No. All of the things that you have going on in your life that you are doing well, you are staying healthy and that all is well with your family. We are in first Kings chapter 18 this evening. First Kings chapter 18, uh, for our members and for anyone else who’s following along with us. There are questions, uh, in a PDF that are available on our website. We’ll go over those at the end of our class. So if you go to the front page of our website,
you’ll find a link to download the questions for this evening, uh, for our local members. If you would like to come by and pick up, uh, one of the questions sheets, they will be in the lobby, uh, both from this lesson and the previous lessons we’ve covered to this point. Uh, there’ll be stacks of those in the lobby. You can come by and pick those up, uh, at your convenience. First Kings chapter 17 introduces us to align you and we mentioned that last week that Alijah is probably the most prominent of the old Testament prophets.
Once you moved into the era of the Kings, Alijah is one who stands as a representative of the prophets throughout the old Testament. Elijah is the one who was prophesied, would come before the Messiah came to the earth. And as a result of all of those things, Alijah is seen very prominently both in old and new Testament passages. But in chapter 18, we find probably the most well known event of Alijah his life except perhaps how Elijah left the earth because in L in first Kings chapter 18, we will find the confrontation between Alijah and the 450 prophets of bale that occurs at Mount Carmel.
But some things that we find out before then, remember in chapter 17, as we studied last week, that Alijah comes on the scene. And the very first thing we hear from Elijah is Alijah tells King Ahab the King of the Northern kingdom of Israel, the Northern 10 tribes, he tells a helm there will not be any rain nor do on the ground in Israel until he says though. And having delivered that message from the Lord through, uh, to the King Ahab. He then turns around as it were and leaves and God tells him to go to this Brook,
the Brook Cherith and to there, and God provides both the water from the Brook to give him water and the Ravens of the air bring him bread and meat. When the water at the Brook dries up, God sends him to Sidon, sends him to the city of Zara Fest and sends him to a widow who according to God, God had commanded to provide for him there. And so Elijah will go to this widow. He will dwell with this widow and her son all throughout the remainder of the drought.
It is at this point that chapter 18 begins, but I want to say this about chapter 17 before we leave it behind in our discussion. One of the things that I’ve failed to make mention of this last week that we see in this account of Alijah being sent to this woman who was not in Israel, Israelite, she was not a descendant of Abraham. She was potentially not even at least exclusively a believer in Jehovah as being God. She would later understand who Jehovah was and the truth of what Elijah said.
We find that out at the end of verse or the at the end of verse 24 and chapter 17 but we get this. We get this clear perspective and understanding as we’ve pointed out time and time again, as we’ve seen throughout the old and the new Testament, God is not a God of a single nation. Jehovah is not the God of Israel. Jehovah is not the God of Judah. Jehovah is not the God of America or any other nation. Jehovah is God of gods and Lord of Lords, King of Kings,
the almighty. He is God of heaven and earth and there is no other God. And so what you see in chapter 17 is a clear picture that God doesn’t just care for Israel. The, it may be the case that the old Testament focuses on Abraham and his descendants and those through whom the Messiah comes, but it focuses on them, not because God has a special attachment to them over every other people, but because they were the lineage through whom the Messiah would come. The focus of scripture on Israel has very little to do with Israel and has everything to do with the salvation of all humanity because it wasn’t Israel that sinned and brought death into the world in the garden.
It was humanity and it was that humanity that God would send his son Christ to save. Jesus didn’t come to be the exclusive savior of Israel. He came to be the savior of all mankind. And so here in passages like this, you glimpse God’s provision, God’s acting on behalf of even those who are not Israelites chapter 18 verse one and it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Alijah in the third year saying, go present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the earth.
Now, you might remember that Alijah said it wasn’t going to rain again until he said so, but Elijah is just simply a prophet. This was not a statement to say that Alijah was now in charge of what the Lord was doing. No, not at all. Elijah is the spokesperson. Alijah is the go between. Aligna is the messenger and now the one who’s really in charge says, okay Elijah, it’s time for the message to go out. Alijah it’s time for you to go to Ahab because I’m going to send rain again.
