1 Kings 18 Showdown in the Street

1 Kings 18

Showdown in the Streets

Intro: The Wild west was really Wild. there was quite a bit of embellishment to the people and the events, but once you get into the actual history, much of it is quite true. It was a place where there wasn’t much law and people were living as they pleased because that was the type of personality it took to live on the edge of America before there was civilization as the European culture understands it. One place was Dodge City, Kansas. One Kansas Newspaper in th e1870s described the town this way, “Kansas has but one Dodge City, with a broad expanse of territory sufficiently vast for an empire; we have only room for one Dodge City; Dodge, a synonym for all that is wild, reckless, and violent; Hell on the Plains.”

When regular citizens began moving to the cities and towns and setting up business, and homes, and churches, that the Lawmen come into the picture because the rowdy cowboys, who lived to drink, gamble, and carouse, could not coexist with polite society, or at the very least the cowboys and outlaws had to be brought down to a place to cool off and sober up for a while.

Read Verses: 1 Kings 18:1-16

Main Point: Following God Means You May have to Fight the World for Your Beliefs

I. The Showdown is Arranged (1-16)

Three years have passed since chapter 17 and chapter 18. The land is dry and King Ahab himself is out searching for water to keep his herds of horses and mules alive. Ahab went in one direction and sent his trusted servant Obadiah in the other direction. While Obadiah is out scouring the land for water, he meets Elijah.This is not by chance,

God has called Elijah out of hiding. He tells Elijah in verse 1, Go show yourself. Three years prior God told Elijah to Hide himself. Here is the command that It is now Elijah's time to do something.

Elijah and Obadiah are both Followers of Yahweh. Obadiah even hid 100 prophets of Yahweh from the hand of Jezebel. But yet, somehow Obadiah was still trusted by Ahab. He was living in two worlds or serving two masters, when he met Elijah. Elijah wants Obadiah to go and tell Ahab to meet him wherever he is at.

This is a scene in a lot of westerns. The antagonist, or the bad guy or guys, terrorizes a town or homestead unit someone can't take it anymore, usually, like the magnificent 7, they towns people collect enough money to hire a trained gunfighter or a team of them to fight back. And the hero catches one of the low level henchmen and they are allowed to live and the good guys says deliver a message to your boss, “Tell your boss to meet me in town or to leave town.

In our story, Elijah says to Obadiah go and tel your lord Behold Elijah is here. Ahab a has sent the last three years looking for Elijah and now Obadiah doesn’t want him to just disappear again and then Obadiah would get in trouble and probably killed.

Elijah had commanded Obadiah (v. 8) to say to Ahab הנה אליהו, ‘Behold, Elijah’, and Obadiah twice repeated these two words (vv. 11, 14) as his understanding of what Elijah had commanded him to say. While these two words may initially seem innocuous, they carry a double meaning, since הנה אליהו can also mean, ‘Behold, my God is Yahweh’. Understood in this way, the words Elijah asks Obadiah to speak to Ahab would be a direct confession of Obadiah’s allegiance to Yahweh.

Elijah is forcing Obadiah to choose a side. Elijah had already chosen his. Obadiah delivers the message and Ahab shows up.

II. The Streets are Cleared (17-26)

The two main human characters meet. If this were a western, you could see this happening in a saloon ad when Ahab walks in, and says to Elijah it is you, you troubler of Israel.

You can hear the chairs slide across the wood floors with the screeching and scuffing and people leave or move to the sides of the room. Watching and waiting; the gunslinger and the sheriff to see what happens next.

Elijah places the blame of who the troubler of Israel is; it is Ahab. He has led the people astray and let false gods come into the country. Basically he has let another woman into the covenant between God and Israel.

Elijah instructs Ahab to bring 950 prophets to Mt. Carmel.

Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson of Dodge City and Tombstone fame, were known for successfully arresting rowdy cowboys and criminals. They brought them in alive more often than not, they did it because they were known to be fast draws, but also they wold buffalo people or hit them over the head with the barrel of their pistol on the perpetrator.

