“Elijah on Mount Carmel” (Conclusion)

K. Adrian Scott

August 23, 2026

Review.

Elijah is the Lord’s 9th century prophet in Israel. The Israelites have taken their eyes from Yahweh, with whom they had enjoyed a long, storied history as the Lord God who made Himself known to Israel and instead have turned their eyes and their hearts toward spiritual wickedness. This spiritual wickedness was in Israel’s violation of the 1st of the great Commandments (“thou shall have no other Gods before me”) as the people had begun to worship and serve the idol god, Baal, the pagan god of rain and fertility. Wicked Ahab, now the king of Israel and Samaria has overseen the building of places of worship specifically for the worship of the false gods of Israel, Baal.

But Israel knew better, since they had firsthand experience with Yahweh, the God of Israel, who made Himself known to this present generation’s fathers and grandfathers and their mothers and grandmothers. It was this relationship with their God who then miraculously and mercifully delivered them out of the chilly grip of human bondage in Egypt and then made it possible for Yahweh’s people to cross the sometimes-tempestuous Red Sea. After crossing the Sea eternal God ushered the Israelites onto the deliverance side of the Sea, not even allowing their clothes to become wet, because God caused the ground to dry up under their feet!

Elijah’s tenure as prophet was tenuous, even dangerous, since he served simultaneously during the reign of King Ahab, who was 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 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 by the command of God, Elijah is to come out of hiding by the brook Cherith and go appear before King Ahab. It is in the preface of this chapter that we hear the clear voice of God say to the prophet - “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” (18. 1-2).

Most likely Elijah was terrified of the thought of appearing before the wicked King Ahabn since Ahab had blamed the Prophet for the three years of a hellish drought in Israel, since it had not rained during that entire span of time. In addition, Elijah was the last prophet alive since Jezebel, Ahab’s wife had the other one hundred prophets killed. But Elijah did as the Lord commanded anyway. Now, it is 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 perpetrators of evil as well as the righteous, the noble and the common man or woman, the Lord is compelled to exercise His patience and mercy. God determined to give grace to King Ahab by giving him another chance to repent and all Ahab has to do is acknowledge the Lord of Israel as the one, true God of the universe.

King Ahab had been looking in every place he was told Elijah was last seen, but when the king arrived, Elijah was already gone. Do we not 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).

After some discussion Obadiah is eventually convinced by Elijah to go back to his boss, Ahab, and tell him that he has found Elijah, and Elijah has promised he will be there this time since he is the one who requested to meet with the king. “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 finally meet, King Ahab is obviously angry, most likely very angry, and in verse 17 Ahab 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 Peter’s 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, going 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 whose idol god has inspired them to do unimaginable evil, with our great God of peace who has consistently revealed Himself in opposite ways of Baal. Yahweh God has manifested 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 to the one hundred holy prophets of the Lord they had murdered! Yes, it is true; the Lord extends mercy even to the undeserving, and King Ahab and Queen Jezebel certainly represent the underserving, However, not only are Ahab and Jezebel unworthy of God’s grace, but so are me and you among the undeserving.

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

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 made himself known to us 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 the first thing is in the form of a question; How committed are you to the Lord? Are you willing to stand alone when necessary; because at some point in your life you will have to take a stand for what you believe! I want to say a couple of things about this verse; 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’; make you look irrelevant, but that is not necessarily heaven’s point of view! The overwhelming number of false prophets was not an accurate indication that Baal is the true God! That was only Israelite’s opinion. Because Baal worship was popular did not make it right! No! A majority vote by the people is not what determines who the real God is! And may I remind you, if you are on the side of righteousness, and you look around and you only see yourself, alone, but God is with you, then friends, you are in the 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 narrow 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’ ?

