Elijah Fights Evil with Grace
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New Characters, New Situations, New Challenges
New Characters, New Situations, New Challenges
I want to back up a bit. We have some new characters to introduce. The first is ‘Odbadiah’
If you do a search in your concordance that is usually found at the back of your bible, you might find many ‘Obadiah’s’, The challenge then to find where this one falls in history.
There is a general consensus that character DID NOT write the book Obadiah. If there were one, this man would have had to lived or be wrote about from Genesis through 1 Kings and beyond. A span of about 700 years. Obadiah means something like “servant of God”
The next character is Jezebel
Jezebel was cohort of Ahab, his wife…probably the worst king in this time period may be of all time. Jezebel carried out much of the worst of the worst activities that Ahab desired. Most of those where in direct contradiction of Yahweh. The “Jezebel-type” is mentioned in the Book of Revelation. She is evil there too.
This was a bad time for followers of Yahweh. Much persecution and slavery.
Last week we learned that God is beginning to shift away from the Kings for his purposes and is now working alongside the Prophets. The Kings would just not respond to God and His direction for his creation.
Last week Elijah, the prophet withheld the rain as judgement against Ahab…to get Ahab’s attention.
Elijah...
Now I’d like to give mine up willingly...
Elijah...
1 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.”
1Kings
Now if we go forward to where we are this week we see Elijah again, at least 3 years later.
It’s really good to have confirmation from the New Testament of times from Old Testament
17 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.
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.”
Guess what…he went as Yahweh directed and God said the rains would came.
God makes a promise through the prophet and it comes through…every time, all the time.
Ahab was a nasty King, but his administrator was a follower of God.
2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria,
3 and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord.
1Kings 18.2
Even the depths of the Old Testament, God’s people served unrighteous Kings, unrighteous causes and sometimes, just sometimes some good came of it. That is not unlike our standing today in the world.
We as followers of God and Jesus live in a world that is not not just ignoring us, but actively working against us. Still there are many bright spots in our world where God is winning
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.)
1Kings
There was a remnant, even if it was just 100. There still exists a remnant today…one that is churches all around the world; hold firmly to what God is saying and has said.
This entire narrative in Chapter 18 explains the deep dispute between followers of Yahweh and followers of Baal
Let me put that into terms that we can understand.
Principle #1
The battle between good and evil has always existed. But good will eventually win.
This battle is currently being waged here, right here for the hearts and minds of people her at First Baptist, in Sunnyside, in Washington State, in the US and around the world.
Evil’s name was Baal this time. Baal was a collection of nature god’s. Sun, moon, stars, rain etc. But you see, Yahweh or God always wins in the end.
If you have fought “evil” it might seem that evil is triumphant over good… that is a valid observation.
I call it the “head shake coefficient.” We turn on the TV or open our browsers or even pick up a newspaper and everywhere we turn…evil.
And we “shake our heads.” and we pray and we stew and we fight and we argue.
But in the end God will win.
Let’s jump forward to v. 16-17
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu son of Hanani concerning Baasha:
2 “I lifted you up from the dust and appointed you ruler over my people Israel, but you followed the ways of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to sin and to arouse my anger by their sins.
3 So I am about to wipe out Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat.
4 Dogs will eat those belonging to Baasha who die in the city, and birds will feed on those who die in the country.”
5 As for the other events of Baasha’s reign, what he did and his achievements, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
6 Baasha rested with his ancestors and was buried in Tirzah. And Elah his son succeeded him as king.
7 Moreover, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani to Baasha and his house, because of all the evil he had done in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger by the things he did, becoming like the house of Jeroboam—and also because he destroyed it.
8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah two years.
9 Zimri, one of his officials, who had command of half his chariots, plotted against him. Elah was in Tirzah at the time, getting drunk in the home of Arza, the palace administrator at Tirzah.
10 Zimri came in, struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah. Then he succeeded him as king.
11 As soon as he began to reign and was seated on the throne, he killed off Baasha’s whole family. He did not spare a single male, whether relative or friend.
12 So Zimri destroyed the whole family of Baasha, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken against Baasha through the prophet Jehu—
13 because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, so that they aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by their worthless idols.
14 As for the other events of Elah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned in Tirzah seven days. The army was encamped near Gibbethon, a Philistine town.
16 When the Israelites in the camp heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and murdered him, they proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day there in the camp.
