Down From the Mountaintop

1 Kings 19:1-18

INTRODUCTION:

We ended chapter 18, last week, with Elijah flying high, spiritually. Why wouldn’t he?! He single-handedly took on the establishment - the government approved new national religion of Baal. It was the ultimate ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ - Elijah rented the MGM Grand of the day for his title fight, challenging the 450 prophets of Baal in front of the crowd. He proves, once and for all, that the God of Israel is the True, Living God.

Then Elijah prays for rain … he perseveres in prayer and after over three days of absolute barrenness - the LORD answers with rain. Heaven’s fire has fallen, the people have fallen to their faces in worship and the rain has fallen to save the lives of the needy citizens of Israel. Talk about a mountaintop experience. It doesn’t get any better than this. Elijah could die this moment and he would die a happy man. “Life-Mission Accomplished.”

But we know better than to think that the Christian life is always lived on the mountaintop of delight.

1 WHEN TRIUMPH SEEMS TO TURN TO TRAGEDY, vv. 1-8

Today’s text begins at the royal palace in Jezreel. Elijah has run ahead of the king’s chariot all the way, in the pouring rain, from Mt. Carmel to the gate of this royal city. Now he waits outside while Ahab goes inside and tells his wife, the queen, everything that has just happened.

In chapter 18, there ia a deafening omission. At the beginning of the contest, in v. 19, Elijah invites all of Israel to the showdown - the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah (Baal’s female consort). You would obviously expect that if the king is there, the queen will be there, as well. But the prophets of Asherah aren’t there; neither is Jezebel.

So Ahab gets back home and goes to paint the picture for his wife of what has just happened on the mountaintop. He tells her of Baal’s deafening silence, when his prophets peladed with him for help. He tells her of the miraculous fire sent from heaven, when Elijah raised his prayer to the God of Israel and the all-consuming fire that came down to likc up even the water in the ditch.

Ahab would surely have told his wife how all the people gathered on the mountain, saw the answered prayer, recognize who truly lives in heaven and fell on their faces with the cry: “The LORD, He is God; the LORD He is God.” And of course, Ahab would have explained that none of the 450 prophets of Baal are coming back for dinner, because Elijah slaughtered them all at the Kidron river.

Elijah waits outside, while the King is debriefing with the queen. He waits. And he waits. As he waits for some kind of news - I wonder what the prophet is hoping to hear?

Maybe he’s hoping to hear that the queen has been convinced by the obvious wimpiness of Baal and power of GOd - that she responds by saying: “I must be wrong! THree and a half years without rain, while we depended on Baal … a single prayer to the God of Israel, prayed by one solitary prophet - and the heavens open up?! Well, clearly I need to join in pledging allegiance to the true God, then. Let me join in the worship choir. “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”

And if the conversion of Jezebel is too much to ask, Elijah hopes at least that King Ahab will grow a spine. Jezebel is the one who introduced Baal worship into Israel. Maybe now, Ahab will stand up and say, “Enough! I’m cleaning house. There will be no more worship of a false god in my kingdom.” Even if Jezebel isn’t converted - if she’s restrained and de-fanged, at least - then the rebuilding of the nation can begin.

It doesn’t quite work out that way. Verse 2 gives us the queen’s response: READ v. 2

Jezebel hears the Good news of God’s provision at Mount Carmel - she sees through the palace window, the rain falling on the fields, bringing life back to the land after 3 and a half years of barrenness. Not only does none of this bring Jezebel to her knees in worship and thanksgiving - the queen of the people, relieved that her people are going to be okay .... NO. None of that. In fact, Ahab’s report does the opposite. It infuriates her. She sends a messenger outside to find Elijah - to vent her rage on the man who dares to shake up the status quo.

“Cross my heart, hope to die ....”. “I swear on my life - that within 24 hours, your life is going to be exactly like the lives of my prophets you’ve killed.” Notice she doesn’t even swear ‘by God’ .... she swears by ‘THE gods’. She hasn’t budged.

We already know that Jezebel is ruthless and powerful enough to carry out her threat. She’s already rounded up hundreds of God’s prophets and sent them to the firing squad.

Imagine being Elijah at this moment. “Well that clearly NOT the response I was hoping for.”

