Showdown at Mount Carmel

ME

It was around July when we began to enter stage 3 and I heard about the news of Ennio Morricone’s passing. I decided to go watch one of his classics (he was the composer, Sergio Leone was the director). The movie was called A Fistful of Dollars, a spaghetti Western starring the iconic Clint Eastwood. It’s about this stranger wandering into a town and saving it from bandits who have settled and applied their own rule in the land. If you are a fan of spaghetti Westerns, one of the iconic scenes is the showdown, where two men draw their guns at the same time to see who can shoot the fastest. Two men, with equal skills, equal number (one), equal chance of killing the other and thus free the town or continue to enslave it.

WE

Back on November 8 , we were exploring the series “Days of Elijah". We see how God was using his prophet to bring about judgment on Israel through drought in the land. At first glance we seem to be reading a biblical character profile of Elijah the Tishbite. In reality, it is a macro perspective on a great God who called a people to himself (the Israelites). The people have since rebelled against their God and worshipped the local Phonecian god Baal, who controls fire and thunder, and through the Queen Jezebel there is a cosmic battle with the LORD God. And now we come to a showdown which will prove once and for all who truly is God. Prior to this story, if you recall, Obadiah, a servant of King Ahab has secretly hidden two groups of fifty prophets of the LORD, and they are still in hiding. From a human standpoint, the Israelite King Ahab, who is supposed to follow the LORD God has pretty much defected to worshipping Baal, following in the footsteps of his father Omri, and even calls Elijah the prophet a troublemaker. It’s one Elijah against 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah, who eats at Jezebel’s table (1 Kings 18:17-19). The odds are not in Elijah’s favour. What are the chances the people will choose the LORD God?

And isn’t life like this, when the odds are stack against us,

when the prognosis from our doctor isn’t good

when try as we may, we just aren’t able to get the high grades to get that scholarship, or possibly maintain our GPA

when you have that argument with your spouse again, and you aren’t sure if you can take one more argument

when you wake up in the morning and realize you still have to work from home, and your kids are demanding your attention, and you just want to check out

what are we to do?

Here’s the big idea: God will fight for us when we stop fighting for ourselves.

Let’s see what we can learn about God fighting for His name, His servant, and His people and how it can apply to us today.

GOD

Ahab was more than willing to send for all the representative tribal leaders and the prophets of Baal together at Mount Carmel, after all, this is the best chance for him to get rid of this troubler for good. Because if Elijah loses this showdown before the leaders and prophets, then he can legitimately execute him as a false prophet.

When the people came, what Elijah said was striking:

1 Kings 18:21 ESV

21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping 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 idea here is the people need to make a choice. They cannot continue with syncretism, which means we will worship Baal when it helps me with my crops and fertility, and worship the LORD God when Baal doesn’t follow through. The word go limping is both ironic and symbolic, ironic because later on we will see the prophets of Baal resorting to such awkward movements to call upon Baal, and symbolic because the word can mean crutches and that makes a lot of sense. The Israelites wanted the best of both worlds, left crutch on Baal and right crutch on the LORD God. So when Elijah pushes them for a decision, they don’t answer him, which must be so frustrating. In fact, answer is a prominent theme in the following verses, which leads to our first point:

I. God fights for us by answering our call for help.

1 Kings 18:23–29 ESV

23 Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. 24 And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.” 25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” 26 And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. 27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.

Verse 24 says the God who answers by fire, he is God. Verse 26, O Baal, answer us. But there was no voice, and no one answered. Verse 29 near the end, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.

Including verse 21, in which the people of Israel did NOT answer Elijah, this word “answer” is repeated again and again. The reason is simple and rooted in Old Testament understanding, as my beloved professor Dr. Victor Shepherd loves to say,

“The quintessential characteristic of God is that he speaks.”

He addresses us and we hear. To hear is the same root word meaning to obey. When God addresses us, we hear and obey. His speech creates, as he did in Genesis when he created heaven and earth.

Conversely, an idol is not real, and therefore doesn’t speak, doesn’t understand and can’t act. The Psalmist says,

Psalm 115:4–8 ESV

4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. 8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

Now I would love to audibly hear God answer me as I recently read Moses’ relationship with the LORD as one speaks to a friend. So jealous. And in some ways though not audible by his act of answering prayer, by just that nugget of truth in scripture, by meditating and finding silence to hear from all the distractions in life, we can discover God is a God who speaks and therefore answers.

Amazing thing happened a few days ago when I was talking to my friend Jim about feeling far from God, that I felt tired and discouraged. And Jim encouraged me and invite me to start meditating on Psalm 18, for a whole month. I said I would do it, but was still hesitant. Then I open my my Facebook and I have a Rwandan friend who sends me a bible verse each day, and guess what? It was Psalm 18:3. Right there, I knew and got confirmed this is where God wants me to park, God answers my cry for help!

We are also given a few principles of how to ask in a way that God will answer:

1 Kings 18:36–37 ESV

36 And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

Elijah confidently speaks to the true God, who hears and acts, by reminding those around him that their ancestors believed in the Lord GOD, that they are the people of the Lord God. Elijah is God’s representative (as Moses was), and as a Moses type, he obeys Him only, all of which to convince these limping Israelites to give up their Baal crutch, repent from their idolatry and return to their God.