17 Then Omri and all the Israelites with him withdrew from Gibbethon and laid siege to Tirzah.
18 When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and set the palace on fire around him. So he died,
19 because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and following the ways of Jeroboam and committing the same sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.
20 As for the other events of Zimri’s reign, and the rebellion he carried out, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
21 Then the people of Israel were split into two factions; half supported Tibni son of Ginath for king, and the other half supported Omri.
22 But Omri’s followers proved stronger than those of Tibni son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri became king.
23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned twelve years, six of them in Tirzah.
24 He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city on the hill, calling it Samaria, after Shemer, the name of the former owner of the hill.
25 But Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord and sinned more than all those before him.
26 He followed completely the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, committing the same sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit, so that they aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by their worthless idols.
27 As for the other events of Omri’s reign, what he did and the things he achieved, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
28 Omri rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. And Ahab his son succeeded him as king.
29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years.
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 arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.
34 In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua son of Nun.
1 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.”
2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah:
3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.
4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”
5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.
6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him:
9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.”
10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?”
11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.
14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’ ”
15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.
16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.
17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing.
18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”
19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.
20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?”
21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”
22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived.
23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”
1Kings
1Kings 18
King Ahab, a follower of whatever god can meet his needs is calling Elijah the prophet, the very mouth piece of God… “a troubler”. The “troubler” is one who disturbs the well-being of the community by acting for self against healthy social relationships.
This is an interesting word that has few uses and only in the Old Testament. It’s essence is to disturb the status quo.
Walter Brueggemann, 1 & 2 Kings, ed. Samuel E. Balentine, Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Incorporated, 2000), 222.
This is an interesting word that has few uses and only in the Old Testament. It’s essence is to disturb the status quo.
You see Ahab thought that he had it all figured out, following Baal… He didn’t.
Principle #2
Followers of God will rarely be apart of the status quo
You heard me correctly. If you are a follower of God, His prophets, his Son Jesus. You will NOT be a “steady as you go,” let’s just live within the bounds that we have” kind of person.
co 16.13
13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.
Sometimes I feel like I’m a frog in a bucket of gradually boiling water. It’s getting hotter and I don’t even realize it.
Sometimes it is necessary to call out what is right and what is wrong
18 “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.
1Kings
let’s focus on the last part of that verse… “You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.”
What commands from God could Ahab possible be ignoring??? Well, let’s turn it around…what commands is he following. The list is quite small, probably non-existent.
As followers of Jesus our “yoke is easy—right” and his command is
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
That’s a “yoke” if I have ever heard one… [come on courtesy laugh at least]
Mark
That’s a “yoke” if I have ever heard one… [come on courtesy laugh at least]
Jesus summed 4000 years, the law and prophets in that statement
Principle #3
Respond to evil, injustice, godlessness and sin exactly the way that Jesus would want us to respond.
You see sometimes he cleared the temple of the moneychangers and condemned them for doing business in his Father’s House and other times as he told the woman at the well
John
11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
This is where the “rub” gets us. How do we know how to respond when all that we see around is injustice, unrighteousness and frankly sin.
This is really a personal decision. I’ll tell you how I want to respond, I don’t always respond like this but I want to
Acts
24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
My aim, our aim should not be to bury someone in the sin. They have already done that.
ἀγάπη
OUR aim is the bring them to redemption, by testifying about the “good news” the Gospel, the Gospel of Grace in our lives and how it can impact their life.
This takes all the power and energy that you can muster.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
This takes
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
This takes… love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. This takes work, this takes relationship, this takes prayer, this takes The Spirit, This takes God.
Ladies and gentleman, this is the Gospel. This is what Christ came and died for
Let’s wander back to
19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
Oh boy, this is where it gets good. Elijah is going to gather all of these prophets of Baal and slay every single one of them and PROVE that Yahweh is bigger and better than any one of them.
Not quite yet...
Get two bulls, cut them into pieces and put them on wood…but don’t set fire.
26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
Still no fire…Baal did not even show up.
Elijah took his bull poured water all over it three times
Here is what Elijah said
37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
Elijah’s desire, God’s desire for people is heart change
38 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.
1Kings 18
Principle #4
39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
1Kings
It is the heart cry of God from the beginning of time and will be until he returns. He wants to know and be known by us, His creation.
The prophets of Baal where destroyed, Elijah praised God and FINALLY it rained.