Let this be a lesson to everyone who thinks, “You know what I need, in order to bring faith to the non-Christians in my life? I need a mighty work of power. If only I could call down fire from heaven so my skeptical friends could see it .... if I could perform a miraculous healing in God’s name … if the doubters around me could see a visible miracle - then they wouldn’t be ableto doubt anymore!” Yes they could. “Then they would have to believe!” No, they wouldn’t. Miracles meant nothing to Jezebel. She can see … and she wants Elijah dead. Elijah knows how serious the threat is, so he responds in vv. 3-4a.

READ vv. 3-4a

Elijah runs for his life. In fact, Beersheba is at the very southern tip of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Elijah is in the Northern kingdom. This is a trip of over 100 MILES! He drops his servant off there. “I’m not going to need you anymore - I’m retiring from ministry”. Then he goes another day’s journey into the wilderness, finds the shade of a broom tree to rest under -is a shrub that still grows in the wilderness areas south of the Dead Sea. It has a delicate white blossom that appears in February in advance of tiny foliage. The plant often reaches a height of ten to twelve feet and affords grateful shade in the heat of the desert. Here, under his lonely shelter, Elijah

… asks God to end it for him.

Pick up the text in v. 4, “(Elijah) asked that he might die, saying, ‘It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

What’s going on here? Something isn’t right, we know that much. Why does the man of faith go on this marathon run? Because Jezebel swore to kill him - he’s running for his life. So, if he’s running to SAVE his life, why does he ask God to TAKE his life, when he gets to the end of the journey? It doesn’t make sense. Something’s wrong here.

One commentator points out that Elijah wants to die because he’s broken. He didn’t want to die at Jezebel’s hand, because that would be considered a victory for her - she would brag about adding one more star on her shoulder patch. That’s why he ran. But at the very southern border of the southern kingdom - Elijah is way out of the queen’s reach - she won’t get credit for his death, so Elijah begs the LORD to taks his life.

This man is not in a good place. Don’t miss the contrast between the Elijah on Carmel - I’m struck by how many commentators go to town on Elijah here:

1 Kings: The Wisdom and the Folly The Quest for the Historical Elijah

Merrill F. Unger exclaims, ‘What a contrast! Elijah the hero on Carmel victorious over Baalism! Elijah the coward of unbelief at Horeb, self-occupied, utterly discouraged, wishing to die …, praying against rather than for God’s people

1 Kings: The Wisdom and the Folly The Quest for the Historical Elijah

[T]he panic that came over him when Jezebel issued her threat against his life has punctured his inflated image of himself.

1 Kings: The Wisdom and the Folly The Quest for the Historical Elijah

John Bimson is sure that on Mt. Horeb

we see him weak, mistaken and in need of God’s rebuke. God’s opening question shows that, although God’s own messenger had enabled Elijah to make the journey, Elijah should not really have been there. Elijah’s answer completely devalued what had happened on Mt. Carmel. He ignored God’s victory over Baal as though it had achieved nothing.

I wonder, what do you think? How do you judge Elijah here?

Can’t you understand how he could be feeling this low? He did everything he could possibly do to get the nation back on track - to prove to everyone that God is real and alive. He rents the giant stadiu, walks to center stage - stands alone against the entire power structure of teh nation - and right on cue - he produces the most astounding, spectacular miracle show that anyone has ever seen. And it seemed to work. The people were worshiping - the king himself seems to be on board …

… But the angry reaction of the stubborn queen - and boy, does she ever seem to be wearing the pants in the kingdom … Jezebel says ‘NO’ to God .... and everyone else caves. There’s no pushback from Ahab, there’s no mass protest in the streets. THere’s not a single placard or demonstrator saying, “We want the real God back”. There’s nothing.

So how would you react if you were Elijah? I have talked to enough people over the years to be pretty confident that in a group the size of this church - with the people watching online - that there is at least someone who has had thoughts in the nost too distant past - thoughts of wishing for death rather than this life. Let me point out that Elijah, even in this situation of utter despair, doesn’t presume that he has the right to take his own life. Suicide is the ultimate act of selfishness - and it is the height of rebellion against the God who gave you life and has numbered your days as He works out his good plan for you on this earth.

