Vindication of True God

Introduction: The Vindication of the True God

0:03 Tonight we continue our studies in the life and ministry of the prophet Elijah, our focus being particularly upon verses 30 through 39 of 1 Kings chapter 18. 1 Kings chapter 18.

0:26 I trust by now that you would be able to give to me, in your own words, something of the crucial state of Israel at this period in her history, as we find that history recorded in 1 Kings 18 and 19, and also that you would be able to focus what the great issue was at this particular point, namely, who is God, Jehovah or Baal? And the drought, the feelings of God with Elijah, and now this present conflict as we find it set forth in these particular verses, has as its whole focal point the answer to the question, who is God? Baal. Baal or Jehovah?

1:09 Who is worthy of the worship and devotion of the people of God? The section beginning with verse 25 and going down through to verse 40, I outline for you under the following headings. Verses 25 to 29, the exposure of the false God. And this we studied last week.

1:33 How in a very systematic way, as it were, God directs the prophet to bring to a, a complete exposure, this false God, Baal, who has elicited the worship of the people of God, until that exposure comes to its climax in verse 29, where it says, there was neither voice nor any to answer, nor any that paid attention. After six hours of a show that involved everything, from this continuous chant hour after hour, to the flagellation and the very piercing of their bodies, until the, the blood gushed forth, the show has come to its end, and this false God is fully exposed before the eyes of the people. Verses 30 to 39, I have entitled, The Vindication of the True God. And then verse 40, The Execution of the False Prophets of God. Our focus then tonight will be upon verses 30 to 39, The Vindication of the True God. Now, as you try to think, your way through this passage, and this is one of the difficulties with historical portions, unless you try to see what the order is, the structure, you can forget many of the details, whereas if you can think of the sequence of order, you'll be able to use those pegs of sequence upon which to hang some of the additional facts.

Elijah's Call for Close Scrutiny

2:59 We have an introduction in verse 30, And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me, and all the people came near unto him. That sets the stage for, The Vindication of the True God. The people of God in close proximity to the prophet of God, and in that relationship, the vindication of God is to take place. Then we have in the next set of verses, The Activity of the Prophet, and he repaired.

3:29 And then all the way from that verse, down through to verse 35, I'm sorry, verse 37, we have The Activity of the Prophet, and then from verse 38, we have The Activity of God, and then in verse 39, The Activity or the Response of the People. So we have an introduction, The Activity of the Prophet, The Intervention or Activity of God, and then The Response or Activity of the People. Let's look then at these verses as they stand before us. The introduction in verse 30, And Elijah said unto all the people, And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. The end of the six-hour show, when apparently even the people had lost all interest, when there is no attention, either from their God or from the people, they become, as it were, disillusioned by Baal and all the professed reality of this so-called God. And the prophet indicates that he wants the people to be near him as he now becomes the instrument to vindicate the true God. Unlike the prophets of Baal, who would have welcomed an opportunity to use some of their sleight of hand, who in reality were bothered by the piercing close gaze of the prophet,

4:56 the true prophet of God is in no way afraid of close scrutiny. Come near unto me. I have nothing to hide. That which I do, I will do in the conviction that there is no trickery, no chicanery, no underhanded sleight of hand manipulation.

5:13 So he bids them to come near. He bids them come near because he does not fear exposure. He has no desire to hide what he is doing and also because he wants to teach by his actions as well as by his words. For in the events that follow, in the activity of the prophet, we have a beautiful illustration of how God uses object lessons to drive home powerful truths, to the hearts of his people.

5:42 This is not peculiar to the old economy, for the only two ordinances imposed upon the New Testament church are object lesson ordinances, that of baptism and the Lord's supper, where we take into our hands and with physical activity of the elements of the bread and the wine or the water set forth in object lesson form essential spiritual truth. And so he calls the people unto him, first of all because he does not fear exposure, he has nothing to hide, and secondly because he would teach them by object lesson as well as by verbal precept. And before we move on then to the activity of the prophet, I cannot help but say by way of application, when a true servant of God is ministering in the name of Christ, he never fears exposure. He never fears a close scrutiny of those to whom he ministers. He is able to say with the apostle, as he said in 2 Corinthians 4.1, As we have received this ministry, we faint not, but we have renounced the hidden things of darkness, not walking in things of dishonesty, not walking in darkness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience, as in the sight of God.

7:05 He said, I not only commend my truth to you, I say, come near and look at the life in which the truth is couched. Beware of any professed servant of Christ who doesn't want you to get near to him and know him as he really is. I'm not talking now of an over-familiarity that breeds contempt. I'm not talking of the buddy-buddy concept of the ministry prevalent in our day.