But God did this act. God brought forth this drought and this famine and all of the things that that came with having no rain for three years. He did it for a reason. He did it to establish two things. Number one, bail is not God. You might remember how many times in the book of Exodus we studied and read concerning God telling Pharaoh that the objective was for him to realize and for Egypt to realize, and for everyone who hears about the plagues, I realize that God is the Lord and there is no other beside him.
And so the objective in all of this is to prove bail is not God. If bail was God, then why didn’t bail bring the rain? Why didn’t bail bring back that which this nation needed? But that, uh, that lesson and that, that focus, because it’s going to be brought to a head here in this chapter, he says, I will send rain on the earth. So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab and there was a severe famine in some area, in a Hab called who was in charge of his house.
Now, Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. This is one of those moments where you have a parent theoretical statement, uh, by those who are, are writing this down, say, Hey, uh, you need to know this about Obadiah. There’s something that is important to the plot line to the story. A Hab goes to Obadiah. And by the way, there’s, there’s no indication, at least unless I have completely missed it, that the Obadiah here is the writer of the book of Obadiah. Uh,
the, the, the two events and the two people are separated by time. So not the same person. This Obadiah is one who is a servant in the house of Ahab. He is the overseer of the house of Ahab. And so much like if you think back to the time of Joseph and Joseph was put over Potiphar’s house, this is the same idea here. A house has a nation he’s ruling over, but he has his own personal house, his own personal effects, his own personal business as it were probably his own business doings.
And as a result of that, that is Obadiah’s position. He comes to Obadiah and he says, we got to think about our flocks and our herds. Notice a called Obadiah, who was in charge of his house. Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly for. So it was when Jessebelle massacre the prophets of the Lord that Obadiah, uh, had taken 100 profits and hidden them 50 to a cave and had fed them with bread and water. And Ahab said to Obadiah, go into the land, to all the Springs of water,
to all the Brooks. Perhaps we may find grants to keep the horses and mules alive so that we will not have to kill any livestock. Okay, so Ahab’s desire here is for himself and Obadiah to go out and to search throughout the land and to find water because of the drought, because of the things that are going on. Because where there’s water, there’s plant life, they need food for the animals. They need water for the animals, and so they’re seeking to preserve them. They’re seeking to not have to slaughter them just to get through this drought.
But in the midst of this, as we’re introduced to Obadiah, we find out something about this man. We find out that he is one who defied the queen. Now, did he defy the queen publicly or secretly? Well, every indication is that defied the queen. Secretly the queen Jezza bell would bring about a massacre of the prophets of the Lord. Now here’s something important to realize is as we’re introduced to align Jah, and as we’re going through this old Testament history, even though we’re not reading about prophet after prophet,
certainly not hundreds of profits in the Northern kingdom of Israel, they were there in order for Obadiah to have hidden a hundred prophets of the Lord. There had to event at least a hundred prophets of the Lord and Elijah’s not in that number. So something that we need to be careful that we don’t do is that we don’t jump to assumptions as if, okay, we hear about one prophet doing this. He was the only one. Uh, there will be a point later on in, in our discussion of Elijah where Elijah will claim to be the only one and God will make it clear he’s not,
but yet with a hundred plus profits of the Lord active and working and laboring and teaching and instructing and counseling and rebuking with all of those men in the Northern kingdom of Israel, notice what was still true. The nation still departed from the Lord. The nations still turned its back on God. The nation still refused to repent, and the King and the kingdom went further and further and further down a path of destruction to the point at which now Ahab comes to the throne. And you remember at the end of chapter 16,
we read, Ahab did more evil than all those who had come before him. Well, there’s no indication that Jeroboam,
even though he built the golden cows, and even though many left the Northern came to them and went down to the Southern kingdom because of the changes that Jeroboam made,
there’s no indication that Jeroboam ever set forth his goals to destroy the profits of God. Yeah, there’s no indication that the blood of the profits was ever running in the street because of Jeroboam.
But for Jezza bell, Oh, that’s a whole nother story. Jezza bells set out, not just to introduce male worship into the Northern kingdom of Israel.
She set out not only to take and to turn the Northern kingdom of Israel from a nation that still had some tenuous grasp of the Lord to a nation that would kill and execute and massacre the profits of the Lord.
