The LORD is giving King Ahab another chance to repent, but take notice, Ahab nor his wife, Jezebel showed any mercy when she had one hundred holy and godly prophets of the Lord murdered! Yes, it is true; the Lord extends mercy even to the undeserving, and King Ahab and Queen Jezebel represent the underserving, but so do me and you.

Our text tells us the people of Israel were confused, ambiguous and confused to the point where the prophet Elijah asks, “How long are you going to be paralyzed by indecision” (v. 21a)?

Question: Which God do you want to serve? Is there something or someone that is stopping you from committing yourself to the God who has manifested himself to you in love?

v. 22; “Elijah said to them: “I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but there are 450 prophets of Baal.”

Preaching Point.

One hundred other prophets have been murdered, and Elijah is the only one left. There are two things I want to say about verse 22 and one of them is a question; How committed are you to the Lord? Are you willing to stand alone if necessary; because at some point in your life you will have to take a stand alone. The statement I want to make about this verse is this; The popularity of the false cult that was represented by eight hundred and fifty ‘paid for’ or ‘bought’ prophets of Baal. One against 850! Sometimes people will try to make you look small or ‘less than’ but that is not necessarily God’s opinion! The overwhelming number of false prophets was not an accurate indication that Baal is the true God! No! A popular majority vote by the people regarding who is the real God is certainly not what affirms or certifies that Baal is the real God, or Yahweh is truly God! If you are on the side of righteousness, you and God have a majority.

Speaking of what numbers may or may not indicate, listen to what Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14How arrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7. 13-14). Now, would you want to be among the ‘many’ Jesus referred to or the ‘few’ He referred to?

Vv. 23-24; “Let them bring us two bulls. Let them choose one of the bulls for themselves, cut it up into pieces, and place it on the wood. But they must not set it on fire. I will do the same to the other bull and place it on the wood. But I will not set it on fire. 24 Then you will invoke the name of your god, and I will invoke the name of the Lord. The god who responds with fire will demonstrate that he is the true God. true God. All the people responded, ‘This will be a fair test.”

Notice Elijah did not compromise and change Israel’s historic practice of worship of Yahweh that can be traced back to the time of the ancient patriarchs like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Elijah did not change anything because the Prophet knew the only legitimate worship of God said he could not approach the altar and have access to God based on his own merit, because Elijah wasn’t worthy. But real, authentic worship requires an act of humility and contrition, and that can only be done by presenting to God some other innocent life that symbolized he has surrendered his own life or will symbolically, and that was only achieved by offering a sacrifice, something innocent dying in his place.

Doesn’t that innocent sacrifice remind us of the John the baptizer called the “lamb of God” who is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ who has come into the world for one particular purpose, and that was to take my place and your place on a killing tree and subsequently die an innocent man in place of guilty people.

Vv. 25-29; “Elijah told the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls for yourselves and go first, for you are the majority. Invoke the name of your god, but do not light a fire.” 26 So they took a bull, as he had suggested, and prepared it. They invoked the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “Baal, answer us.” But there was no sound and no answer. They jumped around on the altar they had made. 27 At noon Elijah mocked them, “Yell louder! After all, he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or perhaps he stepped out for a moment or has taken a trip. Perhaps he is sleeping and needs to be awakened.” 28 So they yelled louder and, in accordance with their prescribed ritual, mutilated themselves with swords and spears until their bodies were covered with blood. 29 Throughout the afternoon they were in an ecstatic frenzy, but there was no sound, no answer, and no response.”

Preaching Point.

Now notice that the fake religion that worshiped idols observed the same elements in the worship of the god that Elijah, the worshiper of the One true God, Jehovah would do - “So, they took a bull, … and prepared it. They invoked the name of Baal from morning until noon, …” (v. 26).

Satan can attempt to imitate genuine Christian worship, but he cannot duplicate authentic worship of eternal God, because legitimate worship and praise of our God is to affirm the name or authority or power) of Almighty God and must be done in the name of the Lord. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bondservant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death; death on a cross. For this reason, also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2. 5-11).

Worship that is conducted in any other name other than the name or authority of Jesus Christ is worship that God the Father will not accept!

To worship in some other name means you have robbed the Lord Jesus of the glory that only belongs to Him! John 10.9 says, “I am the door: by me if any man enters in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.”

The Close.

Are you worshiping the only true and living God?