7:28 But I'm talking about men who preach well from a distance, but who look not so well up close. If one of the requirements for teaching ruling elders, who are the present extension of the prophetic ministry, is that they be blameless before the eyes of those to whom they minister, then it's imperative that they get close enough to the people so that the people can see if they are blameless. The husband of one wife ruling well their own house, temperate, self-controlled, the whole implication being that their lives were in that relationship of nearness to their people. And we see that principle here in the life of Elijah.

The Prophet's Activity: Preparing the Altar

8:08 So much then for this introduction that sets the scene, the prophet near to the people, the people near unto him. Now consider with me the first bulk of these verses, the activity of the prophet. And this breaks down naturally into several categories. You have the preparation of an altar, the preparation of the sacrifice, and then his prayer to Jehovah.

8:31 The activity of the prophet centers first around, first of all around preparing an altar, preparing a sacrifice, the sacrifice to go on the altar, and then his petitioning of the living God. The preparation of the altar. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was thrown down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name.

9:01 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of Jehovah, and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain the altar, and there remained two measures of seed. Now as I have spent a number of hours in this passage, it seems to me that there is the possibility that the prophet repaired an old altar and erected a new altar. Notice the wording. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was thrown down.

9:29 Here was an altar, apparently erected during the time of the judges, in which God, as it were, relaxed some of the requirements, or the stringent dictates, dictates of the ceremonial law, and altars were erected in different places, or perhaps going way back to the times of the patriarchs. When the patriarchs entered into a covenantal relationship with God, then they would, as it were, ratify that covenant by a sacrifice upon an altar they had erected. That altar had been thrown down during the period of Jezebel's fury against the true God. For Elijah complains in chapter 19 and in verse 10, they have thrown down, upon thine altars.

10:10 Apparently it was there as a religious monument, a reminder that the people of God were the extension of the covenant given to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And here some patriarch had taken seriously his relationship to God and had sealed that with the blood of a sacrifice. But during this time there was such an overthrow of the true worship of Jehovah that everything that reminded them of that worship was to be cleared out of the land. And so this altar was violently thrown down.

10:42 It was not simply the decay of time. And then it seems as though, after repairing that altar, verse 31, and Elijah took twelve stones and reared an altar, or built an altar, in the name of Jehovah. Now I checked every single commentator I have, and not one of them takes that view. Well, I'm scared to death if I come up with something that no one else has ever come up with before.

11:09 So the possibility, and I won't make a point of the other, though if I could prove he built two altars, I think there's a tremendous point to be made. Because Elijah apparently knew that the altar he was building was going to be consumed. And he still wanted that monument to the historic flow of God's dealings with the people of God to be there. But the other possibility is that you have, and you have this in Hebrew poetry, where you have this recapitulation like you also have in Genesis 1 and 2.

11:37 Genesis 1 says, And the Lord made man in his image, a simple statement. Genesis 2 goes back and enlarges as to exactly how he did it. Now that's possibly what we have here. Now since most of the commentators take that position, in the multitude of commentators there is safety, where they are good counselors in regarding the meaning of the word of God, we'll take that position.

11:59 That he repaired the altar of the Lord that was thrown down, and the manner in which he did it was taking these twelve uncut stones and putting them together, and erecting an altar. Now, what's the significance of this? As Elijah is about to enter into this period where the name and person of Jehovah is to be vindicated, why does he start with repairing an altar of the Lord that was thrown down? As I mentioned earlier, an altar was the symbol of the covenantal relationship into which men entered, with Jehovah, by a sacrifice.

12:44 There is a clear text in the Psalms that succinctly states this. Psalm 50 and verse 5. Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me, by sacrifice. Gather my saints unto me.

13:02 Well, who are your saints? Those who have entered into covenant with me, by a sacrifice. So the altar of God symbolized all that was involved in standing in a covenantal relationship to God, in which the people of God acknowledged that He was not only their Creator, but their Redeemer, that they owed absolute allegiance to Him. For after He entered into covenant with them and gave them His holy law, that law required that they should have no other god besides Him.

13:35 So that thrown down altar was to the eye of the prophet a living symbol of the state of the hearts of the people of God. What happened in that altar had happened in the hearts of these multitudes. Their covenantal relationship with God had, as it were, been broken. The altar in their hearts of allegiance to Jehovah had been violently thrown down, and they had espoused the worship of Baal.

