The Story Ch15: God's Messengers

Cold Open

Hey Dublin Powell youth its so great to study with you once again on this first day of the week! This week we are studying about the prophets Elijah and Elisha and their mission from the Lord to speak truth to the idol-worshipping kings of the northern kingdom of Israel. Today is Sunday, June 28th, let’s get into it!

Intro Videos

Intro

Alright, by this time you’ve likely attended our first services back in our building after being away for so long to support social distancing efforts and it is GREAT to see all of you again! We will be continuing our Sunday Bible class here on YouTube for the time being, and definitely continuing our study of the story. This week we pick up with our fractured kingdom of Israel and Judah. Israel is the northern kingdom and doesn’t have a single good king. Judah is the southern kingdom, including Jerusalem, and every so often they get a decent king but they’re... mostly bad too.

Prophet

So if you remember back when we went through the book of Judges, when Israel was really in trouble God appointed a judge to lead them out of sin and judgement. The problem in the book of Kings is, Israels leaders were the ones committing the most heinous sins and bringing judgement on the people! So now God uses a different office, prophets, to share His message with His people.

Unlike judges, prophets weren’t civil leaders, they were people who spoke on behalf of God to His people, that’s all. We have seen prophets several times before, Samuel who anointed Saul and David, and Nathan who called David on his sins after the murder of Uriah.

Now its time to meet a prophet named Elijah, a Tishbite, who served the Lord during the rule of the bumbling King Ahab and the wicked Queen Jezebel.

Hello Elijah

The first thing we see in this chapter is Elijah calling for a drought on the land of Israel

1 Kings 17:1 NIV

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.”

You see, idol worship was rampant in Israel and God wanted to get the attention of the people, so as Elijah said it did not rain for years. Of course, this didn’t make him very popular with the king. In the third year of the drought, God sends Elijah to King Ahab, who isn’t happy to see him.

Ahab, of course, blames Elijah for the troubles of Israel, but Elijah replies:

1 Kings 18:18–19 NIV

“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. 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.”

You see, Israel was waffling between worship Yahweh, and worshipping Baal, but Elijah wasn’t having any of it. Simply, there can’t be competing one God who claims to be the one true god and also lesser gods, or different gods, like Baal. So, Elijah reasoned, lets just find out which god is truly lord and put everything we have into worshipping that one!

Elijah dared the 450 prophets of Baal to get 2 bulls, and they would sacrifice one to Baal and one to Yahweh, but the trick was, they couldn’t light the bull themselves. They had to call upon the name of their god to light the fire for the sacrifice.

It was a pretty pathetic sight to see when the prophets of Baal tried to call down fire on their sacrifice.

1 Kings 18:26–29 NIV

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. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

Now, its humiliating enough for your god to leave you on read when you’re trying to make a public display of their power, it only got worse when it was Elijah’s turn.

Elijah carefully rebuilt the neglected alter of the Lord and sent for 4 large buckets of water to be poured over his bull, and then he asked for the buckets to be refilled and poured over the bull 2 more times!

So here’s Elijah at this simple alter with an absolutely drenched bull that would be difficult to sacrifice over a raging fire! At that time Elijah prayed:

1 Kings 18:36–38 NIV

At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” 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.

It was about at this point that the people who had gathered made up their minds about who was God. Elijah ordered the people to seize the prophets of Baal and the kill them all.

Now that the people had turned back to Yahweh and gotten rid of the evil prophets of Baal, Elijah went to the top of Mount Carmel, put his face down, and waited for rain. He sent his servant to check 7 times for signs of rain, and on the 7th time the servant reported a rain cloud was spotted, and the drought in Israel had ended.

However the trouble for Elijah wasn’t over, the evil queen Jezebel declared that she would kill him just as he had the prophets of her god Baal. Afraid for his life, Elijah ran and hid. Elijah was so scared and so exhausted that when he ran into the wilderness he sat down and prayed for God to end his life.

But Elijah laid down and slept, and when he awoke an angel appeared and provided him bread and water and then laid down again. When he woke up, again food was provided for him. Honestly this is one of the most overlooked passages in scripture for this simple reason: it affirms that sometimes, things feel tough. They feel so tough that you just want to give up! And in those times, its important to remember the spiritual power of a nap and a snack to return us to strength for our mission. There’s nothing wrong with feeling overwhelmed, there’s nothing wrong with taking a rest to get back on track!

Now that he’d had his nap and his snack, Elijah only needed one more thing to be ready to go out again in the Lord’s service, to encounter the power of the Lord.

1 Kings 19:11–18 NIV

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

And that’s actually where we’re going to stop this week. There’s a lot of work left for the prophets, and next week we will finish the chapter with Elisha.

Whats the point?

So what’s the point of the story of Elijah? Well first of all, there is only one God, Yahweh, and any other false god will eventually be exposed as a fraud.

Second, Elijah had it hard. As he said, he was the only one left standing up for God in Israel, and it took a toll on him. But his faith stayed strong in the Lord, and the Lord granted him rest and encouragement when he needed it. Don’t forget the 3 things Elijah needed to get back in the fight: sleep, snack, and the power of our Lord.

Now, we might not have the Lord pass by our mountain, but we can encounter Him here, in His story, and see all of the inconceivable, unlikely, impossible, wonderful things He has done for us! Gideon whittled his army down to 300 men and still decisively defeated the Midianites, Elijah had the bull doused in water 3 times and it was still totally consumed by the fire, Moses simply raised his staff and the sea itself pulled apart to allow the Israelites to cross. When the fight seems too tough, it’s good to remember who’s side you are on.

Conclusion

Let me pray for us before we go:

Lord we praise you for your powerful story. We pray that you will use each one of us to speak boldly in your name, of love and grace and peace that is overwhelming. We pray that when we are battered by the world and at the point of giving up that you will build us back up again, give us rest, give us our daily bread, and remind us of your awesome power, then send us back to work. Thank you so much for Jesus, Lord, it’s in His name we pray, amen.

Thanks for joining me again this week, can’t wait to study with you again next week. Grace and peace.