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1 Kings Chapter
Eighteen
1 Kings 18
Chapter Contents
Elijah sends Ahab notice of his coming. (1-16) Elijah
meets Ahab. (17-20) Elijah's trial of the false prophets. (21-40) Elijah, by
prayer, obtains rain. (41-46)
Commentary on 1 Kings 18:1-16
(Read 1 Kings 18:1-16)
The severest judgments, of themselves, will not humble or
change the hearts of sinners; nothing, except the blood of Jesus Christ, can
atone for the guilt of sin; nothing, except the sanctifying Spirit of God, can
purge away its pollution. The priests and the Levites were gone to Judah and
Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 11:13,14, but instead of them God
raised up prophets, who read and expounded the word. They probably were from
the schools of the prophets, first set up by Samuel. They had not the spirit of
prophecy as Elijah, but taught the people to keep close to the God of Israel.
These Jezebel sought to destroy. The few that escaped death were forced to hide
themselves. God has his remnant among all sorts, high and low; and that faith,
fear, and love of his name, which are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, will be
accepted through the Redeemer. See how wonderfully God raises up friends for
his ministers and people, for their shelter in difficult times. Bread and water
were now scarce, yet Obadiah will find enough for God's prophets, to keep them
alive. Ahab's care was not to lose all the beasts; but he took no care about
his soul, not to lose that. He took pains to seek grass, but none to seek the
favour of God; fencing against the effect, but not inquiring how to remove the
cause. But it bodes well with a people, when God calls his ministers to stand
forth, and show themselves. And we may the better endure the bread of
affliction, while our eyes see our teachers.
Commentary on 1 Kings 18:17-20
(Read 1 Kings 18:17-20)
One may guess how people stand affected to God, by
observing how they stand affected to his people and ministers. It has been the
lot of the best and most useful men, like Elijah, to be called and counted the
troublers of the land. But those who cause God's judgments do the mischief, not
he that foretells them, and warns the nation to repent.
Commentary on 1 Kings 18:21-40
(Read 1 Kings 18:21-40)
Many of the people wavered in their judgment, and varied
in their practice. Elijah called upon them to determine whether Jehovah or Baal
was the self-existent, supreme God, the Creator, Governor, and Judge of the
world, and to follow him alone. It is dangerous to halt between the service of
God and the service of sin, the dominion of Christ and the dominion of our
lusts. If Jesus be the only Saviour, let us cleave to him alone for every
thing; if the Bible be the world of God, let us reverence and receive the whole
of it, and submit our understanding to the Divine teaching it contains. Elijah
proposed to bring the matter to a trial. Baal had all the outward advantages,
but the event encourages all God's witnesses and advocates never to fear the
face of man. The God that answers by fire, let him be God: the atonement was to
be made by sacrifice, before the judgment could be removed in mercy. The God
therefore that has power to pardon sin, and to signify it by consuming the
sin-offering, must needs be the God that can relieve from the calamity. God
never required his worshippers to honour him in the manner of the worshippers
of Baal; but the service of the devil, though sometimes it pleases and pampers
the body, yet, in other things, really is cruel to it, as in envy and
drunkenness. God requires that we mortify our lusts and corruptions; but bodily
penances and severities are no pleasure to him. Who has required these things
at your hands? A few words uttered in assured faith, and with fervent affection
for the glory of God, and love to the souls of men, or thirstings after the
Lord's image and his favour, form the effectual, fervent prayer of the
righteous man, which availeth much. Elijah sought not his own glory, but that
of God, for the good of the people. The people are all agreed, convinced, and
satisfied; Jehovah, he is the God. Some, we hope, had their hearts turned, but
most of them were convinced only, not converted. Blessed are they that have not
seen what these saw, yet have believed, and have been wrought upon by it, more
than they that saw it.
Commentary on 1 Kings 18:41-46
(Read 1 Kings 18:41-46)
Israel, being so far reformed as to acknowledge the Lord
to be God, and to consent to the execution of Baal's prophets, was so far
accepted, that God poured out blessing upon the land. Elijah long continued
praying. Though the answer of our fervent and believing supplications does not
come quickly, we must continue earnest in prayer, and not faint or give over. A
little cloud at length appeared, which soon overspread the heavens, and watered
the earth. Great blessings often arise from small beginnings, showers of plenty
from a cloud of span long. Let us never despise the day of small things, but
hope and wait for great things from it. From what small beginnings have great
matters arisen! It is thus in all the gracious proceedings of God with the
soul. Scarcely to be perceived are the first workings of his Spirit in the
heart, which grow up at last to the wonder of men, and applause of angels.
Elijah hastened Ahab home, and attended him. God will strengthen his people for
every service to which his commandments and providence call them. The awful
displays of Divine justice and holiness dismay the sinner, extort confessions,
and dispose to outward obedience while the impression lasts; but the view of
these, with mercy, love, and truth in Christ Jesus, is needful to draw the soul
to self-abasement, trust, and love. The Holy Spirit employs both in the
conversion of sinners; when sinners are impressed with Divine truths, they
should be exhorted to set about the duties to which the Saviour calls his disciples.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Kings》
1 Kings 18
Verse 1
[1] 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.
The third year —
Either, 1. From the time when he went to hide himself by the brook Cherith; six
months before which time the famine might begin. And so this being towards the
end of the third year, it makes up these three years and six months, James 5:17. Or, 2. From the time of his going to
Sarepta, which probably was a year after the famine begun; So this might be in
the middle of the third year, which also makes up the three years and six
months.
Go to Ahab — To
acquaint him with the cause of this judgment, and to advise him to remove it,
and upon that condition to promise him rain.
Will send —
According to thy word and prayer, which thou shalt make for it. Thus God takes
care to maintain the honour of his prophet, and in judgment remembers mercy to
Israel, for the sake of the holy seed yet left among them, who suffered in this
common calamity.
Verse 2
[2] And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in
Samaria.
Elijah went —
Wherein he shews a strong faith, and resolute obedience, and invincible
courage, that he durst at God's command run into the mouth of this raging lion.
Verse 3
[3] And
Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared
the LORD greatly:
Obadiah —
Being valued by Ahab for his great prudence and fidelity, and therefore
indulged as to the worship of the calves and Baal. "But how could he and
some other Israelites be said to fear the Lord, when they did not go up to
Jerusalem to worship, as God had commanded?" Although they seem not to be
wholly excusable in this neglect, yet because they worshipped God in spirit and
truth, and performed all moral duties to God and their brethren, and abstained
from idolatry, being kept from Jerusalem by violence, God bares with their
infirmity herein.
Verse 4
[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.)
Prophets —
This name is not only given to such as are endowed with an extraordinary spirit
of prophecy, but to such ministers as devoted themselves to the service of God
in preaching, praying, and praising God.
And fed —
With the hazard of his own life, and against the king's command; as wisely
considering, that no command of an earthly prince could over-rule the command
of the king of kings.
Bread and water —
With meat and drink. See how wonderfully God raises up friends for his
ministers and people where one would least expect them!
Verse 7
[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?
And fell — By
this profound reverence, shewing his great respect and love to him.
Verse 8
[8] And
he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.
Thy lord —
Ahab: whom, though a very wicked man, he owns for Obadiah's Lord and king;
thereby instructing us, that the wickedness of kings doth not exempt their
subjects from obedience to their lawful commands.
Verse 9
[9] And
he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the
hand of Ahab, to slay me?
He said —
Wherein have I offended God, and thee, that thou shouldest expose me to certain
ruin.
Verse 10
[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.
No nation —
Near his own, where he could in reason think that Elijah had hid himself. It
does not appear, that Ahab sought him, in order to put him to death: but rather
in hopes of prevailing upon him, to pray for the removal of the drought.
Verse 12
[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.
Carry thee —
Such transportations of the prophets having doubtless been usual before this
time, as they were after it.
Slay me —
Either as one that hath deluded him with vain hopes: or, because I did not
seize upon thee, and bring thee to him.
But I, … — He
speaks not these words, in a way of boasting; but that he might move the
prophet to spare him, and not put him upon that hazardous action.
Verse 17
[17] And
it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he
that troubleth Israel?
Ahab said —
Have I at last met with thee, O thou disturber of my kingdom, the author of
this famine, and all our calamities?
Verse 18
[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.
He answered —
These calamities are not to he imputed to me, but thine and thy father's
wickedness. He answered him boldly, because he spoke in God's name, and for his
honour and service.
Ye — All of you have
forsaken the Lord, and thou in particular, hast followed Baalim.
Verse 19
[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.
Send —
Messengers, that this controversy may be decided, what is the cause of these
heavy judgments.
All Israel — By
their heads, or representatives, that they may be witnesses of all our
transactions.
Carmel —
Not that Carmel, in Judah, but another in Issachar by the midland sea, which he
chose as a convenient place being not far from the center of his kingdom, to
which all the tribes might conveniently resort, and at some distance from
Samaria, that Jezebel might not hinder.
Prophets of Baal —
Who were dispersed in all the parts of the kingdom.
Of the groves —
Who attended upon those Baal's or idols that were worshipped in the groves,
which were near the royal city, and much frequented by the king and the queen.
Verse 20
[20] So
Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together
unto mount Carmel.
Ahab sent — He
complied with Elijah's motion; because the urgency of the present distress made
him willing to try all means to remove it; from a curiosity of seeing some
extraordinary events; and principally, because God inclined his heart.
Verse 21
[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.
And said —
Why do you walk so lamely and unevenly, being so unsteady in your opinions and
practices, and doubting whether it is better to worship God or Baal? If the
Lord - Whom you pretend to worship.
Follow —
Worship him, and him only, and that in such place and manner as he hath
commanded you.
If Baal — If
Baal can prove himself to be the true God.
Answered not —
Being convinced of the reasonableness of his proposition.
Verse 22
[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.
I only —
Here present, to own the cause of God. As far the other prophets of the Lord,
many of them were slain, others banished, or hid in caves.
Verse 23
[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:
Let then, … — To
put this controversy to a short issue.
Verse 24
[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.
By Fire —
That shall consume the sacrifice by fire sent from heaven; which the people
knew the true God used to do. It was a great condescension in God, that he
would permit Baal to be a competitor with him. But thus God would have every
mouth to be stopped, and all flesh become silent before him. And Elijah
doubtless had a special commission from God, or he durst not have put it to
this issue. But the case was extraordinary, and the judgment upon it would be
of use not only then, but in all ages. Elijah does not say, The God that
answers by water, tho' that was the thing the country needed, but that answers
by fire, let him be God; because the atonement was to be made, before the
judgment could be removed. The God therefore that has power to pardon sin, and
to signify that by consuming the sin-offering, must needs be the God that can
relieve us against the calamity.
Verse 25
[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.
Dress it first —
And I am willing to give you the precedency. This he did, because if he had
first offered, and God had answered by fire, Baal's priests would have desisted
from making the trial on their part; and because the disappointment of the
priests of Baal, of which he was well assured, would prepare the way for the
people's attention to his words, and cause them to entertain his success with
more affection; and this coming last would leave the greater impression upon
their hearts. And this they accepted, because they might think, that if Baal
answered them first, which they presumed he would, the people would be so
confirmed and heightened in their opinion of Baal, that they might murder
Elijah before he came to his experiment.
Verse 26
[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.
Dressed —
Cut it in pieces, and laid the parts upon the wood.
From morning —
From the time of the morning sacrifice; which advantage Elijah suffered them to
take.
They leapt upon —
Or, beside the altar: or, before it. They used some superstitious and
disorderly gestures, either pretending to be acted by the spirit of their god,
and to be in a kind of religious extasy; or, in way of devotion to their god.
Verse 27
[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.
Mocked them —
Derided them and their gods, which had now proved themselves to be ridiculous
and contemptible things.
Verse 28
[28] And
they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets,
till the blood gushed out upon them.
Cut themselves —
Mingling their own blood with their sacrifices; as knowing by experience, that
nothing was more acceptable to their Baal (who was indeed the devil) than human
blood; and hoping thereby to move their god to help them. And this indeed was
the practice of divers Heathens in the worship of their false gods.
Verse 29
[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.
Prophesied —
That is, prayed to, and worshipped their god.
Verse 30
[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.
The altar —
This had been built by some of their ancestors for the offering of sacrifice to
the God of Israel, which was frequently done in high places.
Broken down — By
some of the Baalites, out of their enmity to the true God, whose temple,
because they could not reach, they shewed their malignity in destroying his
altars.
Verse 31
[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:
Twelve stones —
This he did, to renew the covenant between God and all the tribes, as Moses
did, Exodus 24:4, to shew, that he prayed and acted
in the name, and for the service of the God of all the Patriarchs, and of all
the tribes of Israel, and for their good: and, to teach the people, that though
the tribes were divided as to their civil government, they ought all to be
united in the worship of the same God.
Israel —
Jacob was graciously answered by God when he prayed to him, and was honoured
with the glorious title of Israel, which noted his prevalency with God and men.
And I, calling upon the same God, doubt not of a like gracious answer; and if
ever you mean to have your prayers granted, you must seek to the God of Jacob.
Verse 33
[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.
With water —
This they could quickly fetch, either from the river Kishon; or, if that was
dried up, from the sea; both were at the foot of the mountain. This he did to
make the miracle more glorious, and more unquestionable.
Verse 36
[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.
The evening sacrifice — This time he chose, that he might unite his prayers with the prayers of
the godly Jews at Jerusalem, who at that time assembled together to pray.
Lord God of, … —
Hereby he shews faith in God's ancient covenant, and also reminds the people,
of their relation both to God and to the patriarchs.
Done these things —
Brought this famine, gathered the people hither, and done what I have done, or
am doing here; not in compliance with my own passions, but in obedience to thy
command.
Verse 37
[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.
Hast turned —
Let them feel so powerful a change in their hearts, that they may know it is
thy work.
Back again —
Unto thee, from whom they have revolted.
Verse 38
[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.
Consumed —
Solomon's altar was consecrated by fire from heaven; but this was destroyed,
because no more to be used.
Verse 39
[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.
They fell — In
acknowledgment of the true God.
He is God — He
alone; and Baal is a senseless idol. And they double the words, to note their
abundant satisfaction and assurance of the truth of their assertion.
Verse 40
[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.
Elijah said — He
takes the opportunity, whilst the peoples hearts were warm with the fresh sense
of this great miracle.
The brook Kishon —
That their blood might be poured into that river, and thence conveyed into the
sea, and might not defile the holy land.
Slew them — As
these idolatrous priests were manifestly under a sentence of death, passed upon
such by the sovereign Lord of life and death, so Elijah had authority to
execute it, being a prophet, and an extraordinary minister of God's vengeance.