But Elijah does want to die. He explains why in v. 10, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I ONLY, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” Is he wrong? He is absolutely right about his own faith - He’s right about his people - and their failure to walk with their God. And it’s no mere rumour about what Jezebel did to the LORD’s prophets.

So what do you do with spiritual despair? What does God do? We’ll get to that in a minute, because I can’t think of a subject more relevant to us today - on the tail end of Covid that has knocked us all off of our routine for over a year. But first, let me just state the obvious.

Hear me friend: A person of faith, a child of God, a Christian - can find himself or herself in a place of spiritual despair. That may seem obvious to some of you - because you’ve been there - you know it. But there are people who say, ‘No Christian should EVER be depressed’. I would respond to that by saying, ‘Well, it depends what you mean by ‘no Christian SHOULD EVER be depressed’. If you mean that it isn’t God’s intention for His children to be joyless - if you mean that spiritual depression is a warning light - and when it starts flashing - you better wake up and take care of some business - because you’re heading off course … then I would give my hearty ‘amen’ to that concern.

… but if you mean that any time a Christian ever wakes up in a place of despair - at life in this sin-scarred world - that they are failing God … SINNING … then I would say to you - look at history -

Charles Spurgeon, the celebrated 19th-century preacher, depression was more than just circumstantial. When he spoke of it in his sermons and lectures, his examples, which were often rooted in his own experience, included a significant form of depression: the kind that comes without cause. In one sermon, he said,

You may be surrounded with all the comforts of life and yet be in wretchedness more gloomy than death if the spirits are depressed. You may have no outward cause whatever for sorrow and yet if the mind is dejected, the brightest sunshine will not relieve your gloom. … There are times when all our evidences get clouded and all our joys are fled. Though we may still cling to the Cross, yet it is with a desperate grasp.

Spurgeon understood that depression isn’t always logical and its cause is not always clear. There are times, he said, when our spirits betray us, and we sink into darkness. We slip into the “bottomless pits” where our souls “can bleed in ten thousand ways, and die over and over again each hour.” There is no reasoning, and a remedy is hard to find. As he put it once in a lecture to students:

As well fight with the mist as with this shapeless, undefinable, yet, all-beclouding hopelessness. One affords himself no pity when in this case, because it seems to be unreasonable, and even sinful to be troubled without manifest cause; and yet troubled the man is, even in the very depths of his spirit … [it] needs a heavenly hand to push it back … but nothing short of this will chase away the nightmare of the soul.

Look at history - but more than that … look at the Bible. What does God do here … in Elijah’s story?

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2 GOD’S RESPONSE TO A WEARY SERVANT

Verses 4b-6

So what does God do when Elijah is feeling broken? He sends an angel (literally, ‘a messnger’. If Jezebel will send a messenger to tell God’s child that she’s going to kill hi - God will send a messenger of his own). And what does the messenger from God do? Does he say, “Snap out of it, man! God says to rejoice always’. No, doesn’t say that. Does he say, “You better repent of your self-absorption?” No. Doesn’t say that either.

Don’t miss the very FIRST thing that God’s angel does for Elijah … he cooks.

Verse 5, “Behold an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’ (6) And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.”

For Elijah’s sake, aren’t you glad we weren’t the first ones to visit him under the broom tree - to try and give him therapy?! How many of us, when we come across a depressed Christian you care about … your first instinct is to reach into the pocket and pull out a ‘spiritual checklist’ for dealing with depression?

“Okay, Elijah - I’m going to fix you. Here we go: Have you prayed for relief? Have you confessed every known sin? Have you pleaded the blood? Have you claimed the promises? Have you rebuked the Devil? Have you thanked God? .... and down the list we go.

God makes him a meal and tells him to eat. What a great reminder: Elijah is a physical being who lives in a physical world and sometimes, the most spiritual thing you can do when you’re in Elijah’s state - is not listen to a lecture, or spend a night awake on your knees in prayer for deliverance. Sometimes the MOST spiritual thing you can do is eat or get a good night’s sleep.

Elijah sleeps. Then, in v. 7: “And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.’” Oh friend, do you see the tender compassion of God on display - feeding, but not just feeding … also sending His messenger - to reach out his hand, to gently awken the sleeping believer, so he can get up and get more of the nutrition his physical body needs.

