Elijah - Servant of God
THE PROPHET ON MOUNT CARMEL
Elijah - Servant of God
THE PROPHET ON MOUNT CARMEL
In the opening verse of 1 Kings 18 a new order is issued to our prophet. “And it came to pass, after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, ‘Go show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.’” Elijah is now summoned away from retirement at Zarephath, to make his appearance in public, standing again before King Ahab. To one occupying the position, exhibiting the spirit of a true servant, it matters not what summons he receives. Whether it be “Go hide thyself,” or “Go show thyself,” he is ready to obey. For 3½ years the Lord trained His servant in secret. At Cherith and Zarephath God taught him many important lessons; now he was called to leave the desert and again appear to Israel as the public witness of Jehovah.
Though he might have preferred retirement to the stormy scenes and harassing vicissitudes of public life, still, he did not hesitate for one moment. Elijah was a servant, and that was enough. He was ready to confront the angry Ahab and the prophets of Baal – as ready as he had been to seclude himself for 3½ years. We should covet the spirit of a humble, obedient servant. That spirit will carry us through many difficulties; will save us from much contention; will send us along the path of service while others are disputing it. If only we are willing to obey and serve, we will never lack opportunity – never be at a loss regarding the path we should pursue.1
We have already noticed the prophet’s unhesitating obedience to the Word of the Lord. Such obedience will always involve abandonment of self. For example, leaving the safety of one’s retreat in order to appear before an angry tyrant and his wicked queen; being led to stand against a host of idolatrous prophets required magnificent self-renunciation. But, through grace, Elijah was ready. He felt he was not his own, but a servant, and as such he stood with girded loins and open ears to attend his Master’s summons, whatever it might be. May we possess that blessed attitude. May there be many found therein. Therefore, Elijah goes to meet King Ahab, one of the most important scenes of his life.
Before contacting Ahab, Elijah has a perfectly characteristic meeting with Obadiah. However, Obadiah does not meet the prophet with affectionate cordiality one brother usually shows toward another. Instead, he meets him with a rather cold formality, like one who had been around the world's society. “Art thou that my lord Elijah?”
Though Obadiah’s greeting might have been occasioned by the overawing solemnity of Elijah’s appearance and manner, still, one assumes that there should have been more holy familiarity between two servants of the Lord. Elijah, too, seems to maintain this distance. “I am,” he said; “go tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.” Elijah was the sole depositary of the Lord’s secret, of which Obadiah knew nothing.
How could he? Ahab’s house was not the place to gain entrance into God’s counsel. Obadiah was on a mission in keeping with the person who had sent him; and so was Elijah. But what a contrast: Obadiah’s immediate object was grass – his ultimate object was preservation of Ahab’s horses and mules; Elijah’s immediate object was the announcement of Jehovah’s indubitable purpose concerning rain – his ultimate object was bringing the nation back to its early faith and devotedness.
Both were men of God; and some may say that Obadiah was as much in his place as Elijah – both serving their master. No doubt Obadiah was serving his master; but should Ahab have been his master? No; his service to Ahab was not the result of communion with God. True it did not rob him of his name and character as one that feared the Lord greatly; the Holy Spirit has graciously recorded this concerning him. However, it must have been miserable for one who feared the Lord greatly to be a servant to such a master – the worst of Israel’s apostate kings. Elijah would not have done it. We cannot think of Elijah going out on a mission whose immediate object was grass. Elijah did not see Ahab as master, though he was bound to see him as King.
There is a great difference between being a monarch’s subject and holding a position under a monarch. The common argument is: “The powers that be are ordained of God,” therefore it is right to hold office under them. But those who argue this seem to lose sight of the distinction between being subject to and co-operating with the powers that be: the former is a sound and scriptural service – an act of positive obedience to God; the latter is an unsound and unscriptural assumption of worldly authority, often obstructing the servant of God’s path.
While we should not enter into judgment on those who enlist their energies in the government of this world, still, it is possible that they could find themselves in an awkward position regarding service to their heavenly Master. The principles of this world are diametrically opposed to those of God; therefore, it seems logical that it could be difficult to carry out both at the same time.