The four hundred prophets of the groves, it seems, did not attend, and so
escaped, which perhaps Ahab rejoiced in. But it proved, they were reserved to be
the instruments of his destruction, by encouraging him to go up to
Ramoth-Gilead.
Verse 41
[41] And
Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of
abundance of rain.
Get up —
From the river, where he had been present at the slaughter of Baal's priests,
to thy tent: which probably was pitched on the side of Carmel.
Eat, … —
Take comfort, and refresh thyself: for neither the king, nor any of the people
could have leisure to eat, being wholly intent upon the decision of the great controversy.
For there is, … —
The rain is as certainly coming, as if you heard the noise which it makes.
Verse 42
[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,
The top of Carmel —
Where he might pour out his prayers unto God; and whence he might look towards
the sea. He had a large prospect of the sea from hence. The sailors at this day
call it cape Carmel.
Between his knees —
That is, bowed his head so low, that it touched his knees; thus abasing himself
in the sense of his own meanness, now God had thus honoured him.
Verse 43
[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.
Go — While I continue
praying. Elijah desired to have timely notice of the first appearance of rain,
that Ahab and the people might know that it was obtained from Jehovah by the
prophet's prayers, and thereby be confirmed in the true religion.
Verse 44
[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.
Like a man's hand —
Great blessings often rise from small beginnings, and showers of plenty from a
cloud of a span long. Let us therefore never despise the day of small things,
but hope and wait for greater things from it.
Verse 46
[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.
The hand, … —
God gave him more than natural strength, whereby he was enabled to outrun
Ahab's chariot, for so many miles together.
He girded, … — That
his garments, which were long, might not hinder him.
Ran before Ahab — To
shew how ready he was to honour and serve the king, that by this humble and
self-denying carriage, it might appear, what he had done was not from envy or
passion, but only from a just zeal for God's glory: that by his presence with
the king and his courtiers, he might animate and oblige them to proceed in the
reformation of religion: and, to demonstrate, that he was neither ashamed of,
nor afraid for what he had done, but durst venture himself in the midst of his
enemies.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Kings》
18 Chapter 18
Verses 1-19
Verses 1-18
Go, show thyself unto Ahab.
Ahab, Obadiah, and Elijah;-
What are the general lessons as affecting Ahab, Obadiah,
and Elijah?
1. It is possible for a man to be very bad in one direction and very
tolerant in another. It was so in the case of Ahab. He was the worst of the
kings of Israel, yet he kept a governor over his house who feared the Lord
greatly.
2. The Lord causes the most wicked men to pay His religion the homage
which is due to its excellence. A bad king employs a good governor! The thief
likes an honest man for steward. The blasphemer likes a godly teacher for his
child.
3. He who is the slave of idolatry becomes an easy prey to the power
of cruel tempters. We do not know that Ahab was a cruel man, but we do know
that Jezebel was a cruel woman, and Ahab was greatly influenced by his
passionate and sanguinary wife.
4. Ahab was a speculative idolater, Jezebel was a practical
persecutor; Ahab showed that speculative error is consistent with social
toleration. Redeeming points do not restore the whole character. “One swallow
does not make a summer.”
5. In the same character may be met great faith and great doubt.
Obadiah risked his life to save fifty of the prophets of the Lord, yet dare not
risk it, without first receiving an oath, for the greatest prophet of all! This
mixture we find in every human character. “How abject, how august is man!” In
Ahab, Obadiah, Elijah, and Jezebel, we see a fourfold type of human society;
there is the speculator, the godly servant, the far-seeing prophet, the cruel
persecutor. Society has got no further than this to-day. O wondrous
combination! So checked, so controlled, by invisible but benignant power.
Speculative error has its counterpart in actual cruelty, and patient worship
has its counterpart in daring service. Application.
Verse 3
Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house.
Obadiah
There are men in sacred story, and in every history, who play a
secondary place in the strange stirring drama of human progress--lieutenants to
the great leaders--men with firm wills, stalwart hearts, gifts of energy,
wisdom, and restraint. And behind these a great number who have no name in
“storied page,” prophets who have no prophet renown, kings uncrowned, victors
without honour, martyrs without a martyr’s fame, saints uncanonised, wise men
who have no enrolment among the world’s sages! The glory of the firmament on a
clear and radiant night is not fashioned of those few chief stars which flash
with distinguished brightness, and catch the glance and win the admiration of
the careless observer; but in the multitude of stars which are not chief--which
wear not the most dazzling splendour--these bring their brightness, and those
far off nebulous mists bring theirs. Were these to fail, how tame the heavens
would grow! So in the Bible story--the glory is not concentrated in the chief
men. All the interest of that history is not in those few who stand like giants
among their fellows. There are men of less distinguished greatness who are
worthy of observation, and will repay our study. The less known, and in some
respects the less gifted men of Bible story have this interest for us: they are
nearer to us--they are not set apart from us and hedged in by specialities of
gifts or office, moving in a sphere in which we can have no place. Elijah
stands like a mountain apart--lonely, grand, terrible--and though an apostle
tells us “he is a man of like passions with ourselves,” yet the glamour of
supernatural gifts separates him from us. But when we look at Obadiah, we see
one who stands upon our level, who moves in our sphere. We do not stand in awe
of him. Contact with him is contact of man with man, and no dazzle of the
supernatural comes between us. We have only a feeble, broken outline of the
man’s character. The sketch which the sacred narrative gives is very brief. He
is Ahab’s servant, governor of his house. He is Jehovah’s servant, and in the
palace where Jezebel is queen and Baal and Ashtaroth are the worshipped gods.
The hints which this brief narrative affords us are suggestive of a noble type
of man, fearing God, defending the weak, rendering all lawful service.
1. He was the honoured servant of an impious king, “governor of his
house.” This was an office of great dignity and influence; that he reached it
and held it is a witness alike to his integrity and efficiency. He was a
careful, faithful, diligent servant to King Ahab. How came he to this high
place? He did not purchase it by an unworthy deference; the fawning of the
flatterer did not win it; the pliancy of an easy conscience did not secure it;
“for he feared the Lord greatly: feared Him from his youth up.” Such a fear, if
it does not secure steadfast principle in life and character, is a mere
profession--an utter sham. Obadiah has reached this place in the straight lines
of integrity, not by the crooked, wriggling line of policy. The lines of
principle do sometimes land a man in the high places. He was an honoured
servant, because he was efficient; he did not do his work with a slack hand
because Ahab was an apostate king and Jezebel a heathen queen. His religion was
the inspiration of his work--the condition of his efficiency. What he did, he
did with his might. Religion is no excuse for inefficiency in any honest work
to which men set their hands. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with
thy might.” That injunction concerns our work in the world as well as in the
Church-U-concerns the keeping of accounts as much as keeping the Sabbath; the
discharge of business obligations as truly as the fulfilment of religious
duties. The irresolute, indifferent, and inefficient servant cannot be excused,
because he has a gift in prayer. Idleness at the counter, at the desk, the
bench, the anvil, is not to be excused because the transgressor is a zealous
teacher in his class. Inability may be an excuse for inefficiency, but religion
cannot be; it is the enrichment and endowment of a man’s nature; it should stir
all gifts that are in him to a quicker energy, a finer power. What is the witness of this to
you and me? That we who are servants of the Lord, in fulfilling our earthly
duties and obligations, should be diligent and faithful. It is a commendation
of Christ’s religion which has been overlooked.
2. Obadiah was faithfully God’s witness in a degenerate court. As far
as it was possible, he served his king; but there are no indications that he
trifled with conscience, no signs in the narrative that he was unfaithful to
the claims of God. He feared the Lord greatly--this is the witness of no
shallow religiousness. In that unhallowed court he was a leaven of purity. In
that degenerate age he was a witness for God. In those high places, where
pleasure and passion held wild carnival, he exercised self-control, and strove
to live a life true to God. He feared the Lord greatly. He who fails in this
allegiance, though he stands amid the splendour that beats upon a throne, is
yet a child of darkness. Understand it well. Obadiah had no gifts of prophet
power--no unique spiritual gift. He was for the most part a man just like
ourselves. Yet in the court of Ahab, where influences of evil must have
gathered the force and fierceness of a stormy sea, he was steadfast and
immovable. Little faith would have been shattered and swept away; a faint
heart, a feeble zeal, could not have borne the strain. It is only in the
possession of a full, rich, spiritual power we shall bear in life and character
clear witness for God and for His Christ. If we are to thwart in any way such
powers of darkness as are figured to us in this imperious Queen Jezebel, we
must fear the Lord greatly; our love of Him must glow like the morning; our
faith in Him must be steadfast as the stars; our zeal for Him burn like a
concentrated fire. It is this thoroughness in Christian life which is the
condition of resolute faithfulness--the root of working power and widening
usefulness. (W. S. Davis.)
A noble character
Obadiah “feared the Lord.” That is to say, he was loyal to the
Lord; the law of God was the rule of his life. He feared to sin; kept watch
over his heart, held guard on his lips, and followed the commandments of the
Most High. Obadiah “feared the Lord” from his youth. That is to say, this tree
of righteousness, called Obadiah, was strong, widespread, and beautiful,
bending with the fruits of goodness, because he was planted in the garden of
grace when he was a sapling, a tender plant, whose childhood was given to the
love and service of his God.
1. Obadiah’s goodness makes us wonder. He lived in an age and in a
country when and where” goodness was sadly scarce. The wonder is that King Ahab
would have this man by him, much more that he should commit the highest office
and the most important trust into his hands. Obadiah’s presence must have been
a standing rebuke to the selfish and sensual king. If I wonder that Ahab would
have him about him, I wonder more that Obadiah was willing to stay. The corrupt
atmosphere of Ahab’s shameless court must have been a rank offence to him. Then
why did he not go? The Prophet Elijah, wandering alone among the glens of
Thisbe, or the rocks of Horeb, or by the waters of Cherith, or the coasts of
Zidon, would be glad, poor outlaw, of a little congenial company. Why doesn’t
Obadiah join him? Because “he feared the Lord greatly”; and both patriotism and
religion, loyalty to the interests of his country and the honour of his God,
bound him to his post.
2. I find still further cause for wonder, in that the goodness of
Obadiah had been maintained during his residence in the court of King Ahab. I
marvel at it. I know what comes to a statue of white marble exposed to the
corrosive fogs of London. I know what happens to the rippling music and the
silver beauty of the summer brook when it falls into the turbid river rolling
its dull waters in sullen silence to the sea. I know the fate of May flowers when
the blast of the cast winds blow a malison on their beauty. I know, too, by sad
experience, what comes to human hearts and consciences when fierce and fiery,
or subtle and winsome temptations ply their evil power. This man, this one man
Obadiah, “feared the Lord.” He shone like a solitary star in a murky midnight
sky. He bloomed like a lily in a bed of thorns.
3. The goodness of Obadiah gives me further cause for wonder in that
it grew and ripened under unfavourable treatment. It is said of him, that he “feared
the Lord from his youth.” The guiding principle of his whole career was the
fear of God. There is no doubt that his religion met with some shrewd blows and
sore bruises as his beard grew; and that as he advanced to mature manhood, the
world, the flesh, and the devil, hit both hard and often at the man who would
be good in spite of them. “Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly.” Instead of
descending a valley, he has been climbing the hill. Instead of lapsing into
silence with broken strings, his life-harp vibrates with richer melody and a
holier psalm. The way of duty is not only the way of safety, but it is the way
to more perfect goodness and increasing strength.
4. I find further cause for wonder in Obadiah’s simple faith in the
supernatural, the miracle-working power of God. “Go, tell the king,” said the
stalwart and hairy Tishbite, “Behold, Elijah is here.” “Nay,” said Obadiah,
“Ahab has hunted for thee high and low to kill thee, that at the ebbing of thy
blood the wells and rivers may flow again. If I send him here, the Spirit of
the Lord will carry thee away, and the king will slay me.” Poor superstitious,
old-fashioned, simplehearted Obadiah! And yet the simple soul, palace governor
though he be, thinks that Elijah can be suddenly spirited away; that the laws
of nature can be tampered with, gravitation suspended, and a miracle can be
wrought by a fancied Deity whom every one regards as an exploded myth!
5. I find still another wonder, still another lesson in the piety of
Obadiah: his noble deeds of kindness to others at great cost and danger to
himself. (J. J. Wray.)
Standing alone
Mr. Jackson Wray finely compares Obadiah to a scene he once saw on
the west coast of Africa. Crossing a barren tract of country, he beheld a fair
and stately palm tree springing up from the desert sand. Its graceful shaft
rose to a height of near a hundred feet, crested with a coronet of leafy
splendour, rich with clusters of ripening fruit. All around it was stunted
brushwood and dwarfish thorn. It stood alone in solitary magnificence. Even so
was Obadiah in King Ahab’s palace.
Grace superior to the forces of environment
“A great city spoils everything within its circle, and you say it
has the same effect upon character, and that a low type of character is
excusable when you consider a city environment. No. That won’t do for us. I
rejoice to think that the grace of God makes a man triumph over the worst
circumstances. Scientists say it is impossible for anything to exist and come
to perfection except it has proper conditions. If you are to have the rose you
must have the sun, and if you are to have the fern you must have the shade, and
for the willow the watercourse. Suitable conditions, or life and perfection are
impossibilities! Well, I suppose it is so, but I rejoice to say that breaks
down when you come to character. This very day I can show you lovely roses
growing in cellars; I can show you the purest of lilies in the miriest of
places; I can show you the palms of the East growing in Lapland; in other
words, to drop the imagery, I can show you the purest and noblest of men and
women under circumstances that seem altogether unsuitable to a pure and noble
life. Don’t say that because your environment is this or that, therefore you
must be a this or that mean creature. The Kingdom of God is within you, and can
set circumstances at defiance. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Unheroic Christianity
The poor man must often have been in a great strait to reconcile
his duty to Jehovah with his duty to his other master, Ahab. And Elijah
shrewdly hinted at it when he said: “Go, tell thy lord, behold, Elijah is
here!” Imagine a courtier of Oliver Cromwell trying to be true to the
Commonwealth and to the cause of the exiled Stuarts! The life of policy and
expediency is a species of rope-walking--it needs considerable practice in the
art of balancing. There are scores of Obadiahs everywhere around us, and in the
professing Church. They know the right, and are secretly trying to do it, but
they say as little about religion as they can. They never rebuke sin. They
never confess their true colours. They find pretexts and excuses to satisfy the
remonstrances of an uneasy conscience. They are as nervous of being identified
by declared Christians as Obadiah was when Elijah sent him to Ahab. They are
sorry for those who suffer for righteousness’ sake, but it never occurs to them
to stand in the pillory by their side. They content themselves with
administering some little relief to them, as Obadiah did to the harried
prophets, and whilst they conceal that relief from the world, they put it in as
a claim to the people of God for recognition and protection, as Obadiah did
(verse 13). They sometimes are on the point of throwing up all to take up an
uncompromising attitude, but they find it hard to go forth to suffer affliction
with the people of God so long as they are well provided for within the palace
walls. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Verse 6
Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by
himself.