Perhaps our cry for help and God’s answer isn’t for us and us alone (though the answer helps us immediately). It’s also that we make His name known, so that He gets the glory and honour and praise. Elijah knows the power of asking a God who answers, because He can change our stubborn hearts from going one way to going his way.

And God indeed answered; by fire from heaven! He is the true God!

This brings us quickly to a second point:

II. God fights for us by displaying his might against overwhelming odds.

So Elijah’s challenge to the prophets of Baal and Asherah is simple. They are on equal footing, equal resources: two bulls, and Elijah graciously lets them choose first out of the two bulls. They will prepare the bull by cutting it up and set up an altar with wood to sacrifice. The only disadvantage both sides have equally as well is they are not allowed to light in on fire. That’s where the true God comes in, because if god can hear, then he will surely act. Finally, the people ‘answered’ and agreed to the terms (technically, there’s no loss on their part, so why not limp it out and see who will win?!)

And so the prophets of Baal begin their ritual and call upon Baal and time passes by from morning to noon, “O Baal answer us!” Baal doesn’t speak, he doesn’t answer. So they dance in this awkward limping posture around their altar, by which time Elijah begins to mock them, giving reasons as to why Baal isn’t answering.

He is musing (thinking, so can’t be bothered).

He is relieving himself (speaks for itself).

He is on a journey (went hunting).

He is asleep and needs to be awakened

All of these are actually recorded episodes in the Ugaritic text, ancient mythological documents on the episodes of Baal, who seems to exhibit un-godlike qualities, especially 2 and 4. And 4 is actually pretty crazy because at some point Baal is actually dead, which is how the season of dryness is explained.

These taunts and mocking from Elijah only give the prophets greater fervor, and so they start cutting themselves until blood is everywhere. Much time has passed, and things just get crazier and crazier. And then the Bible repeats: There was no voice. No one answered. And something new: no one paid attention.

I think I have alluded to this point already by pointing out that it’s literally the whole reign of Ahab, his bloodthirsty wife Jezebel, 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah combined against Elijah. By probability you would think at least one would be able to tap into the right “line” and connect with Baal, if he was real. The sheer number should be soul crushing. This should make Elijah fear. Maybe he needs to find the other 100 prophets Obadiah has hidden before he can confront this oppressive force. But everywhere in this passage, we are reminded of just how powerful God is.

Elijah, unafraid, rebuilt the altar shortly after midday when the Baalic prophets ceased their futile attempts to wake a false god. He has a time constraint. He rebuilds the altar as God commanded with the symbolic arrangementof twelves stones to represent the twelve tribes. Then he makes a trench deep enough for water to overflow. Four times, not once, not twice, but four times he asks that the altar be doused with water till it drenches the wood. And at God’s appointed time of offering, God casts a fire so powerful and grand the altar itself is consumed and every last drop of water is dried up, and of course the bull pieces along with it. The sight finally makes the limping Israelites’ eyes open for just a moment, and their mouths open as they fall down on their buckled knees in terror and awe:

1 Kings 18:39 ESV

39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”

God is victorious against overwhelming odds!

One principle we can take from here and we are done:

Just because God will fight for us does not mean we just stand there idly. Yes, sometimes God will tell us not to do anything and he will take care of it. But more than likely he desires to partner with us to accomplish his mighty works. Elijah still had to confront Ahab despite putting himself at risk, he has to appear on Mount Carmel surrounded by the hostile crowd of Baalic prophets and a King who wants nothing more than his demise. He still needed to build an altar. And he still needed to pray. And then, and only then, does God swoop in and rescue his people from their idolatry and turn the tides so that in one sweeping victory the prophets of Baal and Asherah are slaughtered by the Israelites at the brook Kishon, and Ahab flees. Not only that, the sky then opens and the drought which has devestated Israel and surrounding regions ends with a meal and the prophet in humble prostration with the appearance of the first cloud.

Where might God be inviting you to partner with him against incredible odds? It may start with one phone call, one reunion, one simple gesture: “I am here to listen.”

YOU

I think I mentioned before how one of my saddest moment as a youth pastor was to see young people you invested in turn away from their faith when they go into university. But I wonder how much more heartbreaking it must be for parents who have raised their sons and daughters since children sunday school or VBC and then watch them drift further and further. And the feeling of helplessness, you can’t do anything about it. To me, that drift is an incredible odd. But when someone who drifted away has a their heart turned back and not only return to church, but becomes impassioned with loving God, teaching his word and foresaking the untruths of the past, it’s an odd we should be willing to take, as we pray for them to come home, and watch God lead them there. That’s one person. One life. One child. How incredible it must be that everyday there’s a story somewhere out there or even in our midst of another life following after Jesus. But it starts with the first person. Who might God have place in your mind against incredible odds you believe God can still bring him, bring her home?

WE

From Adam to Abraham to David, God involves us in his salvific plan against incredible odds.

Because he wants to demonstrate his power.

Because he wants to display his glory.

Because the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God.

And we are his servants.

He will answer, if we pray.