The Life and Not Death of Elijah

Intro

Alright friends, welcome back to a new semester here at Coram Deo College. Tonight marks the start of our brand new series called Elijah: Provision & Glory. We’re diving into the OT and we are going to be planted here for good chunk of the spring.

Last week we talked about the OT quite a bit. I presented to you both logical reasons why to read the OT, because you’re only reading 23% of the bible if you don’t…and I presented to you spiritual reasons…because Jesus fulfilled the OT, knew the OT, and loved the OT.

I wanted to take just a second and follow up on that. Because I think a lot of you left with a desire to read the OT more…to understand it more…to love it more…but you’ve been left with a little bit of conflict. Because some of you don’t know where to start, or you are currently reading the OT and you’re having a hard rectifying the fact that you’re suppose to love the OT…and yet you’re not loving reading it.

Can I just start with…I get it. Can I just encourage you…it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes asking the right questions, giving it thought, discussing it with the church (the body of Christ around you). I’d like to make sure over the next several weeks to give you questions that you can ask when reading the OT to help you understand it, study it, and love it.

So, over the next week I’ll be finalizing a list of questions that you can have in your bible or on your phone that you can ask anytime you’re reading the Old Testament and looking to get some true quality love and understanding for it. Alright? We will have those for you next week.

But this week, we get a chance to already draw some phenomenal connections between our life in Christ and the passage we are in.

So…open your Bibles to 1 Kings 17. While you’re turning there let me give you some context.

Tonight, we are talking about the Life and Not Death of Elijah the Prophet. You heard that right…the life and not death. More on that in a bit…but here’s the main point for tonight. Here’s the thing I want you to keep coming back to as we bring out the points in this first verse...

The life of Elijah serves as an example for a life with Christ. Now, I’m not just meaning that Elijah is an example we should follow like when we were going through 1 Thessalonians and desiring to follow their example.

I mean that the story of Elijah’s life is comparable and a foreshadow for what’s to actually come for all Christians. It’s not just what Elijah said that was prophetic…his entire life was a prophecy. A life that starts when God calls him, a life that sees the provision and glory of God, and a life that never ends.

Just as we as Christians, our true life starts when God calls us, God opens our eyes to see his constant provision and glory through his crucified and risen son, and our life will never end.

That’s the point of tonight’s response to the passage alright? The life of Elijah is a prophecy for a life in Christ. And there’s a couple things that I want to remind us of in response to that.

But first, some context like I said.

The book of kings is an historical book. Meaning, it’s a record of Israel and Judah’s history. You see, Israel use to be one kingdom. It was one kingdom under three kings, Saul, David, and Solomon. Under those kings, Israel was united. But that didn’t last long. After Solomon was king there was this huge split and Israel became two seperate kingdoms, with seperate kings. I’m summarizing here, but I just want you to have a little bit of knowledge.

So, Israel is united, and then it’s not. And 1 and 2 Kings is the historical record of what the kings did while it was split. So 1 and 2 kings goes back and forth between the two kingdoms, evaluating the kings on how they honored God or not. And in the midst of the kings ruling over Israel and Judah (the two kingdoms) God sent them prophets to let them know how they were doing…i’ll give you a hint…it wasn’t good.

So Kingdom divided, multiple kings, prophets to come yell at the kings to attempt to restore Israel and keep the kings in line. That ‘s where we are in 1 Kings 17.

We have King Ahab (7th King of the Northern Kingdom Israel) and the Prophet Elijah who shows up to keep things interesting.

King Ahab is known for being the worst king in the history of Israel. 1 Kings 16:30. He’s known as the king of idols. You see, Ahab dishonored God and married a pagan woman named Jezebel, and with his marriage to his wife came his incorporation of his wife’s gods. We’re talking about complete desecration of the worship of God in Israel. King Ahab had altars built for other Gods in the temple of God. His wife had the prophets of God massacred and replaced with the prophets of her God Baal.

King Ahab and his wife were tyrants. They all but broke Israels worship of God and stood in direct opposition to the things of God. They killed anybody that got in their way and would replace them with people more suitable to them...

The way of Israel had been lost. The love for God had been almost lost. The people of God were not defined by a love for a true God, but rather a submission to fake idols made of gold that promised earthly blessing but no eternal significance.

But then came a man. A man by the name of Elijah. A man who loved God, and who felt called to prepare the way of the Lord for Israel to return to him. A man that would prepare the way for the Lord not only in his time…but in the future as well. Actually another prophet wrote about that.

Malachi 4:5–6 ESV

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

So Elijah was so significant that his influence would stretch beyond his own time. The coming of the messiah (of Jesus) would hinge upon Elijah preparing the way for him. Essentially, Elijah was so significant, he was declared the Prophet that would herald the savior into the world

A man so significant that as I said last week, would be mentioned while Jesus was on the cross. A man so significant that people mistook Jesus for him, and John the Baptist for him. A man so significant that out of all the great prophets of Israel who had ever existed, only He and Moses were chosen to be revealed with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. (The moment Jesus revealed who he truly was to 3 disciples…Elijah and Moses were there).

This is the man that would reveal to Israel the Glory of God, and show us what it means for God to be our true provision in life. This was a man so significant that he would not even taste death…but instead be taken straight to heaven on a chariot of fire.