Separated: and no tears at the parting
They separated; and I am sure there were no tears shed on either
side at the parting. Never were two men more utterly unlike. Never were
associates more ill-matched. How they managed for some time to pull together, I
cannot imagine. The text has sufficient allegorical suggestiveness to awaken
many a solemn thought within you.
1. There are, after all, but two ways; you must choose the one or the
other. You must follow Ahab, or you must go with Obadiah. The snare into which
large numbers of young men fall is the attempt at compromise. They shrink from
the unblushing wickedness of the one, but do not care to commit themselves to
the earnest piety of the other. The words which Fowell Buxton wrote near the
close of his life are well worthy of being pondered by each of you:--“The
longer I live, the more I am certain that the great difference between men is
energy, invincible determination--a purpose once fixed, and then death or
victory! This quality,” added he, will do anything that can be done in this
world; and no talent, no circumstances, no opportunities, will make a
two-legged creature a man without it.”
2. Choose for your associates those with whom you would wish to
company all through life. Try to look below the surface and read the character;
and do not give your friendship to any one whom, in your deepest soul, you do
not respect. It was a good maxim of Lord Collingwood, Better be alone, than in
mean company.”
3. Should your most intimate associate prove to be of evil
principles, part company with him at once. Better offend your acquaintance than
lose your soul. Pull up the instant you find you are off the road, and take the
shortest way back you can find. When the shoe of conscience begins to pinch, it
is about time we turn our stops into another path. Ahabs and Obadiahs cannot
remain long in partnership, and the sooner that partnership be dissolved the
better. (J. T. Davidson, D. D.)
Verse 12
I thy servant real the Lord from my youth.
Fearing the Lord from one’s youth
There are two valuable lessons we are to carry away from these
words of Obadiah.
I. The importance
of early decision for God. It was a favourite idea, a hobby in short, of that
singular and austere sage Thomas Carlyle, that a select few of our race are to
be set up for the admiration and imitation of the rest: and though, no doubt,
the Chelsea philosopher pushed it too far (as he was in the habit of doing with
most ideas that possessed him), the notion is a sound and scriptural one. The
Bible teaches as much by example as by precept, and it seems to me that the
grand lesson of Obadiah’s life--and it is hub a very brief biography we
have--is the unspeakable value to a man, all through his career, of starting
with fixed religious principles, and sticking to them at all hazards. I quite
believe, if you will allow me to say so, that some of you, who would hardly
venture to call yourselves real Christians, are most favourably inclined
towards religion, only you will not come up to the point of a full and absolute
decision. But this is just where your danger lies: for these half-religious
feelings are apt to satisfy you, whilst, until you have actually given your
hand to Christ, you are as absolutely unsaved as if you were a railing infidel.
II. The importance
of courage in openly avowing our religious decision. The first thing is to have
sound principles; and the second thing is not to be ashamed of them. It was a
remarkable saying of the Duke of Wellington, that “in war the moral is to the
physical as ten to one.” That is to say, that, if the soldiers know and feel in
their conscience that right is on their side, they are ten times as brave as
when they are not very sure about it. Well, when you know you are standing on
sure ground, you can afford to despise the shots that are fired at you by
godless men. Nay, more, the fact is, it is a great help to you, if your faith
is genuine, to meet with a little opposition at times. A man is none the worse
a Christian for having occasionally to stand up for his principles. It makes
your religion more real, and gives you greater confidence in its power. You
want a new principle within you, and that is faith in Christ as your Saviour. (J.
T. Davidson, D. D.)
The “fear of the Lord,” as illustrated in the character of Obadiah
I. The great
principle of action in the life of Obadiah, viz., “the fear of the Lord.”
II. The necessity
for an early inculcation of this fear in the mind--“I thy servant fear the Lord
from my youth.” (H. C. Cherry, M. A.)
Verse 17-18
Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
The source of a sinner’s trouble
Our theme lies in this controversy between Ahab and Elijah as to
the cause of the trouble which had come upon Israel. Ahab accused the prophet
of being the cause of the trouble, while of course Elijah had nothing to do
with it. He was simply God’s messenger. It is a very common thing for a man who
has been brought into trouble by his sin to find fault with Providence and with
his neighbours and his relatives, or with anybody who points out his iniquity.
He feels that some one else is to blame rather than himself. But Elijah lays
his finger on the root of the difficulty. Sin is always a source of trouble to
the sinner. Ahab’s greatest enemy was in his own heart and in his own house.
Seragastio, a servant in one of Plautus’ comedies, asking another, “How doth the
town seem to be fortified?” the answer given was this: “If the inhabitants be
well governed and good, I think it will be well fortified;” and then, reckoning
up many vices, he concludes, “Unless these be absent, a hundred walls are but
little enough for the preservation of it.” And the history of the world shows
us that that is a true representation of the destructive nature of sin in a
nation. It will level the walls of the strongest governments. No nation is
great enough to stand if it is honeycombed with sin in the hearts of its
people. Sin is the great troubler in the individual soul. It was after Adam and
Eve had broken the law of God that they were troubled, the first trouble they
had ever known, and they tried to hide themselves among the trees of the garden
so that God would not see them. Here is a young man who has fallen into the
habit of strong drink and has lost his self-mastery, and he comes home drunk to
his mother. Oh, the trouble that comes from such a sin. Oh, sin is the great
troubler. But do not imagine that this sin or other outbreaking disgraceful
sins that are easily detected are the only ones that give trouble to people.
Disobedience to God is sin, and if we fail to keep God’s commandments, it does
not matter which one, it will get us into trouble, and if unrepented of and
unforgiven, into terrible and eternal trouble. Beware of being self-deceived.
Sometimes the foulest sins are cherished underneath what appears a very
respectable exterior. I have seen somewhere the story of Sir Francis Drake,
that after he had made his long sailing journey around the world and had
returned to London he was one day in a boat upon the River Thames in a very
rough tide when it seemed almost certain that they would be capsized. The
famous traveller exclaimed, “What! have I escaped the violence of the sea and
must now be drowned in a ditch?” And a man may drown in a ditch quite as easily
as in the ocean. And many a one who has escaped vulgar, disgraceful sins that
bring men into shame has been led away from God and finally kept from God by
secret lusts and hidden selfishness and evil desires that prevented him from
obeying God and keeping His commandments. Let us not forget that what we may
esteem a little sin has the power to open the door of the heart to sins of
which at first we would not dream of being guilty. The historian tells us that
when Pompey could not prevail with the city to admit his army he persuaded them
to admit a few weak, wounded soldiers. But these soon recovered their strength
and opened the gates to the whole army. Thus it is that the devil persuades us
to admit some small sin and soon gains the whole heart. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)
Verses 17-20
When Ahab saw Elijah.
Deliverance from the mouth of the lion
I. The wonderful
protection of the prophet;
II. The unjust
accusation brought against him;
III. The bold
language he uses; and,
IV. The secret
power he exercises. (F. W. Krummacher, D. D.)
Elijah meeting Ahab
I. That in darkest
times God reserves some men and keeps them true to himself. Conspicuously does
this appear in the great character Elijah. The word itself covers a wide
field--Elijah. The history of an age is covered by such a character. As time
goes by, after he vanishes from scenes on which he came suddenly, his
proportions increase, as a mountain seems greater the farther you go from its
base. By and by it comes to pass that the mighty hero of God’s making will be
expected again on earth when the extremity of human need is reached. Elijah
must come, men said, as the forerunner of the great Messiah, and as a restorer
of all things. God keeps such spirits as these in His unseen Army of the
Reserve; and, when darkness covers the earth, and men’s hearts fail them for
fear, suddenly an Elijah steps upon the scene, pronounces doom on the guilty,
gathers together the righteous, and re-enacts the eternal law by His word.
II. we learn that
God determines to let men know that He governs this world.
III. We learn from
the lesson before us, still further, that wicked men charge the righteous with
being disturbers of the peace. “Whatever,” said George Shepard, “may be true in
medicine, God’s system of moral cure is by contraries. He puts forth the truth
to crowd out the error, and what if it does happen, in the fierce antagonism,
that there are seasons of confusion and trouble? What though the tempest twirls
everything into disorder, if it only blows away the miasma? There are people
who are exceedingly alarmed at the presence or the prospect of agitation.”
IV. Finally, we
must feel, as we read again this familiar meeting between Elijah and Ahab, that
it would be well if there were more of elijah’s stamp to-day. (Monday Club
Sermons.)
Verse 19
Now therefore
send, and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel.
The priests of Baal
Mendelssohn has
wrought the harmonies and discords of this scene into a grand oratorio, and the
painter or poet can find in it abundant material for his art. The actors are a
king and royal court, hundreds of priests in splendid vesture, masses of
people, anxious and hungry-eyed; and over against them a single man, big, fearless,
with hairy mantle and leathern girdle, and loose locks waving like a mane about
his stern face. Our lesson to-day stops short with the failure of the priests.
We may call it the helplessness of heathenism. Who was Baal? Whence did he
come? Where did he get his power? How did he rule? There was no such being. He
never lived, never blessed a servant, or crushed a foe. When the priests cried,
there was no answer, because there was no one to hear. Yet the name had a
fiendish personality in the history of Israel, as a most alluring and ruinous
force. An actual Baal never lived, possibly the ideal Baal has never died.
I. The heathenism of to-day. We still find idolatrous nations, with
the same licentiousness, cruelty, and error. One African tribe has six words
for murder, not one for love. The missionary who goes among them is an Elijah
pleading for Jehovah against Baal. May the prophet’s mantle fall upon such, and
may the Lord be with them as he was with Elijah. One definition of a heathen is
“an irreligious, unthinking person”; a pagan, “one who is neither a Christian,
a Mohammedan, nor a Jew.” A cleaner and brighter heathenism appears in the
high-bred infidelity, of which we hear more than its worth demands. This is not
ignorant and boorish, but elegant and learned. It affects to look down on the
simplicity of believers, as the
gorgeously robed priests may have sneered at Elijah’s rough
mantle. It uses the terms of science and philosophy. Its worship is mostly of
the silent sort before an unknown God. Investigating the development of
religious belief, it finds everywhere the longing, but nowhere the Creator who
inspires it; everywhere the child’s heart, nowhere the infinite Father.
Speaking for art, it forgets that faith has inspired its masterpieces, and would
put its visions above Him who made the splendours of earth, sea, and sky, human
face divine, teeming brain, and skilful hand. Be not deceived by them. The
greater number of sound thinkers and investigators are to-day, as in the past,
believers. It is easy to see the paganism in such cases; not so easy where it
touches us more closely in the heathenism of worldliness. Baal-worship was
popular because it was gay, festal, splendid, while the Mosaic ritual was calm,
earnest, self-controlled, chaste. Under the first, men could do what they liked
best, and yet pass for religious. It dignified self-indulgence, and deified
strength and lust. Love of God is the source and crown of all delights; but, to
a multitude of meaner impulses in us, the world appeals with more flattery and
promise than heaven. Let us hold fast to the Bible, in which speaks the only
living and true God. If we turn from Jehovah, the deity we make ourselves will
prove a Baal. Earth-born religions are dishonourable to the conscience, false
to the intellect, and cruel to the heart. And if we acknowledge Jehovah to be
God, let us follow Him.
II. The testing of heathenism. Anything which claims our service and
our love should be able to support us in emergencies. Infidelity and
worldliness may do very well in good times, when bright suns and genial rains
mingle to bless our lot; so did Baal. And so all blasphemy, and polite
infidelity, and everything that is not of God, when it has had its fling, and
tried its power, drops back, helpless to save its followers. The testing is not
often so dramatic as upon Carmel, but is continually repeated. (Monday Club
Sermons.)
Elijah and the prophets of
Baal
But Mount
Carmel, a celebrated mountain on the southern boundary of the tribe of Assher,
which extends itself into the Mediterranean Sea. It runs north-west of the
plain of Esdraelon.
I. We notice the proposal of Elijah to the multitude. He speaks to
them, not to the royal court. Religion is not an affair concerning the great
and titled of the earth only. It respects every man. It is for the multitude as
well as for the rich and great.
II. Notice the proposal of Elijah accepted. All the people said, “The
word is good.” It was an advantageous one to the prophets of Baal. They had the
prepossessions of the people and of the royal court in their favour: It is easy
to take up religion when it is in prosperity: but to take it up when it is m a
drooping, dying state, is the work that demands principle, sterling principle.
To be zealous, when the very stones of the altar are to be replaced--when the
alternative is ruin or revival--extirpation or reform--then to be zealous--then
to be a reformer--to seek to restore truth and religion to their pristine
dignity, that is a work honourable indeed, and arduous as it is honourable.
III. The failure of the prophets and the irony of Elijah.
IV. The appeal of Elijah to heaven.
V. The prayer of Elijah answered.
VI. The conviction of the multitude.
VII. The destruction of the priests. These prophets had been the cause
of the grievous famine, of the death of cattle and human beings not a few. They
had also sacrificed thousands of dear children to Baal. The rites of Baal were
frequently celebrated with human victims. They had also brought Jezebel to
think it a meritorious act to slay the prophets of the Lord. Also, according to
the laws of Moses, idolatry was considered treason against God, as the national
king, and death was denounced as the punishment of that sin. These men suffered
nothing but the due reward of their deeds. Those who live by imposing on the
weaknesses and superstitious feelings of others shall sooner or later meet with
a suitable retribution. They that dig pits for others frequently fall into them
themselves. Their own lies frequently slay the authors of them. Men first utter
lies, then believe them, then perish by them. And they perish without pity.
They perish amidst the execrations of those whom they have deceived. (J. H.
Cadoux.)
Elijah and the prophets of
Baal
1. We are reminded of the great disparity between these opposing
forces. Now, as then, Truth is in the minority. It was one man against four
hundred and fifty. But so it is always. The world has never seen a popular
majority for the truth. Only eight souls were saved in the ark; Abraham was
alone in his faith; Israel was but a handful; and the “peculiar peoples” in
every age have been “a remnant.” Even the Son of God did not restore the
equilibrium. The Reformation effected but a partial equalisation. The present
age of missions, with all its conquests, finds the Church outnumbered in every
region by its foes. Not only so, but in respect to earthly rank, power,
prestige, the advantage has always been on the side of error. If at intervals
the tide seems to turn, as when David, Solomon, Constantine give to religious
truth political pre-eminence, such episodes are transient, and soon the old
disproportion returns.
Truth for ever on the scaffold,
Wrong for ever on the throne,
abides as the rule obtaining in every age for the fortunes of the
kingdom of heaven on earth.