But Obadiah here, the chief individual, the highest individual in the house of a Hab Obadiah feared the Lord.
Obadiah hid a hundred of these profits and then fed them with bread and water. Obadiah is certainly one to be commended in all of this.
And yet it’s interesting because Obadiah still retains his position in the house of Ahab. He seemingly as one as one who fears the Lord is not worshiping bail,
is not serving the idols. And yet he’s there and he’s active within the house of Ahab. And I think there’s some lessons for us there about the ability to do good even when we don’t always have the ability to shout it from the rooftops.
Now is it important to stand up for the truth? Yes, it is. It is important to speak the truth.
Yes it is, but there is an appropriate way, time and place to do such things. Uh,
and sometimes we’re in situations as for instance, Daniel would have found himself in standing before Nebuchadnezzar or as a Nehemiah would have found himself in standing before Xerxes,
uh, situations where you don’t have the Liberty to say everything you’d like to say, but you still have the responsibility to do everything you can do.
And so we learned some lessons there, hopefully in our country and in our day and in our lives.
There are lessons that may be we won’t ever have to fully realize, but maybe we will. Maybe a time will come where even we will have to decide whether we can open our mouths and say anything and loo and forfeit our lives or whether we must simply act in secret.
So Obadiah will hide the profits and as Jessebelle seeks to massacre the profits of the Lord, and Ahab will come to Obadiah and he’ll say,
we’ve got to go find water. We’ve got to go provide for these animals where we’re going to have to kill them.
So then we read a verse six. So they divided the land between them to explore it. A Hab went one way by himself,
and Obadiah went another way by himself. Now, as Obadiah was on his way, suddenly Elijah met him and he recognized him and fell on his face and said,
is that you? My Lord Elijah, it’s been three years since anyone in Israel has seen Alijah three years where you can imagine the,
the questions, the stories, the front page news, the man who says there won’t be any more rain disappears.
Where did he go? What happened to him? Did he die? Is he alive? You can imagine the headlines as it were going through the,
the, the people discussing this, what happened to Alijah. We’re gonna find out in a moment that Ahab really wanted to know what happened to Elijah,
but Obadiah having saved these hundred profits from being killed by Jezza. Bill is out on this mission sent by Ahab and he sees Alijah and he doesn’t just question is that you?
He recognized him. He fell on his face and said, is that you? My Lord Elijah. This man not only has fear of the Lord,
he has a great respect for Elijah as the prophet of the Lord. Very much in contrast to his master a Hab.
But notice he answered and said, it is Ivor. Say, go. Tell your master Elijah is here.<inaudible> now,
before we go any further might stop and think, well, this is going to be interesting. Let’s see,
let’s see how Ahab responds. But before we get to how Ahab responds, it’s very interesting to see how old the dire response Elijah shows up before Obadiah and he says,
go tell Ahab Elijah is here and notice the response of Obadiah. So he, Obadiah said, how have I sinned that you are delivering your servant into the hand of Ahab to kill me?
Imagine how many times in Obadiah’s life as one who feared the Lord as one who saved these prophets as one who’s in the house of Ahab,
probably day in and day out seeing Jaza bell. How many times do you think Obadiah is on the razor edge of a knife thinking,
I’m going to die if I make the wrong choice or the wrong statement? And yet he’s still being faithful to the Lord.
He’s still fearing the Lord. He’s still acting on behalf of the Lord. And now he says, what have I done?
However I sinned, what I do to deserve this, Elijah, how have I sinned that now you’re going to send me to Ahab and he’s going to kill me?
Notice his reasoning here as the Lord your God lives. There is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to hunt for you.
And when they said he is not here, he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they could not find you.
And now you say, go tell your master Elijah is here and it shall come to pass as soon as I am gone from you that the spirit of the Lord will carry you to a place I do not know.
So when I go and tell a Hab and he cannot find you, he will kill me. But I you’re serving a fear of the Lord from my youth.
Obadiah is afraid because perhaps now Elijah has a reputation. I mean there you’ve got to think through this as,
as the potentials, if a have is searching this diligently for Elijah, how many different Elijah spottings do you think had been reported over the last three years?
Hey, Hey, I’ve saw, I’ve seen Elijah goes, tell a ham, he’s here, he’s here.