14:04 And so the prophet comes forth not to pray that rain should be given to this nation from which rain had been withheld for three and a half years. He does not begin there. He's rubbing it in, as it were, not maliciously, but that they get the lesson there can be no opening of the heavens until the cause of the shut heavens is dealt with, and that cause focuses upon the destroyed or thrown down altar. You have, as it were, divorced yourself from Jehovah and entered into an adulterous, rebellious relationship with Baal.

14:39 There must be a reestablishment of covenantal relationship with the living God. Elijah was setting before them a principle that stands on the face of Scripture that in the life of every individual child of God, any church of God, any nation, the way back to the open heavens is the way of repairing the altars that have been broken down. The way back is the way of renewing covenantal vows with the living God, coming by way of an acceptable sacrifice until that relationship to God is once again what it ought to be. Now assuming that the next verse tells how he repaired the altar, what is the significance of Elijah's taking twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. Imagine what the people are thinking. They've seen this six hour show with all of its frenzy and hoopla and blood and the rest. Now they watch the prophet of God calmly go over and find one stone and carry it.

15:51 Then he finds another. No doubt they're counting. Three stones. Finds another.

15:58 Four stones. Carries another. Five stones. Not a word.

16:04 Gets another. Six stones. When he gets after seven and eight, I think they all began to get the message. He was taking twelve stones.

16:13 Here were those ten northern tribes, generally called in the general term Israel and the two southern tribes, Judah. That division had come about as a result of their sin. It was never in what we would call the directive will of God that those kingdoms be split. It was because of sin that the kingdom was rent.

16:36 And the prophet is letting them know that as far as God is concerned, his intention was that there should be those twelve tribes established in that land as a witness to all of the heathen nations of the glory and power of Jehovah. And so he takes the twelve stones and then he builds an altar. Notice what it says, in the name or in the authority of Jehovah. It was generally forbidden that sacrifice should be offered anywhere but at the place of God's appointment where the glory of God dwelt.

17:12 Before the building of the temple, that was in the tabernacle. Now it was at Jerusalem. But it's obvious that the prophet cannot transport the entire nation to Jerusalem and offer an offering there. And so because he does this at the bidding of God himself, for remember one of the factors of his prayer was that they may know that I am thy servant and have done all these things at thy word.

17:35 Jehovah, who stands sovereign over the details of the ceremonial law, as it were, authorizes the prophet to break one of the dictates of the ceremonial law in order to set forth the vindication of himself at this crucial time. So in the name of Jehovah, he erects this altar and after putting the twelve stones together and apparently perhaps daubing them with dirt and mud, he then digs a trench. Now you don't dig a trench in a moment. Try to live this passage.

18:09 Here are the people. They've seen this show with all of its frenzy and now they wonder from frenzy to folly what is the prophet doing? No frenzy, but has he lost his mind? Has this six-hour show taken its toll upon him?

18:24 He's picking up stones, making an altar, that we can understand, but now he's on his knees digging in the dirt. What's he doing? He digs all around the altar until there's a trench that can take a sufficient amount of water. Finding out exactly what the two measures would be here is a difficult factor and I've not gotten any of those who know the historical background to agree exactly on what it says.

18:50 So granted it meant something to an Israelite that that trench was no little furrow dug with his finger, that it was sufficient to hold a good amount of water. So much then for the preparation of the altar. Now will you notice under the activity of the prophet the preparation of the sacrifice. The first thing he did, he put the wood in order and cut the bullock in pieces and laid it on the wood.

The Prophet's Activity: Preparing the Sacrifice

19:17 God had ordered in Leviticus chapter 1 verses 6 and 7 that whenever sacrifice was made it was to be in a certain way. And the prophet being aware of the requirements of the ceremonial law, though God gives him special commission to build an altar in a place other than Jerusalem, where the temple is, he follows very clearly the directive of God concerning the manner in which an acceptable sacrifice is to be altered. He very carefully and methodically places the wood in the proper arrangement, cuts up the bullock and apparently flayed it as God had required in Leviticus 1 and he calmly lays it piece by piece in the way it is supposed to be placed upon the altar. He took time to do God's work, God's way. And as you read through this passage you begin to see emerging a tremendous contrast between the activity of the true prophet and the frenzied activity of the false prophets of Baal, where they begin to chant in chorus, O Baal, hear us! O Baal, hear us!

20:28 And after the taunting of the prophet they begin to dance upon the altar and flagellate themselves and pierce themselves with knives and lances. Not so the prophet of God. He calmly moves from collecting stones to digging ditches to flaying the sacrifice and arranging it upon the wood. Then he says, fill four jars with water.