So in the midst of these two kingdoms with their kings going back and forth and up and down and in and out of their love for God…in the midst of this...This is the man that shows up on the scene, so let’s look at it real quick.

English Standard Version Chapter 16

30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. 31 And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. 32 He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34 In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Elijah Predicts a Drought

17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

In summary, King is doing bad things with bad people, and Elijah shows up and is like BOOM! No rain.

Which, you need to understand was the beginning of Elijah showing God’s glory. You see that Pagan God that King Ahab and and Jezebel and taught Israel to worship…Baal…he was the God of rain. And Elijah stands up and in direct confrontation to Israel’s new God....shows the true God’s glory by saying…no rain. And right there, begins this amazing competition of Gods between Yahweh and Baal, which we will get to in the weeks to come (sneak peak…God wins)...

But here’s what I want you to see tonight. I wanted to build up for you just how significant Elijah was, just how powerfully God used him, just how crucial he is to the gospels....and wanted you too see all these things…but then see an amazing, life changing, truth.

Elijah came out of nowhere. Look back at 17:1…all it says is “Now Elijah the Tishbite”…that’s it. No previous history, not a birth story, no context of what he was doing before this moment. No idea how old he is, or what he had done in his previous life. Was he always a prophet? Was he a farmer or shepherd? Did he travel? Did he have a wife or kids ever? Who were his parents?

Absolutely nothing. Which brings us to one astonishing truth… If Elijah is this prophecy and example of those that will be in Christ...

Then in Christ....your past doesn’t matter.

The story of this amazing man of God doesn’t with Elijah’s birth…not with any particular training he received, not in overcoming a particular addiction, or sin.

But the story starts where Elijah’s life and God’s clear purposes intersect.

Just like how you’re purpose and true life doesn’t start with where or when you were born…how you grew up…what parents you had…what things you’ve overcome…it starts where God’s purpose for your life and you intersect....at the cross. At the moment you surrendered your life to Christ.

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

That moment, right here, where you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart…that’s where your life starts.

That right there is your “Now, Elijah the tishbite” moment happens.

Now you might be thinking…Cody…it says right there that Elijah was a tishbite…from Tishbe…clearly his past or where he was from was important.

And I would answer you with this... historians have no idea where Tishbe was.

It’s true. The best historians can come up with is that Tishbe was somewhere in Israel, maybe near a place called Gilead. But other than that…nothing.

So if we weren’t going to be able to truly know where Elijah was from…why would God record it. The answer is this…the fact that Elijah was a Tishbite is not important to his life with God. It didn’t earn him his spot as a prophet or his place in glory. Just as your circumstances of your past won’t earn you any more of a spot with God... but Elijah’s history was important to his relationship with people.

And that’s the second thing I’d love for you to see tonight. If the first is “In Christ, your past doesn’t matter” the second point is “God will use your past for his purposes”.

The fact that Elijah was a Tishbite means almost nothing to us…but it did mean something to the Israelite readers of this scripture…or the people who knew Elijah while he walked the earth. It mattered because it helped them relate to him, it helped them understand that he was one of them, it helped them understand that he was not God, he was not the one who was going to save them, but he was a man that would lead them to God.

Just like, In Christ, your past doesn’t matter. It doesn’t justify you or save you. It doesn’t make you anymore important to God…but your past is something will God choose to use for his purposes and your good. God will choose to use your past experiences to relate to others, and more importantly to better understand his glory.

I want to read you this scripture and then give you an example.

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

If you love God, which means if you love and truly and personally know his son, Jesus....if you love God. Then he will work all things out not only for your good…but he will work those things because you are called according to his purposes.

Elijah’s past didn’t matter when it came to being able to know God or fulfil God’s purposes in his life. But certainly his past is what led him to the point. The fact that he was a Tishbite somehow led him to the point of confronting King Ahab.

Whatever happened in his past, furthered the Lord’s ability to be glorified in his future.

Hear me, this is not to justify your past…this is not to state that what you’ve done in the past is okay or acceptable, this is not a feel good message of acceptance, but it is a story of hope. A message to you that you should have hope.

Hope that we know a God who isn’t concerned with our past…he can work that entire thing out, God doesn’t sit there and sweat about how to make your past work for his purposes...

It’s a message of hope that what defines you is not what you’ve done, but what God has done and what he wants to do in your life now.

Elijah was not defined by what he had done or where he had been, but would most certainly be defined by God’s work in your life.

I want to let you see this hope a bit more...So how does he use your past to his purposes?

(My musical testimony, God redeeming that for his purpose)

(Example of brilliant colors creating a masterpiece)

So let’s wrap this up tonight. We’ve read just one verse with Elijah in it tonight…but we’ve been able to take away some reminders for those who know Christ.

Your past is not your worth, it’s not your weight, it’s not your redemption…in the end of things your life before Christ doesn’t matter.

God will use your past as a means to prepare you, and work all things for his purposes and your good.

We don’t know Elijah’s past. But we know that whatever was in it prepared him to present himself to King Ahab, idol lover, prophet killer…present himself to Ahab and say…no more rain.

Yahweh provided to Elijah the means to become a prophet, and used Elijah to reveal his glory.

Yahweh provided to just a means for salvation, and will use that to reveal his glory, both in our lives and those around us.