Obadiah is a remarkable example of this. Had he been more openly on the Lord’s side, he would have had no need to say, “Was it not told my lord what I did?” In his estimation, hiding the prophets seemed to be such a remarkable thing that he wondered if it was known. Elijah had no need to ask such a question; it was well known “what he did.” Service to God was no phenomena in his history. Why? Because he was not trammeled by the arrangements of Ahab’s house. He was free, and could therefore serve God without having to consider the thoughts of Ahab or Jezebel.
However, Elijah was under the charge of troubling Israel. “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” The more faithful one is to God and His truth, the more exposed he is to this charge. If we are allowed to sleep “in dead supineness,” the god of this world will be pleased, his domain untroubled. But, when a faithful one appears he is sure to be regarded as a troubler, intruding on peace and order.
But if peace and order means standing with the open denial of the Lord’s truth and name, then it needs to be broken up. The hearts of the earthly-minded may be occupied with the question, “Is it peace?” regardless of that peace being procured at the expense of truth and holiness. Nature loves ease and even though Christians may be found pleading for peace and quietness, it is forever true that faithfulness to Christ and His principles always calls for plain dealing with unsound doctrine or evil practice.
The tendency of our age is to hold Biblical questions in abeyance; placing far too much importance on fleshly things of this world, allowing them to interfere with eternal matters. Elijah seemed to feel that the peaceful slumber of sin must be interrupted at all cost. He beheld the nation wrapped in the deep sleep of idolatry, so he rose up as God’s stormy instrument against them.
So it was, and so it is. The storm of controversy is always preferable to the calm of sin and worldliness. Let us pray that there is no need to raise such a storm; but when it is needed – when the enemy stretches “the leaden sceptre” of unholy repose over the people of God – we should be thankful to that faithful one who breaks in on such repose. If Elijah had not been there in the days of Ahab and Jezebel; if everyone had been like Obadiah or the seven thousand, Baal and his prophets might have held undisputed sway over the minds of the people.
But God delivered a man who cared not about his own ease, or the nation’s ease, if purchased at the expense of God’s honor. In the strength of the Lord, Elijah did not fear to face a terrific array of eight hundred and fifty prophets, whose living depended on the nation’s delusion.
This called for strong spiritual vigor and energy, as well as a deep and powerful conviction of the reality of Divine truth. It called for a clear insight into Israel’s low and degraded condition. It was this calling that enabled Elijah to leave his quiet retreat at Zarephath and burst into the midst of Baal’s votaries, bringing on himself a fierce storm of opposition. Our prophet could have remained in quiet retirement, in undisturbed repose, if he had been satisfied to allow the strongholds of idolatry to remain untouched. But this he could not do. Therefore, he appears and meets the angry Ahab with these solemn and heart-searching words, “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 served Baalim.”
Elijah traced the evil to its proper source – departure from God’s Holy Commandments. We are prone to forget any sin that occasions trouble, thinking only of the trouble itself. But, true wisdom always leads us to look deeper – to the procuring cause of the trouble.
So, when unsound doctrine insidiously creeps in, gaining power – if some faithful one should feel called to take a firm and decided stand against it, he should count on being regarded as a troubler, being labeled the cause of all the commotion. However, the intelligent, reflecting, and spiritual mind will thoughtfully trace the trouble to its proper source, standing with the faithful one who has taken a stand for truth against error, resisting the error, as well as those who have received and entertained it.
The defender of truth must always judge his spirit and temper, so that while attacking error in doctrine, he falls not into evil in practice. Many who have set out in real sincerity of heart to vindicate some neglected or disputed truth have failed in this regard and to a great degree have nullified their valuable testimony. We must never forget that the sagacious enemy is always ready to act on our narrow-mindedness and unreasonableness by leading us to the petty infirmities of temper, thus losing sight of the important principle advocated.
But our prophet entered the arena well equipped; he came from “the secret place of the Most High”; in solitude he had learned the lessons of self-judgment and self-subjugation that qualified him for the momentous sphere he was about to enter. Elijah was no angry or stormy controversialist; he had been too long in secret with God for that; he was solemnized in his spirit before being called to confront Baal’s host of prophets. Therefore, he could stand before them in the calm elevation and holy dignity that always marked his bearing. We see in Elijah no haste, no perturbation, and no hesitancy. He was before God – self-possessed and tranquil.