20:53 Where did they get the water? There's known to be a perennial fountain there at that place called El Mucraca and in the driest times it's never been known to fail. And so it was a matter of just a few steps and they filled these jars with water, four jars, three times they poured it upon the sacrifice. And you come up with the number twelve again.

21:15 Now I don't put a lot of stock in Biblical numbers but when the Bible makes something of it as we find in the earlier verses, it could well be that there was tremendous significance here in terms of the twelve jars of water that were poured upon the sacrifice. I won't conjecture as to what that significance might be but I've got a sneaking suspicion there might be some. You can think that on your own or as the good Dr. Lloyd-Jones says, you work that out on your own.

21:46 And the water ran round about the altar and he filled the trench also with water. Now why did he do this? Can you imagine again the people watching all of this? He's dug his trench, now he soaks the sacrifice.

22:02 Can you think what it looked like? You've seen what your dog looked like after you give it a bath and before you dry it. The hair on that bullock, flat against its skin, matted with the water. The wood dark as it's drenched with the water.

22:18 And then that trench rippling in the breeze that would come across the side of that mountain. What in the world is he doing this for? May I suggest that there are several reasons for his doing this. He prepares the sacrifice God's way for the simple reason that the man who moves in the consciousness that he's doing the will of God can afford to move deliberately with an unruffled spirit.

22:45 Elijah knew the principle that when a man waits until he's discerned the mind of God then he can move out to do the will of God and let all hell break loose around him. He just calmly does what he knows God's called him to do. That's the picture of the prophet Elijah in contrast to the frenzied activity of the prophets of Baal. And then why does he soak the offering?

23:09 Well apparently he does this so that he'll eliminate all suspicion of trickery. Someone who's done some work in excavating some of the heathen altars of eastern land says that some of them were fascinating for the system of pipes and funnels that would come from other places up from the earth or from behind where the altar was built so that they could, these heathen priests, could by this trickery give the semblance of creating fire and then fire would be blown, you know, the effect of a flu and a draft and they would put a fire at one end of it and it would be sucked through and look like it burst out of the offering itself. And these have actually been found in some of the excavations made. And so the prophet knowing this is going to eliminate any, any possibility that there's been any trickery whatsoever. They've been able to stand and watch that altar be built. They've seen the trench dug.

24:07 They've seen it doused with water and the trench filled. And then it could well be that the prophet is deliberately shutting himself up to a course of action which demands such an intervention of God that none will be able to gainsay that this has been the hand of God. And this is characteristic of the true servants of God. Once they know the mind of God they can move forth carefully to do what God has said.

24:34 They aren't ruffled. They don't feel, as it were, that the glory of God will be diminished if this doesn't get done immediately. They're willing to move patiently and slowly if they know they're moving scripturally. And also they are willing to move in a course in which they are shut up to the intervention of the supernatural.

The Prophet's Activity: Praying to Jehovah

24:54 So much then for the activity of the prophet in first of all preparing the altar, preparing the sacrifice. Now will you consider his activity as he prays to Jehovah. Verse 36. And it came to pass at the time of the offering the evening oblation that Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Jehovah, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word.

25:28 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou, Jehovah, art God and that thou hast turned their heart back again. First of all notice what Scripture says about the time of his prayer and then the essential ingredients of his prayer. At the time of the offering of the evening oblation. In Exodus 29 and verses 39 and 41 God had established as an ordinance in Israel that there should be a morning and an evening sacrifice.

26:03 And so again the prophet seeking to show by object lesson the essential unity of the people of God at the precise time when a lamb was being offered at Jerusalem, there in Samaria, there on Mount Carmel, the prophet is offering up this offering unto the living God. At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice and wherever you find the evening sacrifice mentioned in Scripture, you must allow your mind to go down to that time when the final evening sacrifice was made for it was precisely at the time of the evening sacrifice that the Lord Jesus hung upon the cross and the wrath of a holy God was poured out upon him. And it was when the people were gathered at the temple at that hour of the evening sacrifice that the temple, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And so Elijah, one who was redeemed by that once for all sacrifice in the evening prefigures that sacrifice by this one that he now makes. Now notice the essence of his prayer as he draws nigh to the Lord. First of all he is conscious, self-conscious of the God whom he is addressing.

27:21 Verse 36 He came near and said, O Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Now is this the sort of part of the Hebrew liturgy that when you prayed you had to say something like we might say, O our Father or our Father in heaven? No, no, the prophet isn't a man of many words. Every word in this prayer is pregnant with meaning to the prophet and also to the people.