And they have send somebody and there’s nobody there and the L, it’s not Alijah. It’s somebody else.
How many times do you think maybe that’s happened and what do you think the reaction has been by Ahab to the person who says,
I found Elijah? Well, I think you get a glimpse of it right here because Obadiah says, you’re going to disappear.
The spirit of the Lord is going to take you away and Ahab is going to kill me. But he also says something about his history.
He says, and I have feared the Lord from my youth. We need more men like Obadiah. We need more young men who decide when they’re young.
I’m going to do what the Lord says, and it doesn’t matter what it costs, I’m going to do with the Lord says,
and it doesn’t matter the danger that puts me in. I’m going to do what the Lord says. It doesn’t matter who my master is on this earth.
I’m going to do with the Lord says, no matter what the nation around me does, we need more Obadiah’s.
We need many, many more Obadiah’s but Obadiah says, Elijah, if I go tell a Hab that you’re here and then I come back and you’re gone because the spirit of Lord has whisked you away,
it’s going to be my life. Verse 13 he says, was it not reported to my Lord? What I did when Jessebelle killed the prophets of the Lord?
How I hid 100 men of the Lord’s prophets, 50 to a cave and fed them with bread and water?
Elijah, didn’t you hear what I did? Why are you putting my life in danger? When couldn’t you think about me for a moment here?
Now you say, go, tell your master Elijah’s here he will kill me. Then Alijah said, and notice the change when Elijah first shows up to Obadiah,
Alijah says, go tell a Hab. I’m here, and Obadiah’s reaction is to argue with Elijah and be concerned about himself,
but notice the drastic shift right here. Then Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand,
I will surely present myself to him today. That is to Ahab. So Obadiah went as soon as Obadiah knows,
it’s not just Elijah determining to CA Hab, but it’s the Lord now. Obadiah will go now. Obadiah turns and leaves and goes to Ahab to carry the message.
So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him and Ahab went to meet Elijah. Then it happened when Ahab saw Elijah,
that Ahab said to him, is that you? Oh, troubler of Israel. Ahab wants to know,
uh, Elijah that you the one who’s caused all of this, the one who’s brought destitution to our nation,
the the one who’s brought this drought, the one who’s brought this famine, the one who’s destroyed us is that you,
Elijah. And just imagine, imagine, I mean, here we are in the middle of a pandemic.
Imagine if the world tomorrow saw on the front page of every website on the front line of, of every headline story.
Here’s the person who caused the pandemic. Here’s his name, here’s his address. Here’s his date of birth.
Here’s all the information needed to know about them. Here’s the guy responsible. That’s what they have saying.
Hey, have saying all of this is because of you. Alijah but Elijah’s not going to let a Hab get away with that.
Elijah not going to allow that one to stand. He says, is that you? Oh, troubler of Israel.
And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the bales.
Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the 450 prophets of bale and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezza Bell’s table.
It may be that there’s a famine in the land. It may be that there’s a drought in the land.
It may be that people are dying, but not the prophets of Asherah. Yeah, not the profits of bail.
They’re well fed. They’re taken care of. They’re sheltered by the King and by Jezza bell. And so Alijah tells the King,
you go get all Israel. Now it’s been three years. Everyone knows they’re waiting on Alijah. I mean,
there’s no doubt. Everyone in Israel knows what Elijah said three years ago. Everyone’s clear. Alijah is the one who can change this.
So if a Hab sends out word to the nation, Elijah’s going to be at Mount Carmel and Elijah said to come,
you better believe everybody showing up. Yeah. This, this isn’t a question of, well I don’t know.
I’m not sure I’m going to get out. No, everybody’s going to be there and Ahab will respond and do exactly as stated.
Why? Because they have needs his nation back. A Hab needs rain. It doesn’t matter how great Ahab’s control is of the nation or how powerful he wants to be in the midst of a famine in the midst of a drought.
He is powerless. So he’s going to act. He’s going to do what he’s told by Elijah because he needs the rain to come back.
So Ahab’s going to send all and send for all the children of Israel. Verse 20 and gathered the prophets together on mountain Carmel and Elijah came to all the people and said,
how long will you falter between two opinions if the Lord is gone, follow him. But if bail follow him.