It is in circumstances such as this that a man’s spirit is really tested. Nothing but the mighty power of God could have maintained Elijah in his extraordinary position on Mount Carmel. “He was a man of like passions with us;” and being the only one of his day who possessed sufficient moral courage and spiritual power to make a public stand for God against the power of idolatry, the enemy might have suggested to his heart, “What a great man you are to stand forth thus as the solitary champion of Israel’s ancient faith.” But God held up His dear servant and carried him through this very trying scene, because Elijah was His witness, and His servant.
And so it will always be. The Lord will always stand by those who stand by Him. Had Obadiah made a stand against Ahab and Jezebel, the Lord would have carried him through. What a difference that might have made; instead of being the servant of Ahab, Obadiah might have been the yokefellow of Elijah in his great reformation. But this was not the case; therefore, like Lot of old, “his righteous soul was vexed” by the errors and evils of an idolatrous house.
Let us not be chained down to earth by deliberate connection with the systems or plans of this world. Heaven is our home; our hope; we are not of the world; Jesus has purchased us. He has delivered us from the world, so that we might shine as lights while passing onward to our heavenly rest.
Not only did Elijah acquit himself as a servant of God in his deportment and manner, but he also showed himself taught of God in those principles on which the reformation was based. Personal deportment and manner avails little if soundness in faith is lacking. It is easy to put on a leathern girdle and assume a solemn and dignified manner; but only a spiritual apprehension of God’s principles will enable one to exert a reforming influence on others.
Elijah possessed all these qualifications. Both his appearance and faith eminently suited a thorough reformer. Aware that he was in possession of a secret that would deliver his brethren from the unhallowed thralldom of Baal, he says to Ahab, “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.”
He was determined to bring Baal face to face with the God of Israel. He wanted the matter settled in a public test, so his brethren would no longer” halt between two opinions.” There is great strength in the prophet’s words as he stands before the assembled thousands of Israel. “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.”
This was very simple. The prophets of Baal could not gainsay nor resist it. The prophet asked only for decision of character. There could be nothing gained on either side by vacillating. “I would ye were either cold or hot.” We know from the Lord’s own words to Elijah in the next chapter, that there were seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal; who, we may conclude, were waiting for some vigorous hand to plant the standard of God’s truth so they might rally around it. No one among them seemed to possess power for such a bold step, but they no doubt rejoiced in Elijah’s boldness and ability to do so.
This has often been the case in the history of God’s people. In times of greatest darkness there have always been those whose spirits mourned in secret over widespread evil and apostasy, longing for spiritual light to burst in, ready to welcome its earliest beams. God has always had a witness, although it is not often that we can perceive a star of sufficient magnitude and brilliancy to pierce through the clouds of night, yet we know that even though the clouds be dark and gloomy, stars have been there in every age, though their twinkling may be seldom seen.
It was this way in the days of Elias; there were seven thousand such stars whose light was obscured by the thick clouds of idolatry. Seven thousand stars who would not yield to the darkness though they lacked power to enlighten others. But, there was one star of sufficient power and brightness to dispel the mists and create a sphere that allowed others to shine. This star was Elijah the Tishbite, who, in heavenly power and light, broke into the stronghold of Baal, upsetting and overturning Jezebel’s table,2 bringing folly on the whole system of Baal’s worship. In fact, by God’s grace, it effected a mighty moral change in the nation – bringing Israel down to real self-abasement, mingling the blood of Baal’s prophets with the waters of Kishon.
How gracious of the Lord to raise up such a deliverer for His deluded people; And what a death-blow to the prophets of Baal. We may safely assume that they never offered a more unwilling sacrifice to their idol than what our prophet suggested. It was the sure precursor of his downfall, and theirs also. What a sad aspect they present, “crying and cutting themselves with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out,” and crying out, with unavailing earnestness, “O Baal, hear us!” Alas, Baal could not hear nor answer them.
Our prophet, conscious of the sinful folly of the whole scene, mocks them: they cry more earnestly, leaping with frantic zeal upon the altar; but all in vain. Now they would be unmasked in view of the nation. Their craft was in imminent danger. Hands that through their influence had often been lifted up in diabolical worship of a sinful absurdity, were about to seize them and drag them to their merited fate. No wonder they cried, “O Baal, hear us!”