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 or change Israel’s historic order of the worship of Yahweh. This practice of worshiping Yahweh can be traced back to the time of the ancient patriarchs like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Elijah did not change the order or the elements of Hebrew worship because he was in a desperate situation. Because the Prophet knew the only legitimate worship of God according to God’s Word says Elijah could not approach the altar and have access to God based on his own merit, because Elijah wasn’t worthy. And that truth translates to us too! We do not have the privilege of approaching the Lord’s throne of grace based on our moral or spiritual qualifications either! But real, authentic worship requires an act of humility and contrition, and that can only be accomplished by presenting to God some other pure and innocent life that symbolized Elijah has surrendered his own life, which is achieved by Elijah offering a sacrifice, an innocent life which took away the guilt and shame of the worshiper then died in his place. That kind of worship is the kind of worship the Lord loves and accepts.

Doesn’t that innocent bull that Elijah sacrificed remind us of another sacrifice that John the baptizer called the “lamb of God” (John 1.29) who is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ who has come into the world for one 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 that we might have peace with God the Father.

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.”

I want you to notice that the Baal worshipers used a lot of energy calling on their absent idol and it was to no avail! But Elijah did not have to tell or scream, run around or jump to get in touch wilt Jehovah God because you only must scream to an absent God! You only must run to chase a God that is absent. But Elijah had to do none of that because the Lord from Glory was listening all the time.

Jehovah was watching Elijah rebuild the fallen altar and knew what was going on. And all Elijah had to do was to have a revelation of who the true and living God is; have a relationship with that God, the God who sees and know; the same Lord who spoke the universe into existence and who by His Lordship sustains every form of life in His universe, including Elijah and everyone else who believes, then all Elijah had to do was exercise his faith in the Lord by speaking to the Lord.

Talk to Him, the God who is closer to us than the breath we breathe; more loving than a mother, wiser than a Counselor, more protective than our fathers and who stays closer to us than a brother or sister!

Pray to the Lord! Call on our God; He hears you!

Talk to Him; He will listen as our Counselor.

He is a Mediator when you are stuck!

He is the best Fire Marshall when we are stranded in our fiery trials!

Praise the Lord for what you have, and do not be afraid to ask Him for what you need; ask God for all of it! Do not leave anything out when you pray! Don’t shorten your blessings! And don’t quit before God is finished!

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 observe - “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 is to affirm the name or authority or power) of Almighty God and the worship of the true God, the Father of all, 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.”

Vv. 36-39; “When it was time for the evening offering, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and prayed: “O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are the true God and that you are winning back their allegiance.” 38 Then fire from the Lord fell from the sky. It consumed the offering, the wood, the stones, and the dirt, and licked up the water in the trench. 39When all the people saw this, they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said, “The Lord is the true God!

Why did the Lord answer Elijah’s prayer? Because the answer to Elijah’s prayer was not intended to give glory to Elijah; or make Elijah an object of worship like the worshipers of Baal. But Elijah’s prayer was answered because in response to Elijah’s prayer the glory would belong to God, to Yahweh, the God of Israel! The Lord said He would not share His glory with someone or something else.

The Proposition.

Who are you tempted to call on instead of Jesus?

Like the followers of Baal in our text, you can call on idols, dead things, that cannot help you, no matter how desperate you or I am.

We can call on Presidents Bush, Obama or Trump; you can call on the Supreme Court, or we can call on the Air Force, the Army, Navy, Marines; you can call on your aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, your mothers and grandmothers; your fathers and grandfathers, sons and daughters. But there is no one you can call and get the same results as calling on Jesus!

There was a song we used to sing years ago in my Pentecostal days that said, “When you call on Jesus, He will answer prayer.” And although the lyrics of the song were quite simple, it didn’t mean the song had no depth. Because I suppose the lyricist, the person who wrote that little ditty, was writing out of their fear or their pain or frustration, as they knew what it was like to stand on their own Mount Carmel and needed the Lord to help them in unwelcoming and unsupportive environments and alone and without any human support. So, they called on the only one they knew to call on – Jesus!

And I will tell you to follow Elijah’s example and do what you know to do, because it has worked for our great grandparents, our grandparents and our parents and even ourselves – “Call on Jesus, and He will answer prayer!”

If you are on your Mount Carmel, call on the name of the Lord!

If you want results, call Him!

If you need peace of mind, Pray for it!

If you want the victory, call on Jesus!

If you need help call out to Him, ‘Lord help me!’

If you want joy, then call Him!

The Close.

Are you worshiping and trusting the only true and living God?