2. This disparity was intensified and emphasised by divine direction.
Elijah was commanded to give to his opponents precedence at every point. The
criterion which he must submit for the testing of the rival religions was “the
god that answereth by fire.” That was a concession to the claims of Baal, who
was called the “sun-god,” with whom fire was a native element. On the other
hand, Elijah’s task was rendered as difficult as possible. He must stand by and
see his rivals consume the entire day. This magnifying of evil and minimising
of the resources of good has marked the Divine policy from the first. God has
seemed to give to sin every advantage that it could ask for, and to keep his
own cause at a corresponding inferiority. What a surprising difference, according
to earthly standards, between Jesus and His enemies! Not only was He alone,
unfavoured and unhelped, but they were supported by all the power of the Jewish
Church, the Gentile government, and even the infernal world. Sin was allowed to
parade and employ its uttermost resources, while holiness seemed to be
proportionately depressed in the person of Him who was born in a manger and
reared at Nazareth, who became the Friend of publicans and sinners, was
betrayed by His own followers, and condemned to the accursed death. Similar fortunes have
attended the people of God to this day. Not only have they been left to engage
in a one-sided conflict where the numerical odds were always against them, but
peculiar aggravations of this disparity have been common. The Church is still
burdened with such unnecessary drawbacks. How often are we tempted to take
literally the words which speak of the “foolishness of preaching,” and to
wonder why God hath chosen such needlessly foolish, weak, and base things of
this world to serve Him!
3. This disparity between the two contestants was emphasised by
Jehovah for the purpose of suitably displaying His own superiority to both of
them. He gave to Baal every advantage and reduced His own resources to a
minimum, in order to show that Truth at its lowest is stronger than Error at
its highest. The result justified this plan; for the people were all the more
impressed by the final victory of Elijah, because of the tremendous inequality
of the conflict at the beginning. This gives us a clue to that policy of the
Divine government which has been referred to. God has allowed sin to prosper in
this world, and has permitted His own religion to take an inferior place, for
the purpose of thus furnishing an arena for the exhibition of the Divine
self-assertion. We understand, then, why Christianity has never been allowed to
compete on equal terms with the dominant faiths of the world. God does not
intend that His religion shall obscure Himself. He knows how readily the eye of
man is caught and held by visible forms, and that spiritual truth is always
endangered by material associations. Accordingly the earthly medium through
which His grace shines must be as thin and plain as safety will permit. This
was the reason why Jesus the Christ asked and received so little from the
world. He owed nothing to its favour or its help. But as we now see, all that
humiliation was the most effective background that could have been provided for
the display of the spiritual kingdom of God.
4. The triumphs of grace thus obtained are also magnified by the
Divine concessions to the enemy. It was yielding much to Baal when the ordeal
of fire was proposed, for that meant to meet the sun-god on his own field and
with his own weapons. Other tests might have been chosen which would have been
more favourable to Elijah. But no; he must go into the enemy’s territory and
challenge him in his very citadel. Do the Egyptians worship the river Nile? Lo,
the rod of Moses turns those sacred waters into blood. Are they the most cleanly
of peoples, making a religion of physical purity? They are stricken with vermin
by the word of the Lord. Do they idolise the goat, the ram, and the bull? The
cattle of their fields must perish before the Divine scourge. Thus Pharaoh is
taught that even within the range of his own religion the God of the Hebrews
can find means to overthrow him. Similar transformations mark all the great
conquests of Christianity. He meets scientific scepticism with the scientific
faith of Miller, Hitchcock, and Drummond. He compels the art of sensuous Italy
to minister to biblical truth in the Madonnas and Nativities. He transforms the
pagan temple into the Christian church, and puts the Gothic spire to spiritual
uses. This process of overruling and utilising grace is spreading through all
the ranges of human enterprise.
5. These exhibitions of Divine self-assertion furnish a severe but
useful test of human character. The priests of Baal were not the only ones
whose faith and patience were taxed on Mount Carmel. It must have cost Elijah not a
little to find himself placed for an entire day at so great a disadvantage.
Nothing less than intense consecration and courage could have endured such a
trial. This experience also was typical. It represents the lot of God’s people
in all ages. The very greatness of the Divine interpositions in their behalf
has imposed on them burdens of self-denial and self-effacement.
6. The trials of God’s people are sure to result in their triumph as
well as His glory. (C. J. Baldwin.)
The prophet of the Lord
The debate
on Mount Carmel was conducted by Elijah with remarkable ability. A vital
question had forced its way into prominence.
I. When he met his opponents on Mount Carmel, Elijah had very clear
convictions. In some way he had gained a strong hold upon God. He was
personally conscious of God. Unlike many a speculative philosopher who has
framed an elaborate argument to prove that God is, Elijah seems to have
advanced with a single step to a firm belief in God. His name was an
announcement of his belief: “My God is Jehovah!” A conviction like this is an
argument in itself. Men are willing to listen to a man who believes what he
says. This was an important element of the success of Moses, who was compelled
to go into the presence of Pharaoh and there to demand the liberation of a
large number of valuable slaves. Daniel had the same advantage when he was
called upon to face the idolatry of Babylon: it was widely known that Daniel
feared God. The ministry of Paul was always conditioned by this strong faith.
He was more than a match for his antagonists because he knew whom he had
believed. Athanasius, the youthful archdeacon of Alexandria, became the
successful advocate of Christian truth at the Council of Nicaea in view of his
recognition of the divinity of our blessed Lord. Luther at the Diet of Worms
rallied the unorganised resistance of Germany to the papal authority when he
exhibited his confidence in the evangelical doctrines. These men, and others
like them, were “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” They felt
the rock upon which they stood. They had clarified their thought, so that they
could utter it forcibly. If we can gain this consciousness we shall be prepared
for the great debate.
II. When he challenged the Baal-worshippers to the proof by fire,
Elijah undertook to press their opinions to a practical expression. The
challenge was perfectly fair. They had accepted Baal and Ashtaroth as the
representative of the life-principle in nature. They were asked to exhibit the
results of their faith in these divinities. Any opinion which lays claim to the
faith of man must bear the strain of his ordinary burdens. What is your
religion good for? what is the quality of its manhood? What sort of a God does
it present? what is its immortality?--these are questions which must be met.
There is no escape from them. Now, we may inquire, What will be the natural
results of the general prevalence of the opinions which antagonise the Gospel?
III. When he had repaired the altar of the Lord and placed upon it a
sacrifice, Elijah made an appeal which met the terms of the Divine command.
There was an old altar on Mount Carmel--perhaps a relic of patriarchal times,
but certainly a witness to the-reality of a pure worship. As the day was
closing Elijah called the people to this altar and began to repair it. You may
safely press Christian truth to its proper issues. We should have a very happy
world, indeed, if all Christians would show their faith by their works.
Christ-like lives, what would they be!--how sober! how industrious! how pure!
how sweet! how attractive! Multiply these Christ-like lives, and how beautiful
the social life of the world would appear. It is essential, therefore, that the
Christian in the great debate should state clearly “the truth as it is in
Jesus.”
IV. When he had received the fire of the Lord, which consumed his
sacrifice, Elijah drew from the people the confession, “Jehovah is God, Jehovah
is God.” The occasion was pentecostal. Conviction was instantaneous. Out from
the clear, dry atmosphere flames of fire leaped as Elijah was praying; they
seized upon the sacrifice and consumed it with the wood upon which it rested;
they licked up the water in the trench and left the altar bare. A
transformation occurred. An explanation must be given. What could be said
except to confess the supremacy of Jehovah? Prof. Christlieb of Bonn has
remarked that the regeneration of the human soul is the standing miracle of
Christianity. This regeneration converts corrupt natures into natures which are
holy. It is associated with Christian truth, and with belief in that truth. (H.
M. Booth, D. D.)
Verses 20-40
Verse 21
How long halt ye between
two opinions?
Elijah’s appeal to the
undecided
I. First,
you will note that the prophet insisted upon the distinction which existed
between the worship of Baal and the worship of Jehovah.
II. In
the second place, the prophet calls these waverers to an account nor the amount
of time which they had consumed in making their choice.
III. But
the prophet charges these people with the absurdity of their position.
IV. The
multitude who had worshipped Jehovah and Baal, and who were now undecided,
might reply, “but how do you know that Jehovah is God? How do you know we are
not decided in opinion?”
V. And
now the prophet cries, “If the Lord be God, follow Him; if Baal, then follow
him”; and in so doing he states the ground of his practical claim.
VI. And
now I make my appeal to the halters and waverers, with some questions, which I
pray the Lord to apply. Now I will put this question to them: “How long halt
ye” When Elijah says, that “The God that answereth by fire let him be God,” I
fancy I hear some of them saying, “No; the God that answereth by water let him
be God; we want rain badly enough.” “No,” said Elijah, “if rain should come,
you would say that it was the common course of providence; and that would not
decide you.” I tell you all the providences that befall you undecided ones will
not decide you. God may surround you with providences; He may surround you with
frequent warnings from the deathbed of your fellows; but providences will never
decide you. It is not the God of rain, but the God of fire that will do it.
There are two ways in which you undecided ones will be decided by and by. You
that are decided for God will want no decision; you that are decided for Satan
will want no decision; you are on Satan’s side, and must dwell for ever in
eternal burning. But these undecided ones want something to decide them, and
will have either one of the two things; they will either have the fire of God’s
Spirit to decide them, or else the fire of eternal judgment, and that will
decide them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The conflict on Carmel
1. Now,
from this stirring incident, I learn that we must be prepared like Elijah to
stand alone for God. Examine the biographies of great men, and you will not
find a brighter example of sanctified courage than that which shone in the man
of God on Carmel. Think of it! One man against a whole nation! Here was a
Reformer, who had the patience of the ox, the courage of the lion, the eye of
the eagle, and the intelligence of the man. Prince Bismarck once said in a
characteristic epigram, “We Germans fear God, and nothing else in the world.”
This was especially true of Elijah, the Whirlwind Prophet, who struck Ahab pale
with fright. Fearing God so much, he feared man so little. He was as a mighty
rock standing alone in the midst of a stormy sea, braving and outliving the tempest.
Take your stand for God wherever you may be, either in the office, or the shop,
the workroom, or the home. You, like Elijah, have a Carmel. See that you play
the man, and quit yourself right bravely.
2. From
the incident on Carmel I also learn that the most of men are desirous of
worshipping God and Baal at the same time. This is what the Israelites wanted
to do, for you must know that the worship of idols was not proposed as a
substitute for, but an accompaniment to, the worship of Jehovah. They wanted to
do an impossibility--to amalgamate opposites. This God would not have, and will
not allow to-day. Men must be either one thing or the other. Religions
diametrically opposed cannot both be right. Things which are contradictory cannot
be reconciled. You cannot have an altar to Baal and an altar to Jehovah
standing side by side. Mark Antony is said to have yoked two lions to his
chariot, but there are two
lions which can never be yoked--the Church and the world. Yet men everywhere
are trying to win the smile of the world and the” well done” of Christ. They
want to serve God and Baal at the same time.
3. From
my text I gather the further lesson that all men are called upon to make a
choice between God and Baal. “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the
Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.” This searching
remonstrance uttered by the solitary witness on Carmel is perhaps still more
impressive in the original, for one rendering gives, “How long limp ye on two
knees?” He likens them to a cripple hobbling along, first on one knee and then
on another. Another translation gives the quest!on thus, “How long hop ye on
two sprays?” like a bird which keeps hopping from bough to bough and is never
still, and consequently never builds a nest.
4. Our
text also clearly shows that God has given to us the power of choice, which
power involves tremendous responsibility. We are endowed with the power of
will, and are not to be like those derelicts that go floating about in the
Atlantic and never reach any port. God asks us to take the evidence for and
against, and then deliberately decide whether or not He is to be our king.
5. And
in this matter God has not left us without evidence of His superiority over
Baal. Still the infallible test is “The God that answereth by fire let Him be
God.” If you will sit down and compare the claims of God and the claims of
Baal, you will soon see which God has the sole right to your worship. If we
translate Elijah’s speech into nineteenth-century English, it simply means this,
Will you have Christ or Barabbas; God or self?, God can do what Baal cannot! An
eminent evangelist once declared in a newspaper controversy that he was
prepared any day, at a few hours’ notice, to summon five hundred
witnesses, ready to declare upon oath, if need be, the truth of that Gospel of
Salvation from the power of sin which every week he preached. To-day the cry
rings forth, “The God that answereth by saved men, let Him be God.” There can
be no comparison between the claims of Christ and the claims of the world.
6. I beg
you to observe that God calls for immediate decision. You are this day to
decide between God and the devil. Some of you have been halting till your hair
has grown grey. How much longer are you going to fly from bough to bough? (W.
C. Minifie, B. D.)
Indecision
A more striking
appeal is scarcely to be found in the whole volume of inspiration. It was
delivered under circumstances peculiarly impressive, and by one of the most
eminent and most honoured among the prophets.
I. As to
the nature of this indecision in religion.
II. Let
us then consider the grounds and causes of this indecision. The source of all
this evil is the deceitfulness of the human heart.
1. The
love of the world.
The Apostle St. John has left it upon record, that this
disposition is totally inconsistent with the love of God. “Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world,” etc.
2. The
fear of the world.--Nothing is more certain, than that the disposition and
habits of the great majority of mankind, even in a Christian country, are
totally and radically opposed to the precepts of the Gospel; and the world
loves its own: and if any are not of the world, it beholds them with aversion.
3. The
fashion of the world.--Under this term, I include the example and authority of
those with whom we are conversant; or to whom it is customary to appeal.
III. The
unreasonableness of this principle.
1. It is
unreasonable, on account of the great importance of the subject.
2. Something,
perhaps, might be said in vindication of indifference and indecision, if these
things were only obscurely revealed; but the fact is, that as we are more
interested in the knowledge of salvation, than of all other things, so is the
will of God most distinctly made known in respect to it. (Christian
Observer.)
Elijah on Carmel
I. An
alternative presented. The alternative lay between Jehovah and Baal, and the
object of this national gathering was to decide which was to be Israel’s God.
Notice the different elements composing this gathering.
II. An
inconsistency exposed. The inconsistency lay in blending the claims of Jehovah
and Baal. Many, apparently, had no objection to divide their allegiance, their
only concern being to keep on good terms with the ruling powers. The service of
God is an exclusive service, it admits of no compromise. This truth is put in
language of unmistakable clearness by lips that cannot err--“No man can serve
two masters. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.”
1. A
religious compromise, it is sometimes said, is surely better than no religion
at all. However plausible this may sound, we are bound to say that, from the
nature of the case, it is an absurd position. A compromise in religion is, to
say the least, unmanly and hypocritical; it is an attempt to pass off for what
you are not.