Elijah gets up. He eats, drinks and heads out deeper south, penetrating further and further for 40 days and 40 nights until he comes to almost the very southern tip of the Sinai peninsula in what is present day Egypt. He is now 200 miles south of Beersheba which was already 100 miles south of the royal palace back home. Elijah is as far south from Jezebel as you can go, without ending up in the Red Sea. There is no way Jezebel can get him here. He ends up at Mount Horeb. He finds a cave in the towering rocky peaks of modern day Mount Catherine - and sets up camp inside the cave.

The SECOND thing God does for Elijah is to listen. Verse 9, “Then he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’” “What are you doing here, Elijah?” The God of the universe, who sees the end from the beginning is not needing information, like I am when I ask, ‘Where did I put my keys?’ God is inviting his servant to share his heart. And that’s exactly what Elijah does.

Elijah shares the burden on his soul. “Everyone has abandoned you except for me. They’ve destroyed your worship and I’m the last man standing in faith.”

Now, if Elijah’s depression meant that he was living in sin, rather than in faith - don’t you think this would be the perfect time for God to tell him off? But again, God doesn’t do what many people think He should. Instead, He tells Elijah to step out of the cave and find an outcropping of rock. Go out. Stand there. And just stand!

READ verses 11-12.

This the THIRD thing God does for Elijah … and it is one of the most powerful, most vivid descriptions of God in all of the Bible. The God of the universe condescends to reveal himself to a weary spiritual warrior.

Before we get into God’s revealing of Himself - are you wondering about this journey of Elijah - 40 days and nights into the wilderness - to this Mount Horeb? I hope you are - because it’s important. Think back centuries before Elijah - can you think of a time when the number ‘40’ and ‘wilderness’ go together? Let me give you a hint: think ‘Exodus’. In fact this Mount Horeb is also known by another name - it’s also known as Mount Sinai. When God sets his people free from slavery - they spend 40 years in the wilderness. And on that journey - the Moses leads them to this very mountain to meet with God - Moses spends 40 days and 40 nights with God on this mountain preparing to lead Israel into a covenant relationship with the Holy God of heaven.

Now Elijah has run hundreds of miles to this very place. Perhaps to the very cave Moses was in when the LORD revealed himself back then. Do you see what’s going on in Elijah’s life?! The covenant people have so radically failed - and turned away from the covenant … Elijah runs to the mountain where it all started. He needs to meet with God - in the very place where God promised to be Israel’s God and Israel promised to be His holy people. The rest have all turned away … but Elijah needs him more than ever. You’ve been there, Christian - in your spiritual despair - you feel like you are alone - there is nobody you can depend on to walk with you on your spiritual journey - and the world around you is falling apart. That’s where Elijah is.

Picture the scene in your mind’s eye. From inside the cave opening, tucked into the side of the rugged mountain - you know that the breeze is brisk - wind whistling past the open doorway. Elijah is paying attention, like he has never paid attention to anything before. Wouldn’t you? I mean the LORD, God of heaven is about to pass by.

And the wind picks up. And it begins to pound the mountain. You can hear the wind - not whistling anymore - now it’s howling. Then it gets stronger and stronger until now it’s howling. Verse 11, “And behold the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind TORE the mountains and BROKE IN PIECES the rocks before the LORD ...”.

You are Elijah - this is terrifying. A wind so powerful that the very rocks a splitting into pieces. You are sheltered INSIDE a rock. You know that if the rocks around you are torn - you will be crushed and if you fall out the doorway, you will drop hundreds and hundreds of feet with nothing to stop your fall - until you meet the unforgiving stones at the bottom of the mountain where you will be torn into pieces. But v. 11 goes on to say, ‘… but the LORD was not in the wind.”

The wind passes - and almost immediately the ground starts to shake … rocks are falling past your observation window - rolling and tumbling down cliff faces and crashing at the bottom. But as terrifying as the earthquake is - this isn’t surprising. The holy God of heaven is passing by - why wouldnt the very earth shake in fear at his presence?! But v. 11 ends by telling us, ‘… but the LORD was not in the earthquake.’

The earth calms. And suddenly - there’s the smell of smoke. The sound of rushing air being sucked into flame - the cave turns into an oven - the heat almost unbearable. There’s a fire. Of course there’s fire - the God of the Bible is an all-consuming Fire. He sent fire from heaven down to Mount Carmel’s sacrifice. Here is the presence of the LORD. But v. 12 tells us, “… the LORD was NOT in the fire.”

