#485 Call Down Fire

And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.

2 And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.

3 And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly:

4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

5 And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.

6 So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

7 And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah?

8 And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

9 And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?

10 As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.

11 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

12 And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth.

13 Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?

14 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me.

15 And Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day.

16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

17 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?

18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.

19 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table.

20 So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.

21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:

24 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

25 And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.

26 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.

27 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.

28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.

29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.

30 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.

31 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:

32 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.

33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.

34 And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.

35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.

36 And 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 of 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.

37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

38 Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

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

40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

41 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.

42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,

43 And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.

44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not.

45 And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

46 And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. 1 kings 18 KJV

There were a hundred of God's faithful ministers still left, and there was a man of Ahab's courts, Obadiah, who also remained faithful, seeing to their care. Like David, they had become those who wander in caves, the truth has become a criminal offense. Those that wanted kings now have tyrants, those that wanted the gods of fire and rain, now have a sky of brass, and they have hidden the truth from themselves. Thankfully only hidden and not utterly destroyed, we are never completely so alone as we choose to be.  

Elijah is hidden but well known. Obadiah, like those who hid the Jews in Nazi Germany, did it at great personal risk. He has fed 100 prophets, but is terrified of the prospect of telling his king, "Elijah is here." Why didn't you take him? Why didn't you kill him? He has had 3 years and half a year to boil over this, but he has also had as long to repent. That his servant Obadiah is so afraid, shows that Ahab is still not broken. We are always ready to kill the messenger, it's like having cancer and thinking that killing the doctor who diagnosed it would somehow make it go away. It's like touching the nerve of humanity with feelings, but omitting the truth or calling it unkind. Obadiah does not want to be the messenger for fear that Elijah will disappear again, he is a wanted man, a criminal of the state, a fugitive. They blame you, Elijah, for all this, all their problems are because of you, and if I claim to have seen you and yet you disappear, then I will die. Right, anyway, like I was saying, put your big boy pants on, fear God, Who is eternal, I will be there. He doesn't say it that way, but I picture him not being the most beautiful, clean, well dressed or stately individual. Obadiah probably is well spoken, he would have to be more presentable, and God uses both men, someone that he keeps inside the government of Ahab, a cushion for those who still call upon the name of the only true God, and one who is like a wild man, a John the Baptist, a thorn in the side of the king. 

Ahab comes out to see Elijah himself, and does God not take the plain and base things of this world and elevate them to much importance? Is that you who troubles Israel? Are you that fool that started all of this? This is your fault. No, if you are looking for the man responsible for this, it's not me, you have had 3 and a half years and yet you have not figured that out. It's not me, I only brought you the message, and it hasn't changed, but maybe I can expound a little. You and your fathers led Israel to sin, breaking God's commandments, serving a statue that you made. So lets settle this once and for all, send the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 that are fed by the queen, your wife, the lovely Jezebel. A king and 850 spiritual advisers, the foremost experts in their field, able to tap into the force, yet somehow not make it rain. I am sure they had all kinds of reasons for this, they blamed Elijah too, but their science was still working on the problem. Have faith, we don't know all the answers but we are getting there. Trust us, trust our science. 

Maybe your god is more a god of fire, the last time my God answered with a lot of rain, only 8 people lived. Let's build an altar and the One Who answers by fire is God. Elijah wouldn't do this unless God directed him so, but so many televangelists, "prophets", wolves, will say they are gangster like this, that they have some power like this, or that they move God. They are as vane as the people cutting themselves, God has given His word and you discard it. You claim that those who hold the Bible above tradition, above men's vane thinking, above so called miracles, do not have faith. You ask for signs, you ask for special power, for riches, fame, but He says, heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall remain. Here they will see a miracle, but they could have listened to the word of the Lord all along, it says, repent and be saved. Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You want faith, read your Bible, you want power, live it. You want signs and wonders, then you will probably kill the messenger. You will eat the loaves and the fish, but you will leave when he talks about his body and his blood. You will stop your ears when He says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But they dance on the altar, and Elijah teases them, but they cut themselves all the more, till the blood gushes. Oh God, I see it, the stain of human effort, the blood of the unclean, spent for nothing, praying to a god that doesn't exist. It plays out everyday in our world, "I am good, good enough, karma says do good things and I have done good things, I try to be a good person, I just want people to be happy, we just need a different government." My righteousness is as filthy rags. John Bunyan said it well, "the best prayer I ever prayed, had enough sin to damn the whole world."  

No fire from Baal, he is sleeping or on a long journey to visit one of the thousands of other gods elsewhere. So much like a man he is that maybe he is out chasing girls, fishing or hunting. Elijah rebuilds and old altar, he uses a stone for each of the tribes, he soaks the altar and the surrounding trench with water. He says a prayer to the God that sent him here and directed him to do this. He doesn't do a fire dance, doesn't cut himself, but the fire falls from heaven and eats the wood, the offering, the stones and the water. Okay, to be fare, they only asked their one, maybe two idol gods, and there are a lot of gods in this world, new ones, born everyday. Maybe they just didn't cover enough bases, maybe Elijah's God just happened to be in the neighborhood. Maybe this is Elijah's fault, he just happens to be a great magician, using the technology of his time, he shut up the sky for three years and then tricked the people into thinking they saw fire come down from heaven and disintegrate everything here. Or, maybe none of this happened, it's just a cool story that someone made up to attribute the workings of a really bad famine. 

Elijah takes the false prophets and kills them by the brook. He has the king eat some food, he goes and prays to God again, and then he cares again for the king, telling him to go before the rain overtakes him. Where there has been no rain for a long time, it is both a blessing and a curse. The mud slides and flash floods can be furious. Elijah runs before Ahab's chariot, make the way straight. He shows respect and care for the one who God has allowed to be king, remarkable, truly remarkable. 

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

10 The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

11 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things.12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist. Matthew 17:1-11