2. Such
conduct yields no satisfaction to the waverer. The troubles arising from
indecision are endless. The man who will not take a decided stand exposes
himself to the constant banter of his companions, and there is no end of
annoyance to the man who cannot say, No.
3. Divided
service is dishonouring to God. Why? Because it puts Him on a level with Baal,
and robs Him of the glory which is His sole due. If you worship two or more
gods at the same time, you put them on an equal footing; and the God of heaven
has told us, in a way not to be mistaken, that He will not share His glory with
another. A divided heart will not satisfy the Maker of it.
III. A
decision demanded. The assemblage on Carmel was, for the most part, wavering
between the claims of Jehovah and Baal, and Elijah urged them to take a side.
The reasons for immediate decision are powerful and urgent. Time is short, the
matter is of supreme moment, and there is no middle ground. You have to be
either on the one side or on the other. Let no unmanly fears sway your choice.
Be a Daniel, and if need be stand alone. Be an Elijah, a champion for God and
the truth. (D. Merson, M. A., B. D.)
The Prophet’s Question
I. Hear
the text, for it speaks simply of--
1. Two
opinions. Like others they tried to do both. Few like this in worldly matters.
Some render this: “How long hop ye from twig to twig?” They were--uneasy:
unhappy: unstable.
2. Two
Gods. Baal. An ancient god: a spreading religion: a gaudy and costly religion:
all this very attractive. God. The only God: The only God we need the only true
God we can have.
3. Two
positions. Halting and following: show the difference.
II. Hear
the prophet, for he speaks pointedly. Notice--
1. His
manner. Firm: fearless: faithful.
2. His
opportunity. Before all the people. How willingly he embraced it.
3. His
question. “How long?” etc. They had already had time. They had time then. God
did not want time. He could receive them at once.
III. Hear
the preacher, for he speaks earnestly. Enlarge upon the theme, and address those
who halt concerning--
1. God’s
ordinances.
2. God’s
service.
3. God’s
people--i.e., joining them.
4. God
Himself. (W J. Mayers.)
Halting between two
Opinions
I. This
indecision is justly condemned.
1. It is
not honest. It exists rather in appearance than in reality. It is an attempt to
accomplish an utter impossibility. No man can have two objects of supreme
affection. So long as their hearts are not fixed supremely on God, they are the
servants of mammon. In all that they seem to do for God, nothing is truly done
for Him.
2. They
derive no full enjoyment from religion or the world. They resort to two
opposite sources of enjoyment. What they derive from one is embittered by what
flows from the other.
3. They
have no peace of conscience,
4. This
state of mind is attended more or less with a sense of shame. Few things are
more wounding to the pride of man, than conscious imbecility of purpose and
character. And in no case, perhaps, is this consciousness more inevitable than
in a state of indecision with respect to religion.
5. This
state of mind is full of danger. If such are not sooner or later discouraged,
and led to abandon all thoughts of becoming religious, nothing will be
effected, as the result of such a course. Indecision never did anything to the purpose
in worldly pursuits, much less in religion. Analyse this state of mind, and you
will see that it must be so. An undecided purpose is the want of all purpose.
At the same time it has an awfully deceptive influence. The openly profligate
can hardly admit that he is either right or safe. He can at least be more
easily shown his danger. But the man who imagines himself but at a little
distance from the path of rectitude and safety, who supposes at most but a few
steps need be taken to reach it, and who perhaps persuades himself that he is
fast approaching it, has of all men most cause for alarm. While the real danger
of his condition is as great as that of any other, he is blind to the fact.
6. This
state of mind is highly criminal. Whether Jehovah or Baal be God, he is the
supreme good, the being who has a right to command; he ought to be obeyed.
These obligations exist somewhere. We cannot annul or lessen them. We are
created, we are upheld, we are blessed in this world, we are capable of joy and
blessedness through eternity. There is one to whom we owe all that we are and
possess. This being is Jehovah or Baal; there cannot be more than one supreme
God. There must be one. There car, be no conflicting claims, no compromise of
services.
II. The
text enforces the duty of deciding who is truly God, and of serving him,
whether Jehovah or mammon, God or the world. This may be done by considering
what they are in themselves, what they have done for you, and what they can and
will do for you.
1. What
they are in themselves.
2. Consider
what they have done for you.
3. What
can the world, what can God do for you? (N. W. Taylor, D. D.)
God’s call to undecided
souls
I. This
word of God does not come to the dull, the dead, the sleeping sinner. There are
some of whom you cannot say that they are halting between two opinions. That
awful stillness--I dare not call it a calm--that awful stillness which pervades
their spiritual being has not been broken. They are led, blindfolded, by the
devil; and there does not seem even to be a wish--not to say an effort--there
does not seem even to be a wish to shake off that fold which is over their
eyes. One opinion they are quite settled in; and that is, that sin is sweet,
that the world is sweet, that self is sweet, and that sin, the world, and self
are all satisfying objects. To them the word cannot be said to come--“How long
halt ye between two opinions?” But it is not so with all. Besides those who
have no care for their souls and those who have learned to prize Jesus Christ
as a Saviour, there is a third class--the class of awakened, interested,
inquiring, anxious souls; and unto them does this word come, “How long halt
ye?” Their stillness has been broken; their eyes, as it were, have been opened
a little; a few dashes of light have broken in upon them; a fresh opinion has
forced itself upon them now and then. As yet, indecision is their great
Characteristic.
II. Let
us notice, in the next place, the objects between which they halt. What were
those objects in Israel’s case? Baal and Jehovah the great God of Israel! What
is there on the one side? On the one side there are objects, of which you have
proved, and even confess, that they are unsatisfying. There are things which
you know are empty things. There are courses which you know, which conscience
tells you too plainly, must end in disappointment, and in sorrow and death.
There are habits which only strengthen the cords of corruption, and draw you
more and more into sin. There are pleasures which, alas! you know too often end
in pain. There are sweets which, alas! you know crumble to very gall and
bitterness when a man puts them in his mouth. There is that upon the one side;
and what on the other? God. God, who is the source of all life; God, who is the
fountain of all joy; God, who is the giver of every good and perfect gift; God,
who is the perfection of every thing which the really enlightened soul can long
for and enjoy; God is upon the other side, God the Father calls you.
III. Let
us consider the reasons why they halt. One reason I would venture to speak of
is ignorance. But I can say that there is ignorance of the danger of
indecision. But besides this there is ignorance of the blessedness of following
God. Then again, besides this ignorance there is unbelief, from which indeed
ignorance springs. Then another reason is this--unbelief and ignorance spring
from the carnal corruption of man’s fallen nature. (C. D. Marston.)
Decision for God
Our first inquiry will
be:--
I. Who
are they that halt between two opinions? They are not far to seek, nor
difficult to describe. They may differ widely among themselves, but there are
some points in which they all agree. We may say concerning all such that they
are more or less enlightened in things divine. Moreover, the knowledge they
possess makes them dissatisfied with their present condition. Their consciences
tell them that if Christianity be true--and of this they have not the slightest
doubt--their state is far from satisfactory. They know the destructive
influence of sin here, and the terrible consequences of sin hereafter, and yet
they remain in its power. They know that those who believe the Gospel enjoy
liberty, are set free from condemnation, are made heirs of glory; and yet they
are not believers, they have not obeyed the truth, and consequently they cannot
claim these privileges--their position is that of men longing for something
which they have not determined to seek. Our next inquiry will be:--
II. Why
do men halt between two opinions? Some halt because they have never given the
subject of religion that earnest, thoughtful, prayerful consideration which it
deserves. Others halt because the interests of this life occupy too large a
share of their attention. Others halt because they have not sufficient courage
to abandon their present course of life. Others halt because they look forward
to a time when it will be easier to decide. This leads me to call your
attention to
III. The
immense danger of halting between two opinions. The longer you halt, the harder
it will be to decide. Thus your chief object in halting is effectually
defeated. Whatever may be your difficulties now, depend upon it, time will only
increase their strength and add to their number. We know how speedily habits
are formed, and how difficult it is to cast them off. They throw around us
cords and fetters which we endeavour in vain to break through. Again, our time
is very uncertain. Though the future were quite as advantageous as the present,
though it were quite as easy to seek God’s peace next year as this, it would be
the height of imprudence to put the matter off until then; for the future is so
very doubtful that you cannot reasonably build the slightest hope upon it.
“Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring
forth.” Finally, the loss you may incur by halting will be irreparable. (D.
Rowlands, B. A.)
Indecision in religion
In regard to the
state of things existing at that time in Israel, we may remark--
I. To
classify those who are thus undecided.
1. Those
who are thus undecided may be regarded
as comprising the following classes.
II. Reasons
why a decision should be made without delay.
A call to decision
I. What
are we to understand by halting between two opinions? Literally, how long hop
ye about on two boughs? This is a metaphor taken from birds hopping about from
bough to bough, not knowing on which to settle--balanced between opposing
claims. To halt is to stop, to hesitate between opposite interests. Paul was
balanced between a life of usefulness on earth and a life of enjoyment in
heaven. The people, in the days of Elijah, were balanced between the worship of
an idol and the worship of the God of heaven. Multitudes in our day are
balanced between heaven and hell; two contrary influences acting upon them, as
though God and heaven and holy beings were pulling one way, and the fiends of
darkness and hell pulling the other, and they halt between the two claims.
II. What
are the causes of this halting?
1. The
influence of the Spirit of God on the mind. This may seem strange, but we think
it will be evident to you. The Spirit of God is not directly, but indirectly,
the cause. He produces such effects on the head and heart, by the doctrines of
the Bible, that the sinner is made to see his position, to see the awful
future, to see the
consequences of moving on in that direction, to see hell at the end of the
path. He halts, stops to ponder whether to go backward or forward. Man is a
free agent. “What is that?” says one. I answer, a power to choose or reject.
There is a consciousness within you that you possess this power, and all the
reasoning in the world cannot make a thing more clear to you than
consciousness.
2. Secondly,
heart weights. Many of you know something about these heart weights. You have
had considerable experience in these matters. You have many a time been
troubled by abstractions of mind, vacancy of thought, secret uneasiness.
Sometimes that unbidden tear has stolen down your cheeks, and you could
scarcely tell why--some unaccountable alarm about the future--some undefined dread
of some all-pervading spirit fixing a searching gaze upon you.
3. You
are unwilling to pay the price. (J. Caughey.)
Immediate decision
1. For
different reasons, unconverted persons postpone deciding this question. They
await a more convenient season--until after they get married, settled down,
make money, grow old. I would not limit the mercy of God.
2. Reasons
why the unconverted should make an immediate decision:--
I wish the unconverted to
remember--
1. That,
if they neglect--neglect, that’s all--this salvation, they have no Scriptural
warrant whatever for believing that they will be saved.
2. That
they have almost to force their way to perdition.
3. Remember,
there is nothing that stands between the sinner and salvation but sin, and that
comes from himself. (Silas Henn.)
The great alternative
I. The
great alternative.
II. Distraction
within the kingdom. Within this spiritual realm are opposing forces which
contend with one another, and there is deep unsettlement, a harassing and
restless indecision.
1. Conscience
insists that we ought to live unto Him from whom we came.
2. The
heavenly voices and the best human voices summon us to consecrate our powers to
duty and holy service.
3. Prudence,
wisdom, exhorts us to seek God while He may be found (Isaiah
55:6).
III. The
one wise course. Why halt and hesitate?
1. Indecision
is
On the fence in religious
matters
I. The
condition of those who try to serve the world and Christ at the same time, by
compromising the matter.
II. The
condition of those who have grace in their heart, but have not decided to make
profession of it.
III. The
indecision of those who do not know what is the time to attend to religion.
There are two clarion voices in that man’s soul. The one says, “Now.” The other
says, “Tomorrow.” (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Indecision
Generally speaking, a
strict consistency is maintained betwixt the character of a man and the object
of his pursuit. His actions bear a conclusive testimony as to the nature of his
individual purpose. There is a oneness of his whole being with the matter at
issue. As his companion, you are left to no uncertain guess-work in determining
the uppermost thing which engrosses his thoughts, concentrates his affections,
quickens his desires, or invigorates his endeavours. The worldling is ever true
to the worldling’s creed; his god will not allow of any dereliction of duty, of
any niggardness of service, of any neglects or deficiencies in the homage
required. Let thus ambition be the ruling idol--and the devotedness of his
powers proves the sincerity of his affiance. Let wealth be the ruling idol--and
his “rising up early, and sitting up late, and eating the bread of
carefulness,” show how perfect is the agreement betwixt him and the influence
which presides.
I. First,
indecision in its nature and prevalence.
1. In
its nature. The mass of society does not consist of only two descriptions of
persons--those who are eminently pious and those who are flagrantly wicked--but
there is also an intermediate class, the victims of indecision; bespeaking that
state of the mind and the heart which, instead of cleaving wholly to God, or
yielding altogether to the world, alternates with both; an indecision which, as
if passive to the influence of opposite claims, bends now to the one and now to
the other, as accident or circumstances shall determine--now governed by the
human, now by the Divine claims; an indecision that in seeking to couple the
allegiance of two masters is a traitor to both--admitting, more or less, the
force of Gospel statements, the powerful appeals of “the truth as it is in
Jesus,” while the occasion lasts, so that there is a sort of turning to Him,
and being again open to the seductions of sensual objects, so that there is a
turning to them; an equi-ponderant weight, having no settled place, but
shifting to this side or that, as the case may be--the opponents pitching and
pulling the man now hither and now thither, as if in contention for his whole
captivity--the voice of the one saying “You are mine,” and that of the other
saying “You are mine,” and the man is neither’s.
2. The
prevalence of indecision. By far the larger mass of all our congregations is
composed of the undecided. Thousands say their prayers, who do not pray;
thousands verbally assent to the truths of Christ, where there is nothing but
the dead letter, where there is no spirit, no demonstration, no power.
II. Indecision
in its causes. And these are multiform.
1. One
is pride. This is ever lingering within us, checking the fulness of our
reliance upon God.
2. Indecision,
again, arises from ignorance--ignorance of the relative value and comparative
importance of things.
3. Indecision
springs-from our sloth. It is the reverse of the effort to maintain “a good
confession.” Decision in being “on the Lord’s side,” involves the necessity of
great and painful self-denial.
4. Indecision
proceeds from the love of the world. Whilst the heart is buried there, how can
it be given to another?
The affections cannot be placed upon two objects diametrically opposed to each
other.
5. Indecision
sometimes arises from the fear of man. It partakes of that moral cowardice
which shrinks from the names that the malicious may invent to stigmatise, or
the oppressions which the powerful may bear down upon an honest profession;
though perhaps the fear of ridicule may tend morE to prevent religious decision
than the edicts of the sternest persecution.
6. Indecision
has another cause in presumption.