27:52 He addresses God as Jehovah, the God who said to Moses when he asked, Who shall I say has sent me? And God identifies himself and said, The I AM hath sent you, Jehovah, the self-sustaining God. The God who is sovereign above all, the covenant keeping God. Then the God who has as it were bound up his very name, his very reputation, his very purpose with Israel.

28:22 The God of Abraham, Isaac and of Jacob. The God who took the initiative in entering into a covenant with Abraham and pledged that he would make him the father of many nations and that in his seed would all the nations of the earth be blessed. And so Elijah as he stands there, one man pitted against 450 false prophets, as it were against an entire nation that is apostatized from God. He stands fully confident because he comes to Jehovah.

28:57 He comes to Jehovah who keeps his covenant to his people. And as one who has walked in the ways of Jehovah, he is absolutely confident that God will keep his word and vindicate his own name and cause. Then notice what he actually asks of this God whom he addresses. Let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word.

29:26 Hear me, O Lord, hear me that this people may know that thou, Jehovah, art God and that thou hast turned their heart back again. What does he ask of God? Does he ask of God to have pity upon these people who are smarting beneath the stroke of God's chastening hand? Does he ask God for anything that immediately relates to the well-being of these people as far as their material condition is concerned?

29:55 No. He asks first of all that men may be brought to know that Jehovah is God alone. Hear me, O Lord, that this people may know that thou, Jehovah, art God. Let this people know that Baal is an empty nothing, a word, a mirage, a mere nothing.

30:20 Then he says, let them know that Jehovah is Israel's rightful God. Verse 37, that this people may know, I'm sorry, verse 36, O Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, that you have identified God with yourself, with your people, and though they have, as it were, cast there behind them this identification, you have not done so. Let them know that you are not only God alone, but that you are in a peculiar way Israel's rightful God. Then he prays that they may recognize that he is a true servant of God, that they may know that I am thy servant.

31:01 You see, that's all he asks, that men may recognize that he is one who has taken his rightful place at the footstool of this great sovereign, and that all that he has done, now remember what that involved? Shutting up the heavens. Some of those people had lost their children, no doubt, during the drought. Many of them had entered through tremendous hardship.

31:22 Many of them will watch some of their favorite preachers be taken down to a brook and have the brook made red with their blood. And so he says, Lord, vindicate the fact that I am your servant, and all that I have done, taking the key of heaven and locking up the heavens so that there is no rain nor dew for three and a half years. Let them know, Lord, that I have done this in obedience to you. In reality, what he is saying, oh God, let them know that all that has happened has been your doing, not mine.

31:55 I have simply been the instrument through which it has come to pass. Lord, may they get the message that the shut heavens has been your frown, not mine. Ahab didn't get the message. He said, is it thou, thou troubler of Israel?

32:08 You see, let them know that I have done what I have done at your bidding. This has been the expression of your will and your purpose. And then the fourth thing he prays is that men may know that Jehovah is the God of sovereign grace and that thou has turned their heart back again. Lord, do this in such a way that they will recognize that you have taken the initiative to turn their hearts back from Baal worship to Jehovah worship.

32:36 Let them know that this is not something they thought. Well, it would be nice if we worshiped Jehovah. No, let them know that you have turned their hearts back again. What a contrast between the prayers, the vain repetitions of the Baal prophets.

32:50 Oh, Baal, hear us. Oh, Baal, hear us. Completely irrational, prophesying until the time of the evening sacrifice, letting themselves be worked up into this frenzy of ecstatic utterance where the mind, as it were, is in suspension and their holy spirit is in disarray. Oh, Baal, hear us.

33:04 Oh, Baal, hear us. Completely irrational, prophesying until the time of the evening sacrifice, letting themselves be worked up into this frenzy of ecstatic utterance where the mind, as it were, is in suspension and their holy spirit is in disarray. What a contrast! Oh, Baal, hear us.

33:18 All right, well done, let us ask whom we trust in this prayer. So it is were we must trust God as God is or faith as God is? And so we we first truly believe about the Lord will know that God is God that he is Israel's God and that he as God has brought all that has come to pass upon them if anyone ever prayed long before Jesus articulated in those very words hallowed be thy name this man prayed that way isn't that the substance of his whole prayer Lord may thy name be hallowed before this people there's no way to understand the life of the prophet Elijah except from this all consuming passion that the name and person of God be magnified before the people for when he's in that state of discouragement he said Lord I have been very jealous for the God of Israel I've been very jealous for thy name the exact words he uses uses 19 and verse 10 I have been jealous for Jehovah the God of hosts that's his passion if he must see a nation smart beneath the chastening hand of God in order that that nation will acknowledge that Jehovah is God