The verse goes on, “And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.” The word ‘whisper’ here is important - it’s not just a gentle breeze - the idea here is of a voice. KJV calls it a ‘still small voice’ - that’s beautiful. The ESV calls it a ‘low whisper’ - that’s good too. It’s barely audible - but it isn’t just a unintelligible wind … it’s a voice with meaning.

Verse 13-14.

Elijah wraps his face and, trembling, steps out of the entrance of the cave. And the voice speaks to him - asking the same question as before: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” And Elijah gives the same answer: “I’m here because I am the only one in the entire nation who still follows you. It’s all falling apart, LORD!”

The LORD answers again, READ vv. 15-18.

For everyone who thinks Elijah is sinning by being so spiritually low - here’s God, once again, not scolding his discouraged child … but speaking to him with encouragement - listening to him and promising that it’s not all over. He sends him on another mission. We won’t get into that. But I want you to see the end of the message in verse 18, “… I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

What’s God saying here - on this mountaintop? He’s telling Elijah the state of His world. This is the same message that He has for you today, Christian. He’s saying that no matter what it looks like — I am on the throne and I am building my Church. “I will build my Church, Jesus says, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.”

“My power may not come in the fire - like on Carmel’s plateau. People may accept and then reject that. My power isn’t confined to thunderous wind or terrifying earthquake … most often it will come in the quiet seeming futility of my Word.” “BUt make no mistake … My Word is accomplSo ishing everything I intend it to.

In the movie Fences (originally a play written by August Wilson), Denzel Washington plays Troy Maxson, a 53-year-old man who works for the sanitation department. When Troy's teenaged son Cory asks him "[Dad] how come you ain't ever liked me?" the following conversation ensues:

Troy: Liked you? Who the [heck] say I got to like you? What law is there say I got to like you? Don't you eat every day? Cory looks down. Troy: Answer me when I talk to you! Don't you eat every day? Cory: Yeah. Troy: As long as you in my house, you put that sir on the end of it when you talk to me! Cory: Yes, sir. Troy: You eat every day. Cory: Yessir! Troy: Got a roof over your head. Cory: Yessir! Troy: Got clothes on your back. Cory: Yessir.

Troy: Why you think that is? Cory: 'Cause of you. 'Cause you like me. Troy: Like you? You about the biggest fool I ever saw. It's my job. It's my responsibility! You understand that? A man got to take care of his family. You live in my house, sleep your behind on my bedclothes, fill you belly up with my food 'cause you my son. You my flesh and blood. Not 'cause I like you! 'Cause it's my duty to take care of you. I owe a responsibility to you! Let's get this straight right here … before it go along any further … I ain't got to like you. [My boss] don't give me my money come payday 'cause he likes me. He gives me 'cause he owe me. I done give you everything I had to give you. I gave you your life! … Don't you try and go through life worrying about if somebody like you or not. You best be making sure they doing right by you. You understand what I'm saying, boy? Cory: Yessir.

On this day when we honour ‘Fathers’ - some of you feel like fatherly failures - others of you grew up with fathers who painted an absoutely horrible picture of fatherhood. Love?! That’s a joke. And that image has carried over to your idea about what God is like. “Like you? It’s his job to take care of you.”

So you better not embarrass Him. You better not let Him down. Whatever you do - you had better not show weakness or despair - because that will insult Him and the God Who spoke the universe into being doesn’t want to be insulted.

When you are in a state of spiritual despair - that image of God will only drive you deeper into black. The Good News is that the God of the Bible is so, so different.

The God of Elijah is the God of the Bible - the One who feeds you when you are hungy. He’s the One who listens when your heart is broken and doesn’t tell you to suck it up. He reveals Himself in exactly the way you need - ultimately in the Person of His Own Son. He is building His Kingdom and working out His good plan - even when you can’t see it. His Word may be quiet .... but it has more effect than 10 thousand earthquakes. And He has promised that, no matter how alone you may feel in this world as a follower of Him - God has promised that there are thousands beside you whom He is preserving. His work in this world will not fail.

And neither will His love for you.