7. Indecision
has a cause in the neglect of prayer--of prayer for the assistance of that Holy
Spirit, who being the “Guide into all truth,” enables us to apprehend all the
mysteries of godliness.
III. Indecision
in its consequences. And these are full of evil.
1. Indecision,
in the first place, is an insult to the authority and the character of God.
2. Indecision
works evil upon others. Every man, whether he thinks it or not, is surrounded
by witnesses; and the world is sharp sighted in observing those flaws of
inconsistency which bring so many professions of religion into contempt; where
such as attend its ordinances, only leave them to exhibit the selfishness, the
covetousness, and the earthly-mindedness of the natural man.
3. The
undecided am the self-deceived. A hope is begotten which will never be
realised; their daydream of good, as a dream, cheats them with its images and
all passes away in air.
4. The
undecided, again, are criminal. “Whatsoever,” it is said, “is not of faith is
sin.”
5. The
undecided man is the unrecompensed man; self excluded from the privileges to be
enjoyed within the Christian pale. “A double-minded man is unstable in all his
ways; let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.”
6. The
undecided man is the unsafe man. Hanging doubtfully, as betwixt two worlds, he
has two worlds around him; he neither belongs to this world, nor to that
kingdom which Christ said “is not of this world.”
7. The
undecided man is a condemned man. He being “neither hot nor cold,” presents a
state of Divine rejection. To die is to die under the ban of utter retribution.
It is said that “the fearful and unbelieving shall have their part in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone.” (T. J. Judkin, M. A.)
Elijah’s appeal to the
undecided
I. First,
you will note that the prophet insisted upon the distinction which existed
between the worship of Baal and the worship of Jehovah.
II. In
the second place, the prophet calls these waverers to an account for the amount
of time which they had consumed in making their choice. Some of them might have
replied, “We have not yet had an opportunity of judging between God and Baal,
we have not yet had time enough to make up our minds”; but the prophet puts
away that objection, and he says, “How long halt ye between two opinions? How
long? For three years and a half not a drop of rain has fallen at the command
of Jehovah; is not that proof enough? Ye have been all this time, three years
and a half, expecting till I should come, Jehovah’s servant, and give you rain;
and yet, though you yourselves are starving, your cattle dead, your fields
parched, and your meadows covered with dust, like the very deserts, yet all
this time of judgment, and trial, and affliction, has not been enough for you
to make up your minds. How long, then,” said he, “halt ye between two
opinions?”
III. But
the prophet charges these people with the absurdity of their position. Some of
them said, “What! prophet, may we not continue to halt between two opinions? We
are not desperately irreligious, so we are better than the profane; certainly
we are not thoroughly pious; but, at any rate, a little piety is better than
none, and the mere profession of it keeps us decent, let us try both!” “Now,”
says the prophet, “how long halt ye?” or, if you like to read it so, “how long
limp ye between two opinions?” (how long wriggle ye between two opinions? would
be a good word if
I might employ it.) He represents them as like a man whose legs are entirely
out of joint; he first goes on one side, and then on the other, and cannot go
far either way.
IV. The
absurdity of this halting. The multitude who had worshipped Jehovah and Baal,
and who were now undecided, might reply, “But how do you know that we do not
believe that Jehovah is God? How do you know we are not decided in opinion?”
The prophet meets this objection by saying, “I know you are not decided in
opinion, because you are not decided in practice. If God be God, follow Him; if
Baal, follow him.”
V. And
now the prophet cries, “If the Lord be God, follow Him; if Baal, then follow
him,” and in so doing he states the ground of his practical claim. Let your
conduct be consistent with your opinions.
VI. Now I
will put this question: “how long halt ye?” I will tell them; ye will halt
between two opinions, all of you who are undecided, until God shall answer by
fire. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Decision of character
I. Gives
a statement of opposite claims. There are many Baals in our land. What are
they? Examine them. Hear their claims. We shall mention four:
1. Worldly
gain.
2. Sensual
pleasures. Nothing is more deceptive than the pleasures of the world; and the
young have the greatest need to guard against indulging in them.
3. Vain
speculation. In every age there have beer, those who have set up their own
feeble reason in opposition to the word of God. We live in a day when knowledge
is more extensively diffused, and there is in many, who once lived in
ignorance, a thirst for information; and this tends to prepare the way for the
increased progress and success of the Gospel.
4. Pharisaic
pride.
II. Requires
a spirit of fixed decision.
1. It is
important in its nature.
2. It is
uncompromising in its demands.
3. It is
satisfactory in its evidence.
4. It is
beneficial in its results.
5. It is
urgent in its claims. It is to be done without delay. (Ebenezer Temple.)
An undecided character
Against this impulse [to
act and end suspense] we have the dread of the irrevocable, which often
engenders a type of character incapable of prompt and vigorous resolve, except
perhaps when surprised into sudden activity. These two opposing motives twine
round whatever other motives may be present at the moment when decision is
imminent, and tend to precipitate or retard it. The conflict of these motives
so far as they alone affect the matter of decision is a conflict as to when it
shall occur. One says “now,” the other says “not yet.” (James, “Psychology.”)
The call for decision
I believe, for my
part, that the most of the life of the bulk of men is lived without any
adequate exercise of their own deliberate volition and determination. Sadly,
too, many of us seem to think that Nansen’s way of getting to the North Pole is
the best way of getting through the world--to put ourselves into a current and
let it carry us. We drift. We do not decide, or, if we do, we let deliberate choice
be coerced by inclination, and let wishes put their claws into the scale, and
drag it down. Or we allow our environment to settle a large part of our beliefs
and of our practices. It must settle a great deal of both for all of us, and
none of us can get rid of the pressure of the surrounding atmosphere, but we
are meant to be hammers and not anvils; to mould circumstances, not to be
battered and moulded by them; to exercise a deliberate choice, and not to be
like dead fish in the river, who are carried by the stream, or like derelicts
in the Atlantic that go floating about for years, and never reach any port at
all, but are caught by the currents, and are slaves of every wind that blows. (Alexander
Maclaren, D. D.)
Half-purposes hindrances
to conversion
Another hindrance of
conversion is unresolvedness, and half-purposes; when men will hang wavering
between God and the world, and though the light be never so clear to convince
them, yet they will not be persuaded to resolve . . . If you would be converted
and saved, do not stand wavering, but resolve, and presently turn to God. If it
were a doubtful business, I would not persuade you to do it rashly, or if there
were any danger to your souls in resolving, then I would say no more. But when
it is a case that should be beyond all dispute with men of reason, why should
you stand staggering as if it were a doubtful case? What a horrible shame is it
to be unresolved whether God or the world should have your hearts? Were it not
a disgrace to that man’s understanding that were unresolved whether gold or
dung were better? Or whether a bed of thorns or a feather bed were the easier?
Or whether the sun or a clod of earth were the more light and glorious? It is a
far greater shame for a man to be unresolved whether it be God or the world
that must make him happy, and that should have his heart, and whether a life of
sin or holiness be the better. (R. Baxter.)
Verse 24
The God that answereth by
fire, let him be God.
“The God that answereth by
fire”
Here are some lessons
suited to all times, certainly not least to our time. The God that answereth by
fire.
I. The
religion of God must
bring the proofs of its Divine origin. Elijah stands as the very type and
emblem of the religion of God; it is always in the world as a daring intruder;
a stern reformer. Such a disturber of the peace must carry his credentials with
him. Look at the very nature of this holy religion. It comes with a demand so
lofty, so searching, and yet so humiliating. It tells the man in all the pride
of his intellect that he has no power to see the kingdom of God, until he is
born again.
1. Christianity
by her very triumphs gives the challenge of the world a greater force and
urgency. There are two blessings which Christianity has brought to many lands
and is surely bringing to all--liberty and light. The more perfectly men are
brought into freedom the more naturally will they ask the ground of claims like
these. Because light sets men thinking for themselves, is light therefore an evil? Do not let us
talk as if it were in any degree possible. Thank God for light; it is the wise
men who, when they find the young Child, shall lay at His feet the costly gifts
of gold and myrrh and frankincense. It is the freest men who can render the
most worthy because the most willing service. Christianity is lost when it
takes to coercion.
2. Every
age must have its own proof. The Church cannot inherit the evidences, she must
create them. The prophet does not stand and tell the people of the wonders that
God has wrought for their fathers in Egypt and the Red Sea. If the Gospel
cannot do to-day what it did aforetime, it is a failure. What is it to tell me
of Bethesda’s ancient fame, if I come and expect no expectant crowd, and no
sign of the angel, and no cripples healed, and none laughing in the gladness of
new life? I conclude naturally enough that Bethesda is a failure. The only
evidence of Christianity that can satisfy me is when it does as much for me as
it has ever done for others. If the Church of God do live at all, :she lives by
the breath of the Almighty. If that inspire her she can do as great wonders as
ever.
II. The
appointed proof. The religion of God has nothing but the fire to mark her off
from the false religions of the world.
1. And
of the two all the advantage is on the side of Baal. The royal patronage and
the popular favour, the priests of Baal and the glittering attractions are with
the false god. The priests of Baal had all the further conditions of success.
Theirs is the passionate earnestness, the furious persistent prayer, the fierce
self-denial, the agony of entreaty.
2. But
now comes the time of the man of God. Then forth from the reddened sky there
fell the fire of the Lord and consumed the burnt-sacrifice and the wood and the
stones, 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.” This is ever the proof appointed by God, and this is
always the proof accepted by men--the God that answereth by fire. (M. G.
Pearse.)
Elijah’s challenge
Moses challenged the
necromancers of Egypt, Elijah challenged the priests of Baal, Christ challenges
the world. At first the challenge was more strictly physical, now it is
intensely spiritual. What religion produces the highest and finest type of
character? That is the challenging question! Where, in Christian or in pagan
lands, have we the finest men, the purest character, the most sensitive honour?
Where are schools, hospitals, asylums, and charities of every kind most
abundant? That Christian countries are disgraced by some of the foulest crimes
possible in human life, may but show that their very foulness and atrocity
never could have been so vividly seen and so cruelly felt but for the
enlightenment and culture furnished by Christianity. In any other countries
they would have been matters of course; in Christian lands their abomination is
seen by the help of Christian light. To-day Christianity appeals not to a few
sectarian prophets, or a few bewildered speculators, nor to a few scientists
who are wild with boy-like joy because they have found a bird’s nest, but have
never seen the bird that built it; Christianity makes its appeal to the great,
broad heart of human nature, to the common sufferings of the race, to the
indestructible sentiments of mankind--to the people first and the prophets
next, and calls upon the people in all their multitudinousness to force their mumbling
prophets to bring the mumble that chokes their throat to distinct and
calculable articulation, and to compare the noise of charlatanism with the
music of Divine teaching. In Elijah’s day the people said, “It is well spoken,”
and of Christ it is said, “The common people heard Him gladly.” Full
opportunity has been given to men to show the worth of their idolatries and
superstitions. In this controversy the prophets of Baal had the first chance.
Elijah stood back that they might do their best. False religions cannot
complain that they have not had field enough. “There was neither voice, nor any
to answer, nor any that regarded” (1 Kings
18:29). It
is precisely so with every false creed, every false science, every false
prophet to-day. There is nothing to show! All effort ends in silence.
Prodigious exertions finish in prodigious emptiness. Of every teacher, other
than Christian, we ask: Where are the sinners whom you have released from the
torment of remorse? Where are the mourners whose tears you have dried? Millions
of men praise Christ. Sinners will stand up thick as armies, filling the valleys,
thronging the hills, declaring that in Christ they have found the joy of
pardon. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Altars and altar fires
I suppose that the altars
built by Elijah and the prophets of Baal would be very much alike. To all
outward seeming they were equally promising, and we should have been unable to
surmise to which of them the fire would be sent. Anybody can build an altar; we
need a God for the creation of a fire!
1. Any
one can build an altar; it requires a God to provide the flame. Anybody can
build a house; we need the Lord for the creation of a home. A house is an
agglomeration of bricks and stones, with an assorted collection of manufactured
goods; a home is the abiding-place of ardent affection, of fervent hope, of
genial trust. There is many a homeless man who lives in a richly furnished
house. There is many a fifteen-pound house in the crowded street which is an
illuminated and beautiful home. The sumptuously furnished house may only be an
exquisitely sculptured tomb; the scantily furnished house may be the very
hearthstone of the eternal God. Now the Christian religion claims to be able to
convert houses into homes, to supply the missing fire, and to bring an aspiring
flame to the cold and chilling heap. Here, then, are two houses. In both of
them there is no love, no joy, no peace, no rest. There is no flame of
geniality and radiant hope. Let us bring the Christian religion into one of the
houses, and do as you please with the other. In one house the tenants shall all
kneel before King Jesus. They shall be one in common purpose, and they shall
strive together with common mind and will. What will assuredly happen? With
absolute certainty the house will become a home! That is a glorious commonplace
in the history of the Christian faith. Where Christ has been enthroned, and
every member of the family becomes a worshipper, there steals into the common
life a warmth of affection which converts even trivial relationships into
radiant kinships. God changes houses into homes; let Him be God!
2. Any
one can proclaim a moral ideal; we need the Lord for the creation of moral
enthusiasm. But the possession of a moral ideal does not necessarily
transfigure the life. A man might draw up, for the guidance of his fellow-men,
an exalted code, and yet he may be the most notorious scamp in the city. The
erection of moral ideals is the building of an altar. Now we want the flame,
the fire of a passionate, moral enthusiasm. Where shall we get the fire? We
exalt our moral ideals in the minds of our children, but bow shall we get them
to love the right, and to fervently aspire after it? The Christian religion
claims to answer the question. Here are two lives. In both of them there is
knowledge of the moral ideal. In both of them the character is immoral. Let us
bring the Christian religion to the one, and you shall do as you please with
the other. “He will baptize with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” The issue of
fellowship with the Christ is to be the inspiration, whose influence shall be
felt like fire. Love becomes a factor in the life, and cold duty becomes a
fervent delight. How will you deal with the other man? How will you bring to
him the fire? I confess I know no answer. Apart from the Christ, there seems to
be no way of bringing fire on to cold altars.
3. Any
nation can make legal enactments against crime. We need the law to make men
hate it. The only defence against crime is not a punitive law, but a
passionate, spiritual recoil. If we would deliver men from sin, we must make
them loathe it. Some way or other we must kindle a holy hatred in man, the fire
of blazing indignation. There are many men who are kept from crime, who
nevertheless do not dislike it. We must make men hate it. How shall we light
the fire? Let us turn to the Christ. Let a man love the virtuous, and he will
loathe the vicious.