But the people answered him. Not a word. Alijah does not confront Ahab when all the people are gathered because Ahab is not the important person in this story.
A hub is not the discussion or the focus of Jehovah or Elijah. Their mission is Israel. Their desire is to return Israel to Jehovah.
Three years they’ve undergone a drought and a famine and the destruction of their nation. Three years they’ve received the curses that Moses told them they’d receive when they turned away from the Lord.
Leviticus chapter 26 for three years and now Elijah shows up and says, Israel clock’s ticking. It’s time for you to decide.
It’s time for you to determine who you’re going to follow because you can’t follow both. This passage ought to remind us of what Jesus said in Matthew chapter six Jesus said,
man cannot serve two masters for either he will hold to the one and despise the other or he will love the one and hate the other.
You cannot serve God and money. You can’t serve Jehovah and bale either. You can’t serve yourself and Jehovah either.
You can serve one or the other and the one who you decide to serve as a, as Elijah says,
you follow him, whichever one you believe is the one who really exists, you follow him. And so there will be a contest because when he confronts the people,
now they could have made a choice right there. They were just confronted with a choice. They were confronted as a people.
Could you get the rain to come back? How many times did you cry out to bail? All of these things were just implied in this statement.
Did bail help you? Could bale overcome the word of the prophet of the Lord for three years? No.
So they had a choice right here. Same as in Joshua chapter 24 verse 15 when Josh was his choose you this day,
who you will serve whether the gods of Egypt or the gods were the other side of the river that your father served.
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So Israel then had a choice and Israel now has a choice,
but their response is dead. Stone silence. Book of Mark. Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees with a man on the Sabbath who has a withered hand,
and they bring this man to Jesus because they want to see if he’ll heal him on the Sabbath because their philosophy is if he heals him on the Sabbath,
he performed work. If he performs work, we have some way to indict him on breaking the law.
And Jesus knows what they’re doing. Yeah, they bring the man with the withered hand to Jesus. They show him this man’s got a withered hand.
Let’s see what Jesus does. Let’s see if Jesus will heal him. Okay? And Jesus asks the question he looked about on them and ask the question,
is it better to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath? And they answered him, not a word.
And we read in that text and Jesus looked upon them with anger for the hardness of their hearts. Here’s Israel.
How many people had they seen die from the famine? How many of their loved ones died from the lack of rain and the lack of water and the things that were going on?
How many of the profits of the Lord had they seen killed by Jezza bell and all of this. They should have known Jehovah’s God.
When Elijah comes back and offers them a choice and opportunity to repent, they’re silent and so aligned just speaks again.
He says, then Elijah said to the people, verse 22 I alone am left a prophet of the Lord,
but bales, profits are 450 men. Therefore, let them give us two bowls and let them choose one bull for themselves.
Cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put on, put no fire under it and I will prepare the other bowl and lay it on the wood,
but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of the Lord of your gods. Now notice this statement is to the people he talks about what the prophets of bail will do.
They will do this, those third person. Yeah, you will do this because that’s your God. That’s your God bale over.
There you go. Call upon bail. Go find out if he’s listening. Now as we get into this,
we’re going to find the prophets of bail being the active participants. But Elijah’s telling the people, this is not,
Hey, let’s see which profits or the profits of of the true God, and you all stand over here and be be the audience.
No, he’s confronting them. He’s telling them, you go do this. That’s your God. So notice what he says.
He says, then you call on the name of your gods and I will call on the name of the Lord.
And the God who answers by fire, he is God. So all the people answered and said it is well-spoken.
Now, Elijah said to the profits of mail, choose one bowl for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many,
and call on the name of your God, but put no fire under it. So they took the bull,
which was given them, and they prepared it and called on the name of bale from morning even until noon saying,
Oh, bail here us. But there was no voice, no one answered. Then they leaped about the alter,
which they had made. And so it was at noon that aligned. You mocked them and said, cry aloud for he is a God.
Either he is meditating or he is busy or he is on a journey or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.