34:46 he takes all of his natural sensitivity and sensibilities and as it were tramples them under his feet and says oh God at any cost thy name must be magnified may I suggest that you and I are growing in grace only to the extent that the glory of God and the manifestation of that glory and appreciation of that glory by men becomes our all absorbing passion

35:15 that's the measure of our growth in grace in great part is that the passion of your life is that the passion of your prayers oh how often our praying for our loved ones is so selfish it doesn't grieve us that they are as it were dishonoring God by their impenitence and by their indifference to his laws we just don't want them to be in hell and bear his judgment we don't like what their sin will bring upon them sometimes we couldn't care less what their sin is bringing upon God in the way of reproach and dishonor but you see the prophet's whole prayer is focused in a God centered perspective did not Jesus say whatsoever you shall ask that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son notice then in the first place it's God centered focus secondly notice it's simplicity everything he prayed could be divided under two simple headings the glory of God and the salvation of men let men know that you're God and that you've turned their hearts back again notice it's earnestness this is not vain repetition when he says oh Jehovah and then again in verse 37 oh Jehovah hear me and if any of you have the

36:42 Elijah by Mendelsohn he captured this thing beautifully where there is repetition but without repetition but without repetition but without repetition without any sense of vain repetition but a rising tide of earnestness the prophet is all fire and earnestness as he pleads with God his prayer is God centered simple, earnest and notice it's brevity no three hour chant no six hour show I'm trying to think who told me this oh John McConaughey he knows a Scots woman who says when I pray I just shoot up a volley to the Lord we shoot up a volley to the Lord I love you I like that Elijah shot up a volley to the Lord he had done his long praying in secret getting the mind of God getting the direction of the Lord and now in the hour of conflict his prayer is brief now can you put yourself in the drama of the situation he's done his prayer the people have been listening they've watched the altar built the sacrifice been soaked and now they hear the prophet lift up his voice to God what's going to happen I believe the silence was so all-pervading so pervasive that people could hear their own hearts pounding and sounded like a tom-tom in their own ears the moment of that silence from the conclusion of the prayer of the prophet

The Activity of God: Fire from Heaven

38:09 that brings us to verse thirty-eight the activity of God then the fire of Jehovah fell what must it have been like you hear the prophet praying this God centered brief earnest simple prayer then as your eyes are fixed with the whole nation upon that soaked sacrifice suddenly a tongue of fire not leaps up from the wood to the sacrifice that's the normal pattern but a tongue of fire breaks out of heaven and there is the steam as that fire touched the soaked flesh and hair of the sacrifice a current of smoke the acrid stench of burning hair the smell of seared flesh can you put yourself in their place? every eye transfixed and then the fire works contrary to nature downward notice it consumed the offering it wasn't the wood as normally is done where the wood was lit and as it got to sufficient heat it would consume the offering no the fire of God came down and first of all consumed the offering then worked down and consumed the wood and then the stone whoever heard of

39:35 ordinary fire consuming stones this is the fire of God and then the dust and then it licks up the water that was in the trench the intervention and the activity of God consuming all in contrary to nature consuming stone moving downward until its work of consuming is done now what was the reaction of the people? this intervention of God. And when all the people saw it, they had been watching intently, no one distracted at this point. The prophets of Baal reluctantly watching, King Ahab watching. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, Jehovah, He is God. Jehovah, He is God. What a contrast. When Elijah had thrown out the challenge, if Jehovah be God,

40:38 follow Him. If Baal be God, follow Him. Commit yourself. And it's as though the people said, no, we're not ready for that. And Elijah says, all right, we'll make you ready.

40:48 You see, this was God's time to take the people in hand and to vindicate His own name and cause by the miraculous. Didn't prove they were spiritual. As I've emphasized through this, the miraculous doesn't prove the prophetic. It proves the presence of spirituality. Sometimes it proves the presence of the greatest kind of insensibility that God must break through with the miraculous to force, as it were, the confession that He is God. And so the confession is made very parallel to that given in Leviticus 9, 22 to 24. And perhaps the people of God had this very situation in mind when they uttered these words. For in Leviticus 9, we read that when Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them and came, down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and peace offering that Moses and Aaron went out into the tent of meeting and blessed the people and the glory of Jehovah appeared to the people. And there came forth fire from before Jehovah and consumed upon the altar, the burnt

41:47 offering of the fat. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. Perhaps this is the instance they had in mind. For remember, their own history was deeply ingrained in their own minds. And so they came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and peace offering and kindness. And so they take the place of prostration, acknowledging that this is Jehovah, the same God who sent fire there under the ministry of Aaron and Moses, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This was the true God. And so they make that confession, Jehovah, He is God. Jehovah, He is God. Now the question I'm sure some of you are asking is this. Does this mean that that entire nation was converted? No.