Imagine standing there in a saloon or on the street with known criminals and you are close enough to hit them and also be shot very quickly. It seemed their reputation kept them out of a lot of bad situations. Bat Masterson was Dodge’s favorite, a calm, well-dressed, blue-eyed man, an artist with a Colt 45 and a veteran buffalo hunter.

Imagine having Masterson and Earp as Deacons of the church.

Elijah may have had that same confidence and demeanor. Here he is standing up to the man who has hunted him for three years . He is not blinking and he challenged him to a duel. Elijah’s God against Ahab’s God.

But Elijah gives another challenge to the people surrounding the scene. In verse 21, He asks, How Long will you go limping or really, wavering, between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” and the people did not answer him a word.

The people were given a choice; essentially be lawful and follow Yahweh or become outlaws in God’s eyes. But the people and their lack of faith in their Ancestral deity want to see who wins the gunfight.

So the people clear the street, but you know they are peering out from their hiding places and out from behind the curtains as they watch the two men get ready to square off.

III. The Showdown (27-39)

The 950 prophets show up to Mt. Carmel and then they construct altars and kill bulls and the first god to catch everything on fire is truly the real God.

Elijah reminds them that he is the last prophet of Yahweh. It is 950 to 1 odds that Elijah will lose the fight. This idea of death pervades the story line, like Baal has already won if you go from a numbers standpoint. He has more followers, he must be the better/real god.

But the reader knows better. Hopefully we as Christians know better as well.

Elijah gives them the rules in verse 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The God who answers with fire, he is God.”

All the people answered, “That’s fine.”

25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Since you are so numerous, choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first. Then call on the name of your god but don’t light the fire.”

But the Prophets of Baal pray and pray and they limp around the altar. The word is used again.

You can almost picture it as the time from morning to noon went on, and the praying and calling out kept going, maybe they were slowing down, they were probably tired, but you can get the picture that they are losing enthusiasm as well as energy. They seem to be wavering. Like maybe they did choose the wrong god. Elijah successfully commanded them to do all of these things, and yet they cannot command or at least get their god to answer their prayers and pleas.

Wyatt Earp is quoted as saying Take your time. It's important to draw fast and get off the first shot, but it's much more important to have your bullet go where you want it to go.”

He puts it another way that is fitting for the story here, “Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything. In a gunfight, you need to take your time in a hurry.”

So Elijah makes a few jokes about Baal being in the bathroom, or maybe he's out playing a game or he is out on a journey and didn’t take his cell phone or pager or he is just asleep.

But then he gets to work. He rebuilds the altar, placing 12 stones for each tribe of Israel and he waters everything down. He gets everything good and wet so it would look like it would be impossible to light on fire.

And then he fires one good shot right where he was aiming at.

Verse 36-39 At the time for offering the evening sacrifice, the prophet Elijah approached the altar and said, “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that you are God in Israel and I am your servant, and that at your word I have done all these things. 37 Answer me, Lord! Answer me so that this people will know that you, the Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back.”

38 Then the Lord’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell facedown and said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

Because it is not Elijah that started the fire, it is Yahweh. The Lord. He is the Mighty Hero that commands death and as we will see in the next section the weather as well.

He is the one that Turns the peoples hearts back toward Him. The people don’t just choose to follow Yahweh because he won. They finally realize who God is and How powerful he is. It is a complete reversal from Verse 21.

And so it seems the people are not wavering anymore.

IV. The Rain Cleans the Streets (40-46)

Elijah has the people seize and kill the prophets of baal. They were apostates and outsiders who had defiled Israel. Elijah slays them all at the Brook Kishon.

After that Elijah Sends Ahab up to the top of the mountain to watch the rain clouds come in. God opens the water valves and it starts poring. It seems that way so He warns Ahab to get going before his chariot gets stuck in the mud. and so they race to Jezreel.