How solemn and immutably true are those words of Jeremiah, “Cursed is the man whose heart departeth from the Lord.” It matters not on whom, or on what, we place our confidence: whether it be a religious system or a religious ordinance, or anything else; if it is a departure from God then a curse follows it – the final struggle will at last come, and when it does the Baal’s of this world will be invoked in vain; “there will be neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any to regard.”
How awful is the thought of departing from the living God. At the end of our personal history, how dreadful it will be to find that we have been leaning on a broken reed. If you have not found solid and abiding peace for your guilty conscience in the atoning blood of Jesus, if you have a single emotion of fear in your heart at the thought of meeting God, let us put the prophet’s question to you, “How long halt ye between two opinions?” Why do you stand aloof when Jesus calls you to come to Him and take His yoke? The hour is coming when, if you have not fled for refuge to Jesus, a greater than Elijah will mock at your calamity.
May we all hearken to these solemn words: “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all My counsel, and would none of My reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you” (Prov. 1:24-27).
Inconceivably awful words! Much more awful will be the reality. Flee to Jesus. Rush yourself to the open fountain, and there find peace and refuge before the storm of God’s wrath and judgment bursts upon your head. “When once the master of the house has risen up and shut to the door,” you are lost, forever. We implore you to seriously think on these things, before it is everlastingly too late.3
We now turn to another side of the picture. The prophets of Baal were signally defeated. They had leaped, cut themselves, and cried to no purpose. Their whole system proved to be a gross fallacy; their superstructure of error trampled to the ground. All that now remained was to rear the magnificent superstructure of truth in full view of those who had so long been enslaved by vanity and lies. “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. 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: and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord.”
It is always good to patiently wait, allowing evil and error to find its own level. Time will surely bring truth to light. Likewise, time will eventually strip the venerable robes of antiquity from error, displaying it in naked deformity. Elijah felt this; therefore he stood quietly by and allowed all the sand in Baal’s hour-glass to run out before exhibiting the pattern of a more excellent way. Only apprehension of Divine principles enables one to adopt this patient course. If our prophet had been shallow-minded or badly taught, he would have demonstrated greater haste in displaying his system and raising a storm of opposition against his antagonists.
But a spirit gifted with true spiritual elevation is never in haste, never perturbed. Elijah was an elevated, independent, holy man, who maintained a heavenly dignity that should be earnestly sought after by all the Lord’s servants. When he stood on Mount Carmel, beholding the fruitless bodily exercise of Baal’s prophets, he was seen as one fully conscious of his heavenly mission – both in his manner and principles, acquitting himself as a prophet of the Lord.
What were those principles? In a word, they were those on which the unity of the nation was based. The first thing Elijah does is to “repair the altar of the Lord that was broken down.” This was Israel’s center, and every true reformer directed his attention to this. Those who seek to carry out a one-sided reformation may be satisfied with merely throwing down that which is false, but without establishing a sound basis on which to erect a new superstructure, such reformation will never stand, because it carries too much of the old leaven. In other words, the altar of Baal must not only be thrown down, but the altar of the Lord must be set up.
Some may sacrifice the altar of Baal to the Lord. In other words, they would retain an evil system, being satisfied with giving it a right name. But, the only center of unity that God recognizes is the name of Jesus – simply and exclusively. The people of God must not be looked at as members of a system, but as members of Christ. God sees them as such, and it should be their business to be what God tells them they are.
In his actions on Mount Carmel, Elijah does not fail to recognize Israel’s unbroken unity. He takes twelve stones, according to the number of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the Word of the Lord came, saying “Israel shall be thy name.” To recognize the twelve tribes of Israel at a time when they were divided, weakened, and degraded, evidenced true communion with the mind of God in reference to His people.
Yet this is what the Spirit will ever suggest. “Our twelve tribes” must never be given up. Through their own weakness and folly, they may become scattered and divided; yet the God of Israel thinks of them in unbroken unity – unity they will exhibit again when, having been united by the true David, they shall in holy fellowship tread the Lord’s courts forever.
Through the Spirit, Elijah saw all this. With the eye of faith, he penetrated Israel’s humiliating bondage, beholding them in unity – no longer Judah and Israel, but Israel, for the word is, “Israel shall be thy name.” His mind was not occupied with what Israel was, but with what God had said. This was faith. Unbelief might say, “You are taking too high a stand; it is presumption to talk about twelve tribes when there are but ten; it is folly to speak of unbroken unity when there is nothing but division.” Such will always be the language of unbelief that can never grasp the thoughts of God, nor see things as He sees them.