You’re not crying loud enough, cry louder. Maybe he can’t hear you. So they cried aloud and cut themselves as was their custom with knives and lances until the blood gushed out on them.<inaudible> when you realize the things that people will do when they are desperate for a belief,
without evidence, when they’re desperate to retain their power, their influence and their authority, when they’re crazed by evil,
these people are cutting themselves. We’re not talking about slicing through the top layer of skin. They’re cutting themselves and the blood is gushing from them and this was normal<inaudible> and when midday was passed,
they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice, no one answered,
no one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people come near to me. So all the people came near to him and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.
Alijah hasn’t come to Mount Carmel by sheer accident. Elijah hasn’t come to mountain Carmel for no reason. There was an altar of the Lord there.
There was a time in the past where that Alder meant and something, but it didn’t anymore. Not to this people,
they had allowed it to be broken down. They had allowed it to come into disrepair. They had allowed it to be ignored.
But notice what’s happened. The more the profits of bail kept trying, the more the people stopped believing because they were faced with a situation they couldn’t solve.
And so you can just imagine Israel’s becoming dis, you know, unsettled. They’re becoming restless, they’re getting tired of this is gone on all day and they’re tired of the,
of the things that the profits of Baylor doing and it doesn’t accomplish anything. So Elijah tells them, come near,
pay attention. And he said, or then Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the son of Jacob,
to whom the word of the Lord had come saying Israel shall be your name. Then with the stones,
he built an altar in the name of the Lord and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold to she is of seed and he put the wood in order,
cut the bulls in pieces and laid it on the wood and said, fill four water pots with water and pour it on the burn off Erbert sacrifice and yes,
on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. Then he said, do it a second time and they did it a second time and he said,
do it a third time. And they did it a third time. So the water ran all around the altar and he also filled the trenches with water.
Elijah is taking what very well might be the most precious substance in the entire nation at this point in time.
And he’s pouring it out on the ground. He’s pouring it out on the altar, he’s taking it and he’s getting the people to give the water to pour on the altar.
And you’ve gotta be looking at the people thinking, what? What’s he doing? This is water. It hasn’t rained in three years and he’s pouring water on the altar.
He pours water on it the first time, the second time, the third time, and then he fills the trough around it.
It came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said,
Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and I am your servant and that I have done all these things at your word.
Again, the clarification at the beginning, Elijah says, there’s not going to be any rain until I say so.
And that’s probably how the people heard it. It’s a lie just stopping this. But now Elijah wants it to be clear the same way Joseph made it clear to Pharaoh the same way Daniel made it clear to Nebuchadnezzar,
this isn’t me. This is God. Okay, so Elijah wants it to be clear that everything he’s said and everything he’s done to this point has been at the word of the Lord.
And notice what we read. He says, hear me. Oh Lord, hear me that this people may know that you are the Lord gone and that you have turned their hearts back to you again.
Heres the point of the entire three years to tell Israel, it’s time to repent. It’s time to turn back.
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and it licked up the water that was in the trench went.
Now, when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord,
he is gone. The Lord, he is God. Elijah’s made his point. Elijah proved his case.
No one doubted it, and Elijah said to them, seize the profits of bale. Let do not let one of them escape.
So they seized them and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Keshawn and executed them there. And some would immediately go,
wait a minute, that’s not right. You can’t just kill people. This is murder. No, it’s not because there’s still a law in Israel.
Deuteronomy chapter 13 beginning in verse six going through verse 10 the law says, if any man will come you to Israel and will tell you to depart from the Lord and serve other gods,
he forfeited his life. He was to be stoned with stones and those who were closest to him were to cast the first stone.
They were tried and found guilty because they prophesied and what they prophesied didn’t come to pass and they led people away from Jehovah.
This is an act of judicial justice against 450 prophets who had disobeyed the law of God and the law of their nation.
Then Elijah said to Ahab, verse 41 go up, eat and drink for there is a sound of the abundance of rain.
Elijah says they have as it were. Do you hear that? Do you hear that? A lot of a Hab.
The rain’s coming and Ahab went to eat and drink, so Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel.
Then he bound down on the ground and put his face between his knees and he said to his servant,
go up. Now look toward the sea. So he went up and looked and said, there is nothing.
And seven times he said, go again. Alijah goes to the top of Mount Carmel and he bows himself down.