4. Any
municipality can coerce men into charity. We need the Lord for the creation of
philanthropy. The Poor Law system may compel us into giving, but in the gift
there may be nothing of the fervour of a passionate goodwill. How can we get
cold charity converted into radiant philanthropy? Who will bring the fire to
the frozen altar? There is an old man in the Christian Scriptures who speaks in
this wise: “He loved me and gave Himself for me”; “we love, because He first
loved us”; “the love of Christ constraineth me.” Out of that love for the
Master there spring all the beautiful ministries which seek the welfare of our
fellow-men. Love for the Lord just blossoms into philanthropy. (J. H.
Jowett, M. A.)
The fire of the Lord
The challenge of Carmel
was a challenge of God’s. The elect symbol of the God of Israel was fire, and
Baal was the heathen God of fire. The prophets of Baal contended that Baal was
God, and Elijah, the solitary prophet of the God of Israel, declared that
Jehovah was the one and only true God. Such a question cannot be settled by
words. The claim to Deity must be established in deeds that only God can do. It
is not a matter of argument but demonstration. The fire was God’s sign of
acceptance. Perhaps it was by this sign the two first brothers knew that Abel’s
offering was accepted and Cain’s rejected. When Abraham prepared a sacrifice by
which the covenant was to be sealed, he watched until the evening, and then the
fire of God passed through the divided portions. At the dedication of the
Tabernacle “there came fire from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar
the burnt offering and the fat.” When the Temple was consecrated we read, “When
Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed
the burnt offering and the sacrifices.” The altar fire was the sign of the Divine
Presence. No human hand kindled it. No material fuel replenished it, and yet it
burned continually, a visible assurance of Jehovah’s presence with His people.
In Elijah’s day the fire had gone out. The glory of Israel had departed. No man
could rekindle it. Neither could any other fire take its place. The carriers of
strange fire in the holy place were consumed on the spot. None but God could
relight the altar fire. Elijah inaugurated a new order, and this is the reason
of his appearance with Moses in the Mount of Transfiguration. By him God relit
the sacred fire. Then! When was that? what had made possible that momentous
moment? Is it possible to discover the conditions which bring the fire of the
Lord? Nothing is lawless. The “ then” is indicative of more than time. It marks
the moment when the conditions of Divine demonstration were fulfilled.
1. The
fire of the Lord came when the cause of Jehovah had reached its lowest point.
“Ahab had provoked the Lord God of Israel more than all that were before him.”
He was the kind of man still much applauded. He established great cities,
gathered great wealth, and built a great palace.
2. The
fire of the Lord came after the altar had been restored. The fire follows the
altar. In itself the altar is nothing. It was built of unhewn stones,
unchiselled and unshaped, but it was the place of sacrifice, the centre of
fellowship, and the sign of the covenant. When the altar is neglected the fire
goes out. Man’s work is to repair the altar and provide the offering; God lights
the fire.
3. The
fire of the Lord came in response to faith and prayer. The faith of Elijah was
sublimely heroic. What confidence he had! He could mock their frenzy because he
was sure of his triumph. Faith never screams. In quietness and assurance it
knows how to wait. How he laughed at difficulties! They might flood the altar
and the sacrifice with their cold water till it seemed as if nothing could
burn; he knew in whom he had believed. He had faith in God. (S. Chadwick.)
The fire of the Lord
The great need of the
Church in the present day is “the fire of the Lord,” the power of the Holy
Ghost. We shall do more good in an hour of Pentecostal baptism than in ten
years of Church reform, theological strife, doctrinal” discussion.” God has
promised the fire: “I
will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh.” “Ye shall receive power.” Promises
never cancelled; Spirit given and never recalled. We need the fire, for the
same reason as Elijah, combating error and sin. If we have physical or mental
work to do we require physical or mental strength and vigour; spiritual work
requires spiritual power.
I. We
must “erect our altar” and make the sacrifice before we can have the fire. The
sacrifice must be
II. The
sacrifice will be accepted; God will “answer by fire.” Consecration is giving
ourselves to God to be sanctified, cleansed, and filled with the Spirit. “The
altar sanctifies the gift.”
III. The
effects of fire are these.
1. It
refines. The Holy Spirit will remove unholiness (Ezekiel
36:25-27).
2. It
illuminates. Light is the source of
3. It
warms. Light and heat do not necessarily go together, but fire and heat do. If
the sun gave light but no heat, the world would be a vast, icy, lifeless mass,
nothing but brilliantly-illuminated death. Warmth is necessary to vitality:
spiritual life depends upon spiritual heat, which dispels spiritual coldness.
4. It
assimilates, transforms, spreads, Fire means power. Fire spreads: when filled
with the Spirit our influence will spread, for fire cannot be confined in a
narrow little circle when surrounded with inflammable material. Shall we erect
our altar to receive the fire? (Charles Cross.)
Fire from heaven
The ordeal proposed was
peculiarly appropriate. Jehovah had often in old times answered by fire. Fire
from heaven fell upon the cities of the plain. To Moses too God appeared as a
fire that burned, but did not consume. And if Baal was what his prophets
declared him to be, what more reasonable than that he, too, should answer by
fire? For he was supposed to be the god of Nature; the fruitfulness of the land
was accredited to his bounty, and the thunder and lightning were frequently
pointed to as evidences of his power. It was a sad but most suggestive sight.
Their numbers were large--four hundred and fifty as against the solitary
prophet of Jehovah. Truth does not always rest with majorities. Yea, the real
majority is where God is. Then their social influence was great. They held high
positions in the Court and throughout the kingdom. Then those men were in
earnest. It is the inevitable result in the case of all who come by some other
way pleading some other name. Men say, “Earnestness is everything; it matters
not what views you hold, so long as you are in earnest.” Of what avail,
however, is the earnestness of the drowning man who clutches at what he
believes to be a solid spar, but is only drifting seaweed? Natural religion,
evolved out of the spirit and temper of the age, will always command a large
following of thoughtful people, apparently sincere and earnest, and, thanks to
the Christian environment of these days, far superior to the worshippers of
Baal in morality and uprightness; but in time of need, when death is near, or
the heart is breaking beneath some crushing sorrow, the result will be the
same, “No voice, nor any to answer.” It is not so, however, with those who seek
the living God. The testimony of every true believer is this: “It is good for
me to draw near to God.” But we must draw near in the appointed way. See how
careful Elijah was in preparing his sacrifice. He began by repairing the altar
that was broken down, building it up with “twelve stones, according to the
number of the tribes of Israel.” The Established Churchman and the “Free” Churchman
must alike build the altar of twelve stones if they really desire fire from
heaven. There must be no despising any of whatever church or society who have
the Spirit of Christ. The sacrifice was so saturated with water that only fire
from heaven could ignite it. Amanda Smith said, some years ago, “When God
Almighty does a miracle, He likes to do it handsome.” Elijah evidently felt the
same. What a lesson, too, for the Church of the constant need of cleansing
through the word, and of that separation from an ungodly generation which
obedience to God’s Word invariably causes. If the water and the trench are
lacking in our sacrifice, what wonder if there is no fire from heaven? And when
Elijah’s faith thus challenged the ear of heaven, there came at once the answer
of the Living God. “ The fire of the Lord fell.” It was a supernatural flame.
It came direct from heaven. And so comes the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, into
our hearts with a supernatural illumination and Divine enkindling. It came to
consume the sacrifice; and to-day the fire of God will consume all that is
carnal and evil within us, and cleanse and inspire all that is good and true.
It wrought conviction of a kind in the minds of the people. (F. S. Webster,
M. A.)
The God that answers by
fire
The utterance of these
words marked a great occasion. No criticism of details can annul the essential
greatness of the hour when men seek, in the measure of their light, to know and
acknowledge God. It is a fateful hour for the seekers themselves, and has, besides,
important bearings upon the spiritual progress of the race. The form of the
quest in one generation may appear crude to the critics of a later period, but
they are poor readers of history who lay very much stress on form. The true
student of life will always hasten to discover the soul that lives beneath the
form, and to learn the permanent and essential significance of the event. A
crude and rudimentary form may enshrine a sublime spirit, while a developed
form may possibly enclose no spirit to speak of. It is easy to look down from
the embellished eminence of modern knowledge upon the setting up of a fire test
on Mount Carmel, for the discernment of the true God. We have advanced beyond
the form of this appeal, and have been taught a more excellent way. But a
careful study of the inward spirit and meaning of this ancient test may
possibly take some of the conceit out of us, and lead us to pray for a double
portion of the spirit of the old prophet, in order that we may more worthily
animate our superior forms with prophetic power. Beneath the contests with the
priests of Baal lay the perennial problem of the human heart. How can God be
known? By what means can His presence be recognised in the world? In this great
scroll of creation, in which a steady procession of laws and forces are
registering their achievements, how shall we recognise the special and personal
entry of the Divine Hand? the direct and holy signature of God? The test on
Mount Carmel was not arbitrary. The appeal to fire went to the very centre and
mystery of material forces. It was the subtlest point to which the material
test could be carried This element of fire was a profound mystery which seemed
to pass inwards and impinge upon the very soul of existence. The test
recognised that God held His court in the inner recesses of being and in the
temple of uncomprehended mystery. The form was material, though very subtly so,
but the underlying conception was spiritual. In the New Testament the form
itself is spiritualised, and the true meaning of the ideal of Carmel is
conveyed in the words, “He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire.”
I. The
challenge of the text reminds us of the subtleness of God’s self-manifestation.
The manifestation of the true God must be sought, not in gross, but in the
subtlest forms. He is the God that answers by fire. Sift the world of
perception and knowledge down to its most ethereal elements, pass through the
crude outer crust of things into the inward heart of life, penetrate beneath
the surface of existence until you reach its centre of fire, and you will stand
where God reveals Himself to the spirits that worship Him. The material
perceptions which bulk
and obtrude upon our life are but the “outskirts of His ways.” The pure
manifestation of His presence is in the ethereal and inward energy of fire. The
spirit that informed this grand ordeal on Carmel is as evident as it was just.
It is an infirmity of the flesh to desire the manifestation of God in crude and
obtrusive forms. The spirit and disposition of unbelieving scepticism is
specially prone to this egregious infirmity. With the confidence born of
fatuous miscomprehension, the sceptic
issues the challenge--“If there is a God, why does He not show Himself?” This
infirmity finds its unwisest expression in the seats of scepticism, but
Christian people also need to be on their guard against it. The pure idea of
the self-revealing God is attained only by the inward purification of the soul
from the bias of sense. I do not seek to interdict the prayer of faith for
material things, or for a moment question the personal intervention of the
redeeming God in the material domain. I hold, on the contrary, that such
unmistakable intervention is not only recorded in the pages of the sacred Word,
but also in the experience of God’s saints in all generations. But such
intervention is not primary, but secondary; the corollary of the kingdom of
love. Let us approach God worthily. He is too great to be for ever crudely
advertising His presence on the common hoardings of sense.
II. We
are led by an obvious step to recognise the naturalness of God’s
self-manifestation. His kingdom is not the contradiction of nature, but the
glorification of it. His secret glories pour themselves through the channels of
being, and diffuse themselves through all the avenues of natural law. In the
main He fulfils His glory through the common orbits and courses of created
things, charging every shining point of creation with gleams of His spiritual
glory. The stars fight for Him without leaving, or halting in, their courses.
The heavens declare His glory, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. His
lightnings fly very swiftly. His way is in the sea, and His path in the deep
waters. He crams the earth with His invisible fires, and kindles in every bush
the flame of His presence. In creation and in the history of man He works out
His holy purpose by ordered and consistent laws, by gloriously natural
processes. Through the ages one increasing purpose runs. The natural and the
spiritual coalesced on Mount Carmel into wedded unity, so that you cannot say
where the one ends and the other begins. Miracles are simply natural law
written in capital letters. They serve to introduce new epochs, just as
capitals are used to announce a new chapter. Let us look reverently for God in
the beaten paths of universal law and life, for it is there He will reveal
Himself. He will not go back upon the glorious order which He Himself has
created and ordained. Learn the essence of the flame that leaps along the
lightning’s track and the essence of the victorious power which is impelling
the human race onward and upward; for they am both one. They are the potency of
the God that answers by fire.
III. Our
thought naturally expands further into the unlimited freedom of God’s self-manifestation.
Who will clip the wings of flame, or make curbs for the secret energies of
fire? Who will pluck the ambushed lightnings out of their secret lairs,
imprison them one and all behind impassable barriers, and say to the
incarcerated legions, “Thus far shall ye go, and no farther”? A planet is fixed
in its appointed orbit, and the wandering star is drawn back from its
wanderings by invisible chains; but fire has the freedom of the universe, and pours its
mysterious force from the centre to the circumference of all created existence.
The God that answers by fire is a God whose self-manifesting energy is
unlimited and free. Human history illustrates and demonstrates the absolute
freedom of God’s revelation of Himself to men. In history, as Emerson has well
shown, every man is introduced into a universal atmosphere. Hero we touch and
perceive, and appropriate that which is common to all humankind. Every man is
elected a freeman in the imperial city of history. It knows no class
distinctions, no party privileges. What, then, do we find when we come to
search in history for the revelation of God to men? What limitations do we
discover in the descent of the Divine fire into the lives of men? Has God
limited His goings to artificial grooves, and to barriered avenues? Nay, His
fires have been kindled on every headland. Has Spirit has whispered its naming
secret of truth and love and hope to every nation under the sun. We can see His
goings in the history of all nations, and trace the progress of His redeeming
work in all generations. He has kindled His holy fires in the hearts of men as
far as He has sent His sunlight to bless the face of the earth. Once, indeed,
an attempt was made, through lack of knowledge, to make a single nation the one
channel of Divine grace, but the barriers were thrown down with a crash which
still vibrates in the words, “Is God the God of the Jews only? Nay, but of the
Gentiles also.” We refer with sorrow, not untinged with indignation, to those
who in the present day would audaciously circumscribe the communication of the
grace of God, and limit the freedom of the heavenly fire. (J. Thomas, M. A.)
Verse 30
He repaired the altar of
the Lord that was broken down.
I. The significance of
broken altars. That is a simple line from an old chronicle, but it is the
present root of many a pathetic human tragedy. It sets out in terms of quite
harmless simplicity an apparently incidental fact; really it unveils the spring
of the nation s calamity, and reveals the source of her uttermost disaster.
Famine is everywhere. What is the root of this menacing peril, what the cause
of this desolating misfortune? The whole answer lies in the broken altar. That
little heap of indistinguishable rubbish, those few overturned stones, that
desolated shrine--these are the central fact, the key to the situation, the
pivot upon which the whole thing turns. The nation has been recreant to the
sovereign sanctities, it has outraged life’s august supremacies, and at last
the inexorable retribution has come, slow but sure-footed Nemesis has overtaken
the people; and their pride has been overthrown, their security stripped away,
and calamity overwhelmed them. Life is crammed with rich and fruitful symbols.