The Response of the People: Confession

42:32 subsequent history proves it. God himself said later on to the prophet, I have reserved 7,000 who have not bowed the knee. There was still only a remnant of the truly converted, but what we have here is God so jealous to preserve his own glory that he's, as it were, even forcing an unwanted confession from the lips of many who have no heart revelation of the glory of Jehovah, that he is God. I believe it's an instance of the same thing we will have in that day when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Does that mean everybody's going to be saved? No. But it means God will cause every one of his rational creatures, things in heaven, things in earth, things under the earth, Paul says, to acknowledge that there is no God but the God revealed in Jesus Christ. This seems to be a pretty preview of that day. Some made this confession from the heart as that remnant who in their

43:40 hearts not only acknowledged that Jehovah was God, but who loved him as Jehovah, who implicitly trusted him. Many others, it was simply the confession they were forced to make in the light of the overwhelming evidence. When they saw it, they fell and cried, he is God. Now, as we conclude our study tonight and ask ourselves, what does this passage say to us? What is God doing by all of this? Could not there have been a simpler way to vindicate his name and his cause? What is the purpose of this? In the light of passages like 1 Corinthians 10, which say, these things of the Hebrew history are written for our admonition, what is the admonition of this for us? May I make several suggestions. First of all, this passage shows that God's way of establishing his claims

Application: God's Way of Establishing Claims

44:34 over the world is not just for us. It is for all of us. It is for all of us. It is for men. It is on the basis of an acceptable sacrifice. As God is eliciting this response from the people, he does so in terms of an acceptable sacrifice, the sacrifice of the prophets of Baal. He will not accept. There is no divine intervention to attest an acceptance of that sacrifice. But the prophet who lays the wood according to the pattern of God and lays the sacrifice steps back and says, in essence, is this sacrifice acceptable? And God sends the fire of heaven, and the sacrifice is consumed. And God is saying, I accept that sacrifice, and on that basis I reveal myself to you to be the true God, the only God worthy of your allegiance and your confidence. In the same way God comes to men today in the gospel, and on the basis of the sacrifice of his Son, he commands us to repent and to believe. And he has given witness to the prophets, and on the basis of the word of God, that he will not accept that sacrifice.

Application: The Futility of Visible Miracles to Change Hearts

45:36 The promise was made unto all men that he will deal with us in terms of that sacrifice and that gospel, for he has raised his Son from the dead, and he will one day be your Judge and mine. And secondly, I believe this passage in the subsequent history sets before us the futility of the supernatural that can be seen with the eyes to change the hearts of men. The subsequent history reveals that though this whole nation saw the fire, saw the sacrifice consumed. It wasn't long before many of them were right back in forms of idol worship.

46:19 Many of them had not been weaned in heart from the worship of faith. Well, you say, if actually seeing with your own eyes, and that's so hard for us to really understand what that must have been like. You talk about telling your grandchildren about having your wisdom teeth pulled. This would be something you'd tell your great-grandchildren.

46:36 When you actually saw a soaked sacrifice consumed with fire from heaven, you smelt the burning flesh right back. Many of them went to their idol worship and to their apostasy. Why? Because the miraculous that can be seen with the physical eyes that can come to us through our natural senses has no power of itself to change the heart.

47:05 Think of the generation to which our Lord Himself ministered. They saw dead people live again. They saw the lame walk. And what did they say?

47:14 He's got a devil.

47:18 No amount of so-called physical proofs of the reality of the person and claims of God will ever change the hearts of men.

47:30 We're not firmly entrenched in this because we live in the day of small things. Some of us may be caught up in the present itch for the so-called miraculous. There are men policing the children of God of millions of dollars whose whole pitch is if people can see eyes open and ears unstopped, they'll really be followers after God. I get their literature all the time and it's enough to sicken you.

47:57 Send us ten dollars and we'll pray for your healing.

48:03 What's behind all of this is somehow this delusion that if there can be the show of the supernatural, this will do the work. Not necessarily. Sometimes God has used the miraculous to get the attention of men. But unless the grace of God penetrates the darkness of the human heart and there gives a revelation of the glory of God in the face of Christ, no miracle, no amount of miracles will ever change the hearts of men.