But the man of faith is privileged to rest his spirit on the immutable testimony of God – not to be nullified by man’s sinful folly. “Israel shall be thy name.” Precious, permanent promise. Nothing could interfere with it; not Rehoboam’s childishness, Jeroboam’s cunning policy, or Ahab’s vileness, nothing could hinder Elijah from taking the loftiest position that an Israelite could take – worshipping at an altar built of twelve stones, according to the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
In Elijah the Tishbite we have an example of the power of faith in the promise of God at a time when everything around him was in opposition. It enabled Elijah to rise above the evil and sorrow around him; to build an altar of twelve stones with as much confidence and unclouded assurance as Joshua did, when, amid the triumphant hosts of Israel, he erected his trophy on the banks of Jordan.
We have seen the principle on which our prophet desired to carry out the reformation. It was a sound one, and God honored it. The fire from Heaven confounded the prophets of Baal, confirmed the prophet’s faith, and delivered the people from halting between two opinions. Elijah’s faith gave God opportunity to act by making a trench and filling it with water. In other words, he made the difficulty as great as possible so that God’s triumph would be complete and unquestioned.
God always responds to the appeal of simple faith. “Hear me,” said the prophet, “O Lord, hear me; that this people may know that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again.”
This is intelligent prayer; solely about God and His people. Our prophet does not say, “Hear me, that this people may know that I am a true prophet.” No; his only concern is to bring the people back to the God of their fathers, establishing the claims of God in their consciences – opposing the claims of Baal. And God was listening, because no sooner had Elijah concluded his prayer than “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. 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.”
The false prophets are confounded; Truth triumphs. In holy indignation, our prophet mingles their blood with the waters of the Kishon – evil was judged. Probably being aware that he would get no response, our prophet did not ask Ahab to join in thanksgiving to God for such a glorious triumph over evil. Instead, Elijah announces these words to Ahab, “Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” These words convey Ahab’s true character – “Eat and drink.” Ahab had gone out to look for grass; Elijah spoke to him of what he most desired, rain.
Yes, they were both Israelites: but one was in communion with God, the other a slave of sin. Therefore, while Ahab found his enjoyment in eating and drinking, Elijah sought his in retirement with God – blessed heavenly enjoyment.
Consider the difference between Elijah’s bearing in the presence of man and in the presence of God. First, notice how he carried himself in the presence of man: he met Obadiah, a saint in wrong circumstances, with an air of dignity and elevation; he met Ahab in righteous sternness; he stood amid thousands of his deluded and erring brethren with the firmness and grace of a true reformer; and he had met the wicked prophets of Baal first with mocking, and then with the sword of vengeance.
But how did he meet God? “He cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees.” Our prophet knew his place both before God and before man. In the presence of man he acted as the case demanded; in the presence of God he prostrated himself in unfeigned and reverent humility.
In the next part of our brief look at Elijah – Servant of God, we will accompany our prophet to widely different scenes.
Footnotes:
1In every age the servant character is marked by the Holy Spirit as one of special value. In fact, it is the only thing that will stand in times of general declension. Of this we have numerous examples in Scripture. When the house of Eli was about to fall before God’s judgment, Samuel occupied the position of a servant whose ear was opened to hear. His word was, “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” When all Israel had fled from the face of the Philistine champion, the servant character again came forth. “Thy servant will go and fight,” etc. The Lord Jesus Himself had the title of Servant applied to Him by Jehovah, in the words of the prophet, “Behold My Servant,” etc. Furthermore, when the Church had failed, becoming “the great house,” “the servant of the Lord” was told how he ought to carry himself. And lastly, it is mentioned as one of the special features of the heavenly Jerusalem, that “His servants shall serve Him.” The Lord grant us more of this spirit.
2False religions always seek the sunshine of this world’s favor, whereas true religion never appears more pure and genuine than when the world frowns on it. “The prophets of the groves eat at Jezebel’s table.” Without a table, Jezebel would have no prophets – it was her table, not her soul, they sought.
3For more information on this subject see God’s Salvation in Contents.
