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Today we are going to continue in our series on the prophet Elijah and look at one of the most spectacular miracles recorded in the Bible. As we do, let’s remember where Elijah is and what has been going on. Elijah was called by God when Ahab was king of Israel. Ahab was the 19th consecutive bad king in Israel, but he had the distinction of being the worst of all.
Not only did Ahab and his wife not worship the one true God but they also encouraged others to worship false gods. The gods they encouraged people to bow down to and worship were Baal and Asherah. Baal was often depicted as a ram because he was known for his strength and power. He was also seen as a god of the sun and storms and was the one who brought rain and dew to the land. Last week we heard Elijah say that God was going to stop the rain throughout all of Israel because of the sin of the people so Elijah had already shown that God has more power than Baal, but this didn’t stop the people from worshiping him.
Above everything else that Ahab and Jezebel did, it was leading the people to worship Baal that angered God the most. The very first of the 10 Commandments says, you shall have no other gods before me, and the second commandment said we are not to make or worship any idols. Above everything else, God wants and commands us to worship Him and Him alone.
When Jesus was asked which of all the commandments was the most important, He said it was to love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, and ALL your mind, and ALL your soul, and ALL your strength. God is not interested in part of our heart, or even most of our heart - God wants all our heart and our mind and soul and strength. God wants all of us. God is not content with a portion of our lives, and He grieves when we worship any other god.
While we might say that we don’t bow down and worship any other god, the truth is that we often worship and serve other gods. Money can be a god. We trust our money to make us secure and we think our money will make us happy. But money doesn’t bring us security because all our money could be wiped out in a week if the economy collapsed. There is no security in our wealth or possessions, and in fact the more possessions we have the more we find they possess us as we live to care for them. Money is a huge false god in our lives. We think it will provide us with things that only God can provide like security and peace.
Fame and recognition is a false god many people worship today. Becoming a social media sensation, to have our posts go viral so we can finally feel significant is what many people give their lives to, often with tragic results. Instagram challenges injure and kill people every year because they are looking to become popular or famous. We think fame will make us happy, that it will make our lives complete, but once again those are things we will only find in a relationship with God.
Success is another false god. People will work 80 plus hours a week to climb the ladder, to get the next promotion, to set themselves apart and find true success, but they often do that at the expense of their health and family costing us everything. As you can see, there are many false gods we might worship today, and in some ways they are more dangerous than Baal and Asherah because we don’t see them as a false god at all, but they are.
Here is a great way to identify a false god, false gods PROMISE what only God can PROVIDE. False gods promise security but they can’t provide it. Lasting and eternal security comes from God alone. False gods promise happiness, but happiness is fragile and fleeting, but joy comes from the Lord and lasts forever. Fame and success promise fulfillment and purpose but they only last until someone better comes along, and they always do. False gods promise what only God can provide.
With this definition in mind, what false gods do you serve? What things are you looking to bring you what God alone can provide? What are you hoping brings you security, happiness, fulfillment? What are you giving yourself to in order to get the most out of life?
A false god I have always struggled with is money - specifically I look to money to provide me the financial security I will need in the future. I worry that I am not going to have enough to live on in my retirement and I have always wanted to be retired. I don’t always trust God to provide what I need so I constantly look at what I need to do to take care of myself. The economic downturn these past few years have taught me that all my savings and investments could be gone in an instant. The security I want my money to provide in my retirement is something that only God can provide.
What gods do you struggle with? What has taken God’s place as first in your heart and life? Even if it is something that we see as good, if it isn’t God, then it needs to be removed. For the people of Israel, the false gods were Baal and Asherah. They looked to them to bring the rain and the sun and the harvest and prosperity instead of God, and Elijah had been called by God to point out this sin and call people to return to God. First Elijah showed them that their gods don’t bring the rain and can’t provide the harvest, but that hasn’t turned the people’s hearts back to God, so Elijah returns to Israel and Ahab and calls for a final showdown.
Elijah had been away for about 3 years and last week we saw that he has gone through a time of complete humility, dependence, and obedience to God. So now, in the power of God he goes back to King Ahab and calls him and all the people to stop wavering. Worship one god or the other.
When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
“I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing. 1 Kings 18: 17-21
Elijah asked the people; how long will you waver between two opinions? Either serve and follow God or give yourself fully to Baal, but don’t waver back and forth between the two. Don’t say you love God and then bow down to Baal. Don’t say you serve God and then set up Asherah poles to call on her to increase the harvest. Give yourself fully to one or the other.
If Elijah were here today, he would ask us the same question. How long will we waver between two opinions? How long will we worship two gods? Elijah would say we can’t come here on Sunday and worship God but then go out and live for money, wealth, and power all week. How long will we waver? Give yourself to one or the other. If you want to live for wealth and fame - go for it. Give it your all. Do everything you can do to get what they promise. If that is how you want to live, Elijah would say, go for it.