Now who’s he bowing down to? What do you think he’s bowing down to? He’s bowing down to the only one who’s really in charge because even though Alijah said it’s going to be a,
my word that the rain comes, Elijah knows he’s not in charge, and Elijah is humbly being the intercessor between Israel and their God and praying for rain.
And there’s a point to be made here just because the Lord said, I’m going to send rain. Doesn’t mean Elijah was going to get four,
get it the first time he asked. So Elijah bows down and then Elijah sends his servant, go look at the sea serve server,
comes back and there’s nothing bows down again, says to the servant, go again. He bough the servant goes,
comes back. There’s nothing seven more times. And then finally we read, then it came to pass the seventh time that he said,
there is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising out of the sea. So he said, go up,
say to Ahab, prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you is this tiny little cloud.
Uh, I see it. It’s, it’s, it’s rising up out of the sea. I mean,
here’s the mountain Carmel. It’s right on the edge of the Mediterranean sea and he’s looking out over the sea and he sees this cloud just,
it’s just a small little cloud. The Lord’s not contained in the size of the cloud. Immediately Elijah sends his servant to go tell a Hab.
You better go now. You better get on your chariot and go, or the rain will stop you.
So then notice it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind and there was a heavy rain.
So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. Then the hand of the Lord came upon a Lija and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel Elijah outruns.
The chariot of the King of Israel, the power of the Lord. I had Alijah me day habit home.
What do you think the look on a Hub’s face was? I don’t have any idea, but in my mind here,
he’s just witnessed the 450 prophets of bale die and now it’s raining. And here’s the man who he called the troubler of Israel who told him,
no, the problem’s not me. It’s you probably wasn’t a really happy sight to see Alijah standing there when he came home.
Yet Elijah was right where God wanted him to be. All right, let’s go through the questions and then we’ll close.
First Kings chapter 18 verse one question number one, Elijah told Abraham that there would be a drought. How long did the drought last?
Answer is three years. Question number two. This is a multipart question. Yes or no. Did Jezza bell destroy all the prophets of God?
The answer is no. Explain. Uh, Obadiah hid a hundred of the prophets of God. 50 in a two caves.
Describe Obadiah as a youth. He is one who feared the Lord from his youth. Why did, and the question number three,
why did Elijah tell him that Ahab himself had caused the drought in Israel? He told him because he and his father’s house had followed the question number four on Mount Carmel aligned just said,
the people were trying to follow bale as God and Jehovah as God. How did Elijah prove that God is really God?
Of course, the answer to that is the test of sending fire from heaven to light the sacrifice. Uh,
and here on question number five, I think I know what the correct answer is, but I’ll be honest with you.
You may, you, you may look at it and think this is another one of those where the answer is D or E all the above.
But we’ll go through this. Um, on Mount Carmel when the 450 prophets were trying to get their God bale to put fire on their alter,
they did not a pray reverently B cry with loud voices. C leap on the alter or D cut themselves.
Um, now if I, as I read the text, and maybe it’s a difference in the versions,
whether the, where the question came from, but the new King James says they leaped around the alter.
So I chose C, but you may say, well, it way, my version reason, they did all of these things.
Uh, cause at the first they just pray that that veil will, uh, uh, bring fire upon the alter.
And then they begin to cry out and then they begin to leap around and then they begin to cut themselves.
Um, so as we’ve entered into, for those who are local here and know sometimes we run into questions,
they’ll go, well, the answer is they did. They did all those things. There’s none of them.
They didn’t do. So, um, you just let me know what you think about question number five later on number six,
what did Elijah do to the 450 prophets of bale? According to verse 40 of chapter 18, he executed them.
Uh, in correspondence with Deuteronomy chapter 13 verses six through 10, what did Elijah warn a ham to do?
Because of the approaching heavy rain? He warned him to prepare his chariot and to go home. That’s first Kings chapter 18,
verse 44. Specifically, the reference in verse 44 is to prepare his chariot. The implication is to return to Jezreel.
Okay, well that is our study of first Kings chapter 18. Uh, Michael is going to lead us in a closing song and then Eric is going to lead us in a closing prayer.
We appreciate your time, your attention, and our prayers are with you at this time as well. Thank you for your attention.