48:32 There must be that miracle of all miracles,

48:38 the Holy Spirit working to reveal the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Application: The Focus of Our Prayers in Judgment

48:44 And then the third principle, and I trust this will give us some direction in our own praying. I believe that Elijah's prayer and the thing for which he longed upon Mount Carmel should be the focus of our concern for our generation. In great measure, you and I are living under the smarting hand of God's chastisement. The chastisement and judgment of God is in some measure extended over our own nation.

49:15 And we feel the smarting effects of it. Every time that dollar goes for less things, the upsetting of our economy, it's part of the judgment of God. The instability of our international relationships, part of the judgment of God. We as parents think at times and have misgivings, did we do the right thing even bringing kids into a world like this?

49:45 The judgment of God. The terrible, terrible jettison of all guidelines and standards of morality and conduct. And we feel as it were that we're sending out our children into this turbulent sea to be tossed about like a cork. Now what should be the focus of our concern when we see the judgments of God upon our own nations and let forth in great measure upon the earth?

50:13 Remember what the focus of Elijah's prayer was. Not, oh God, open the heavens and send some rain so those gardens will grow again. No, no, there was something to precede that. He says, let this people know that you're God.

50:27 That was the focus of his concern. That God would vindicate his own name and cause and reveal to men that he was God in such a way that they'll have to take their place as creatures.

50:41 I submit to you that that should be the focus of our prayer as we stand in the midst of our own generation smarting beneath the rod of God's chastisement.

50:53 Are you willing for God's name to be vindicated at the expense of your own skin, your own comfort, your own economic stability? We know little of real, little of jealousy for Jehovah God of hosts until that becomes the passion of our heart. That's why I cannot pray, and some think me unpatriotic, oh God, save the American way of life. I cannot pray that with a good conscience in the light of Scripture.

51:19 I can't do it. Call me unpatriotic if you will. I cannot do it. There's something more precious to God than saving the American way of life.

51:29 That's saving the honor of his own name.

51:33 And he's committed to that and to that. That I must be committed. If God must allow this nation to become a byword to the other nations to show that he is God, then so be it.

51:50 Even if it means my skin and the skin of my children must be burnt in the process.

52:01 You follow me?

52:04 That should be the passion of our prayer. The focus of our concern. Let it be known that thou art God. Now I don't know what that will mean, but my prayer is that if it would please God, it would be by the Lord visiting in mercy and not in judgment, for he delights in mercy.

52:23 And I can plead all those promises where he says that judgment is a strange work. And I can argue with God in that sense and bring all the promises why I believe it would magnify him in a nation that as it were has cast off all of its altars of the past, thrown down those monuments to the fact and recognition that it was God who made our nation what it was. It was God who poured out blessing. No, they've thrown down those altars.

52:51 They want to do away with every remembrance of that God who made us what we are. And so my prayer is, Lord, if it please you, be pleased where sin has abounded once again to vindicate your name and cause. Granted, we have warrant to pray in that direction, but never with the idea that God has pledged to spare our way of life because there's some that will not be able to do it. I pray that we may be able to do it.

53:14 I pray that we may be able to do it. I pray that we may be able to do it. I pray that we may be able to do it. That's the most special thing he has for it.

53:16 No, no. His regard is for his name. And when we share the passion and spirit of the prophet Elijah, then we will pray as instructed by our Lord, hallowed be thy name at any cost, at any price. And when the people saw it, they fell upon their faces.

53:40 You say, well, that doesn't have too much to say to New Testament times, does it? Well, I'll ask you in closing, but just look at verse, Corinthians chapter 14, as to what should be the impression that unconverted people get when they come into the midst of the people of God, even the people of God at the Trinity Church. And you'll see a parallel between this verse and that in 1 Kings. He says that when the unbeliever comes in and through the ministry of the word, the truth, exposing his heart, notice, not through some glorious exercise of some supernatural gifts, 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 25, verse 24, but if all prophesy, that is, preach the truth of God, proclaim the message of God, and there come in one that believeth not or is unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all, thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so falling down on his face, he will worship. Worship God and report that God is in you of a truth. I submit to you that that's the end of true evangelism and true proclamation of truth, to bring men into that awareness of the majesty and supremacy of God, whom they can approach only on the basis of an

55:03 accepted sacrifice, even the sacrifice of his Son, and having their hearts turned back unto him, acknowledge him to be their God and become his willing bondservant. As the Holy Spirit brought you to that place, where you've acknowledged him as God on the basis of an acceptable sacrifice, and committed yourself to him, may God grant that if you haven't, the Lord will be pleased, even in this hour, to enable you to embrace the offer of mercy and forgiveness and pardoning his dear Son, that you will give yourself to him. Let us pray.