On the other hand, Elijah would tell us that if we truly want to live for God and God alone then we need to root out the false gods and remove them from our heart and life. Find the false gods in your life. Examine your heart to see what things in this world you are living for and what things you are hoping will provide for you what God alone can provide. Root those things out. Turn away from them. Stop giving yourself to them and start giving yourself completely to God. Stop wavering, Elijah would say. Give yourself to one or the other.
To show the people that God alone was God, Elijah set up a showdown. It is one of the most spectacular and truly entertaining stories in the Bible. 1 Kings 18:22-24
Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.” Then all the people said, what you say is good.
I’m sure the people were feeling confident with this wager. Not only was it 450 to 1, but Baal is known as the sun god and a god of the storm. Fire and lighting are his thing, this will be easy. They prepare the sacrifice and begin to call on Baal to bring the fire.
They called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
No one responds to the priests of Baal. The false god can’t provide. The god of the sun and storm can’t send fire or even a meager little lightning bolt to try and start a fire. There is nothing. Now this is where the story gets entertaining.
At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
So the priests of Baal start crying out and nothing happens. They start dancing and shouting and begging Baal to come but nothing happens. Elijah then begins to taunt them. Hey, maybe you need to shout louder. Maybe your god is sleeping and you have to wake him up? Maybe he is traveling and left you alone, see if you can get him to come back. Maybe he is busy.
In the original Hebrew, the word for busy really means relieving yourself. Yup, Elijah actually says, maybe your god is in the bathroom and you have to get him to hurry up and finish so he can help you. Maybe he’s off in the woods behind a tree and can’t hear you. Who said there is no humor in the bible? Elijah really lets them have it which drives them into a deeper frenzy to try and get their god to provide. But it never comes. It never happens. The sacrifice remained on the altar completely untouched.
Now it is Elijah’s turn. He gathered everyone around him and repaired the altar of God that had been torn down. Elijah prepared the sacrifice and laid it on the altar, and then he dug a trench all around the altar and said to the people:
“Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” 1 Kings 18: 33-37
Elijah didn’t just prepare the sacrifice but he saturated it with water. Elijah wanted to show that the fire from God was going to be so powerful that it could not only burn the sacrifice but it one that's been soaked in water. And then Elijah prayed. No cries or shouts or dances or cutting, he just prayed. We are going to look at the prayer life of Elijah next week, but for now we just need to know that his prayer was effective because God answered. What Baal promised, to be there and help his people, God provided.
Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” 1 Kings 18:38-39
God has shown the people that He alone is God and that they need to stop wavering and worship Him. What is so beautiful about this story is that Elijah asks God to do this not to prove a point, but to draw people back to God. When Elijah prayed, he asked God to send fire, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.
At one point the people had worshiped God. They had loved and served God, but over time they wavered and leaders like Ahab and Jezebel were leading them astray. While Elijah taunts and teases the priests, he has compassion on the people. They are like sheep without a shepherd and Elijah wants them to know that the Lord is their shepherd and that they can return to Him.
We might be tempted to ask God to send down fire today so that the hearts of people might turn back to Him, but we have been given an infinitely better display of God’s power in Jesus. In Jesus, God didn’t send fire to the earth, He came to live on the earth. God took on our flesh and blood and then He took on our sin and guilt and shame and shouldered it on the cross. God paid the price for our sin. He died our death. But in a display of God’s power and love, Jesus rose from the grave to show the world not just His power but His love. What other gods promised, eternal life, God provides.
While fire from heaven sounds good, fire from heaven can’t forgive. Fire from heaven can’t heal. Fire from heaven can’t save. But Jesus can. In Jesus we have been given a much better sign that God alone is God. It’s time we stop wavering. It’s time to get serious and give ourselves, heart, mind, soul and strength to God. It’s time for us to root out and turn away from false gods and turn back to the one true God, the one who can provide what other gods only promise.
Next Steps
Which God Do You Serve?
Read 1 Kings 18.
False gods PROMISE what only the true God can PROVIDE.
What false gods do you see at work in the world today?
While we say we believe in and worship one God, we often live as if there are many gods. What is your false god? What false gods have you struggled with in your life?
Elijah asks the people; how long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.
● What would it look like if you went all in and followed your false god?
● What would it look like for you to go all in and follow the one true God?
● What keeps you from going all in with God?
While we often want God to reveal Himself in miraculous displays of power today (like fire from heaven), how is God’s revelation in Jesus better?
Make the commitment today to stop wavering. Go all in and love, worship, and serve God alone. Here are steps forward:
● Acknowledge the false gods at work in your life.
● Repent of your sin of idolatry.
● Ask Jesus to forgive you and draw you back to God.
● Commit to worshiping and serving God alone.