From Carmel to Horeb: Elijah in Crisis E. Scene 5: ‘There Was a Great Rain’—1 Kings 18:41–46

Everyone in Palestine will now benefit from his power as the God of life. It can hardly be doubted that in Canaanite mythology the most decisive expression of the power of Mot, death, came through the periodic droughts caused by Mot’s ability to slay the storm god Baal. Yahweh’s sending of the rains thus decisively demonstrates that in this key area of Mot’s supposed power, Yahweh, not death, reigns supreme. Death cannot prevent Yahweh from sending rain.

The day has been won. Elijah's actions are something for us to emulate and apply to our lives.

Application:

1) Stand Ready

Elijah waited for three years for God to tell him what to do. Elijah stood ready to Obey God.

1 Peter 3:15 ESV

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Proverbs 22:3 ESV

The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

Colossians 4:2 ESV

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

Matthew 24:44 ESV

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

In warning people about the end times and his Second Coming, Jesus tells the people to always be ready. How do you get ready. Confessing your sins to God, accepting Jesus as your savior and then obeying God until he comes or you pass away and meet him in heaven in your spirit.

2) Stand Firm

I did some digging and found out that archaeological evidence suggests that during Ahab's rule, Israel prospered. Extra Biblical They have found evidence of massive building projects, in Samaria Megiddo and Jezreel. His builders came up with new construction methods, and the matching biblical description in 1 kings 22 of Ahab’s palace decorated with ivory. Ahab’s father started a lot of these projects and wealth. So the society was progressive and part of that progressive ness was making new deals with outside countries like Canaan and to start worshipping their Gods.

But Elijah stood firm with Yahweh when Ahab and Jezebel tried to purge the ;and of all the worshippers of God. Obadiah tried to hide 100 of them to make sure the religion still lived.

But Elijah was seemingly the last one. But there he stood on the mountain top. Against 950 prophets and he called on God to answer His prayer, because he trusted God’s word.

1 Peter 5:9

"But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world."

1 Corinthians 15:58

"Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord."

1 Corinthians 16:13

"Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong."

3) Stand Tall

One of the things that strikes people about wyatt earp and bat masterson was their height. EAr was 6 foot tall when the average height was about 5’6.” Masterson was reportedly 5’8” They stood taller than others. It was the way they carried themselves. They had seen trouble, made trouble, and stopped trouble.

Elijah seems to stand taller than everyone else. He commands the crowd and the prophets with ease. He commands King Ahab. People listened to him. Why, Because he was exuding confidence in Yahweh, even though he was the only prophet left.

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Proverbs 14:26 ESV

In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.

Romans 15:13 ESV

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 13:6 ESV

So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Conclusion

We do not have to be timid Christians. We can be bold Christians living our life confidently and obediently for the Lord. That means there will be challenges and fights for our ability to worship Him. And we will not always be popular. The people will want to move away from God in the name of progress. It has happened in the enlightenment era, and the postmodern and post christian society we find ourselves in.

But we can take heart that we do not fight alone. There is a cloud of witnesses before us watching over us and more importantly God fights the ultimate battle. He is moving the pieces in the war. He has already fought and defeated death and with him, we will have our eternal reward.

God is before us destroying the enemy.God will call all of his people home at some point and the justice will be done.

Just as in Dodge City, people like Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson are famous. But there was also a brave number of people who started four churches in Dodge city in the early days and they did just like Elijah and stood fast, stood firm and stood tall in the e Lord as he worked in that cowtown.

The baptist Pastor N.G. Collins and The Presbyterian minister Ormond Wright are the only two names I could find listed. But the newspaper records "The wicked city of Dodge can at last boast of a Christian organization, a Presbyterian Church. It was organized last Sunday a week. We would have mentioned the matter last week but we thought it best to break the news gently to the outside world." These churches were reaching the lost souls of gamblers, prostitutes, cowboys and business people and housewives alike. Because they are all broken people.

🔥🔥🔥 "Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness, and pride of power, and with its plea for the weak Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Christians should take a stronger stand in favor of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong."

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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