And those few stones, lying in unregarded confusion, are the symbol of a
forgotten God. They seem so unimportant, but they are the pathetic mementoes of
dead worships, forgotten loyalties, quenched visions, faded raptures, and lifeless
loves. That is life’s most arrestive pathos, to have known God and to have been
intimate with the Eternal, and to have seen the vision splendid fade into the
light of common day, and the divinity of heaven degraded into a powerless
commonplace. And that soon runs out into every part of our complex lives and
touches each least thing with its paralysing and degrading hand. These two
things are inexorably fastened together--the famine in the land is the certain
consequence of spiritual disloyalty and recreancy. When the soul becomes
materialised, its visions arc quenched, its raptures die, disintegration
inevitably sets in, the descent is begun, which, unless it is arrested, can
have but one, and that no uncertain end. Life loses its high incentives, the
breath of its most spacious inspirations perishes, the spell of its holiest
attractions is broken, bit by bit the glory vanishes from the sky, and quenched
stars presage the uttermost dark. And this is no capricious law, which
once--but once only--worked itself out to its awful issue, and smote them that
disregarded the sanctities with the desolation of devastating famine. This is
one of those eternal laws of God’s wise government of the world, whereby every
outraged piety vindicates its awful holiness and supremacy, and a certain
Nemesis is securely fastened to every act of wrong-doing. Spiritual
disloyalties degrade physical conditions, and sins o the heart work out their
awful issue in plain facts which none can dispute. The punishment may vary,
famine or some other scourge of God, but it is never uncertain. And we to-day
may be sure that every broken altar in our individual life is mysteriously, but
certainly, working to its inevitable close.
II. Repairing
the altar of the Lord. He is the real helper and healer of the people, who can
put his finger upon the root of their sorrow, who discovers the cause of their
calamity and defeat. It is little good to peddle about the circumference, to
remedy this evil, to heal this wound, to satisfy this hunger--all these are but
varied forms of a sovereign defect, to find and to heal which is the supreme
necessity. Things must be seen in their proper perspective, and dealt with in
their imperative sequence, before good can be established and welfare made
secure. Some might have said to the prophet, “Why trouble about the altar now?
Submit the final issue, decide the great question, then build the altar to the
certain God!” But with a sure instinct he touched the secret of the nation’s
sorrows--that tiny heap of broken stones is the root of all its disasters. The
reconstruction of life must begin at the point of its incipient overthrow.
However tired the feet may be, and however painful the journey, men must
retrace their steps along the sad way of their disobedience, until they stand
at the point of their departure from the precepts of the Lord. They must
confront the past with wide-open eyes, see every bit of its disloyalty and
tragic failure; the erring of heart as well as of feet; its revolt against high
heaven and dissonance with the spirit of goodness. Every bit of stable
reconstruction either in personal or national life must go back and begin at
the point of departure, it must build on the old foundation when every
uncertain stone has been removed; so, and so only, can it hope to be secure.
And this old story has a pathetic relevancy to the life of many of us today.
There was a time when our days were “bound each to each by natural piety.” But
bit by bit it has all been changed. The circumstances of life have taken on an
added pomp, but a glory has faded out of our days, and we sit listening to
strains of distant and ever fainter music, and watch the passing of receding
angels. Bit by bit the vision faded, the revelation was withdrawn, the glory
vanished, the simplicity departed, the pledge was broken, the purity was
despoiled, the integrity disintegrated, and with them the radiant angels of joy
and peace have withdrawn. That is the degradation that comes of neglect. No
rough hands of ours tore stone from stone and piled the shrine with ruins, day
by day we swept away its crumbled fragments, until at last it was gone we knew
not how. But oh, “the difference to me”! To-day the ruin is not absolute, the
Presence has not wholly gone. But there is only one way. The soul’s intimacy
with Heaven must be re-established. (G. Beesley Austin.)
The destruction and
restoration of the altar
The altar, the sacred
possession of all the twelve stones which Elijah rebuilt to represent the whole
of Israel. Broken down and deserted. Apply to practical desertion of worship.
I. When
worldliness or any other sin absorbs the soul and prayer is abandoned.
Scepticism as to reality and answer to prayer allows the fires to go out and
the altar to go to decay. When even preaching usurps the place of worship, so
monopolising time and attention that worship is reduced to a minimum.
II. Restoration--effected
by calling to repentance, and vindication of the honour of God, Fire must come
from heaven to rekindle, and special descent of the Holy Spirit of prayer and
supplication will be the answer to diligent seeking.
III. Restoration
of the family altar a special demand of our time. General decay thereof. Sad
results. Blessed effects of restoring. (Homiletic Review.)
The altar a necessity
An eminent
worldling wrote to a learned professor a letter in which he said: “It has been
proved in the Colonies that rapid social deterioration follows upon local
inability to go to church. If the settlers’ ‘grant’ be so remote that
churchgoing becomes an impossibility he gradually ceases to miss it, abandons
the weekly burnishing and outside decorum, and the rest rapidly follows.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, far from an Evangelical--but a man of keen insight into
the human heart says, “I have in the corner of my heart a plant called
reverence, which I find needs watering at least once a week.” (H. O. Mackey.)
Verse
36
Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham,
Isaac, and of Israel.
Elijah’s creed
Let us consider the creed of this “loftiest, sternest
spirit of the true faith,” as Dean Stanley called him. We may glean its
articles from that prayer made under circumstances which would have tried the
soul even of a sterner man than he. Three things may be read in this prayer:
1. A formula--“Jehovah, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel.”
2. A personal relation between God and the prophet--“Let it” be known
this day that I am Thy servant.
3. The fulfilment of a Divine purpose through the deeds of the
man--“And that I have done all these things at Thy word.” Taking the prayer
itself as a creed, we see embodied in it the formal, the personal, and the
practical elements. Notice, first, that the prophet used a formula to express the
foundation of his belief. He may have done it unconsciously, full of the idea
for which it had stood now six hundred years. Had he not read it in the Law,
heard it from the lips of priest and rabbi, and himself used it times without
number? No one supposes that the prophet used the formula lightly or
ignorantly. In this we might set him in contrast with ourselves. But no creed
is complete which does not involve a personal relation between him who utters
it and God. So, in this prayer, the relation between God as Lord and Elijah as
prophet is clearly drawn. God was invoked to prove this very thing. As a
servant, Elijah had taken his life in his hand long before. A man tells you he
believes in God. Ask him what essential change of character would be produced
by his parting with his belief. His servantship had already been proved by his
implicit obedience to every command of God. Now he hid by the brook Cherith,
and now tarried at Zarephath. A further element of faith involved in this
formal supplication is that of co-operative work. In and through His servant
God is fulfilling His purposes; “Let it be known that I have done all these
things at Thy word.” We are not, of course, to make the Lord responsible for
everything a good man does. “A perfect trust” does not shield the human agent
from the just charge of misdemeanours. Every servant of God does the will of
God. He starts or sustains a tendency, works destruction here, rescues life
there, goes to the wilderness, returns to the town, is silent now, again thunders
forth, as the Spirit wills, to bring to pass the true conception of God working
in the world, without ceasing, to establish and maintain righteousness. So the
war goes on, and will go on until the whole earth bows down before Him. Now,
all this is made extremely simple in the prayer of the prophet: “God is. God
has a servant in me. God through me works His will.” Let all men believe this,
let their belief take hold of their life as it took hold of Elijah’s, so that
not to believe is death, and a new earth is in process, and the universal reign
of Jehovah is visibly begun.
What have we more than had Elijah?
1. We have a new insight of the personality of God. Did not Elijah
believe in God as a Person? We must insist that he did. But our vision is clearer.
He felt the power of the Person in the “still, small voice.” That was his
gospel. We know it in the conquering soul of the Christ. We behold the glory of
the Divine Personality, and through Him know ourselves as individual members of
the Divine household.
2. Again, we realise a new order of mercy. Once there was the
relentless call for sacrifice. Elijah was an avenger. He could slay hundreds in
one act. It would have been impossible for him to conceive of avenging justice
turned into mercy. We, on the other hand, hear a voice pleading for infinitely
worse offenders, “Father, forgive them.” The Divine expiation is sufficient to
cover every sinner. It is ours to make the word of deliverance ring around the
world, “Come unto Me,” and be free from condemnation.
3. Once more, the duty of every man is now more clear than it could
have been in Elijah’s day. Can any one, it may be asked, understand his duty
more perfectly than did the prophet? Still, duty with us takes on the nature of
universality and of privilege. (C. R. Seymour.)
Let it be known that I have done all these things at Thy word.
Elijah’s plea
I. A firm ground for prayer.
1. You are a minister of God, or a worker in the cause of Christ, and
you go forth and preach the Gospel with many tears and prayers, and you
continue to use all means, such as Christ has ordained: do you say to yourself,
“May I expect to have fruit of all this?” Of course you may. You are not sent
on a frivolous errand “you are not bidden to sow dead seed that will never
spring up. But when that anxiety weighs heavily upon your heart, go you to the
mercy-seat with this as one of your arguments, “Lord, I have done according to
Thy word.”
2. Next, I would apply this teaching to a whole church. I am afraid
many churches of Christ are not prospering. The congregations are thin, the
church is diminishing, the prayer-meeting scantily attended, spiritual life
low. If I can conceive of church in such a condition which, nevertheless, can
say to God, “We have done all these things at Thy word,” I should expect to see
that church soon revived in answer to prayer. The reason why some churches do
not prosper is, because they have not done according to God’s word.
3. The same principle may be applied also to any individual believers
who are in trouble through having done right.
4. I would like to apply this principle to the seeking sinner.
II. Self-examination as to
whether or not you have done all these things at God’s word.
1. Let every worker here who has not been successful answer this
question--Have you done all these things at God’s word?
2. Did you preach it rightly? That is to say, did you state it
affectionately, earnestly, clearly, plainly?
3. And another question--Has there been an example to back your
teaching? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Whom to please
On a very cold night a gate-keeper at a railway depot
demanded that each passenger show his ticket. Several bitterly complained of
the delay and inconvenience. “You are a very unpopular man to-night,” said a
spectator. “I only care to be popular with one man,” he replied, “and that is
the superintendent.” In the same way Christians should take care that their
actions are pleasing to God, and if they have to displease man, they must
remember that “we ought to obey God rather than men.”
Obeying implicitly
“I have stood,” said Mr. Scott, “on the deck of a ship while she
was toiling up-stream, with wind and water against her, and I have gone up to
the man at the wheel, and said, ‘Jack, why don’t you ease her off a point or
two? You see how it would relieve her.’ But the answer was, ‘No, I can’t luff;
that is the point of the compass the captain gave me, and I must keep her to
it.’ ‘But, man,’ I remonstrated, ‘if you keep her as she is, soon the bulwarks
will be stove in, and there is every chance that under this fearful strain she
may spring a leak.’ ‘That is none of my business; it is the captain’s look out.
All I have to do is to obey his orders,’ was the man’s answer. The captain,
however, understood his business, and we arrived safe in harbour. Sometimes, if
we do exactly as Christ commands, it appears as if our business would be
ruined, our reputation lost--as if, indeed, we should be totally wrecked. That,
however, is the captain’s look out. All we have to do is to implicitly obey.”
Verse 39
All the people . . . said, The Lord, He is the God.
Christianity acknowledged
supreme
In the Introduction to his
Analogy of Religion, Bishop Butler says: “It has come to pass--I know
not how--that Christianity is discovered to be victorious.” Why, that was
nearly two hundred years ago! I wonder how many books have been written against
the Bible since then, and handed
up, one after the other, to the cobwebs of the upper shelves in the library,
while the old Book still lies before us, saying with a conscious sense of
superiority to all the other books--
“Books may come and books may go,
But I go on for ever.”
A reformer’s temporary
successes
“There was a time, towards
the close of the fifteenth century, when the devoted monk and martyr,
Savonarola, seemed to have set up the kingdom of Christ in his beloved city of
Florence. How he remodelled the Republican government; how he tamed the
mischievous boys of the city; how at his bidding the people kindled in the
great Piazza, during the Carnival of 1496, the strange Bonfire of Vanities; how
the watchword of Florence became, ‘Viva Gesu Cristo, nostro Re’--Long live
Jesus Christ, our King: there are few histories like it. It was an Italian theocracy.
It was a day of heaven on the earth. ‘So much joy was there in all hearts,’ one
of the chroniclers tells us, ‘that the glory of Paradise seemed to have
descended to this lower world.’ The pity is that the Golden Age of Florence was
so transient and brief-lived.” (Sunday School Teacher.)
Verse 40
Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.
The true narrowness
Elijah was intolerant--narrow, as some would call it. Dr. Cadman
says that some things must be narrow in order to do their work. “You want a
narrow edge on your razor. About the broadest thing in the world is the Desert
of Sahara.” No Christian should attempt a compromise between wrong and right.
And Elijah said
unto Ahab.
The conquest of faith
This passage:--
I. Indicates the bent of a good man’s mind. Both Ahab and Elijah
“went up,” but how different their purposes. One “went up” to eat and drink,
the other “went up” to pray. One event may produce various impressions on
different minds. These different impressions indicate the true character of
men. The mind of the ungodly man is bent upon pleasure, the mind of the godly
man on prayer. We may learn three things respecting a good man from this event.
1. The good man possesses an earnest spirit. Elijah needed rest.
2. The good man possesses a humble spirit. The victory Elijah had
achieved produced an amazing influence on the minds of the spectators.
3. The good man possesses a devout spirit. He retired to pray. “He
cast himself upon the earth, and put his face between his knees.”
II. Exemplifies the power of a good man’s faith. There are three
things about Elijah’s conduct that claim our attention.
1. His confidence. There were no indications of the approaching
storm. The air was calm, and clear, and cloudless. Elijah had faith in God. He
remembered Cherith, Zarephath, and Carmel.
2. His patience. Disappointed once, twice, even six times, he sends
again. Elijah knew what God had promised He had power to perform. He waited.
3. His perseverance. Elijah had noted the rustling among the trees,
but this did not set aside the necessity of prayer. Elijah prayed, continued in
prayer. Don’t let us be discouraged in our approaches to God.
III. Records the success of a good man’s prayer. God had given one
answer to prayer--fire had fallen from heaven and consumed the prepared
sacrifice. Elijah prayed again. Continued mercies necessitate repeated
supplication. To-day’s prayer will not do for So-morrow’s blessing. We know not
the nature of Elijah’s petition, but we see three advantages accruing
therefrom.
1. There is a Visible indication of God’s purposes. “Behold there
ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand.” God’s
children have the earliest intimation of God’s purposes. “Like a man’s hand.”
Small beginnings--in literature, science, and religion--often have important
and far-reaching results.
2. There is a special warning for the king’s preparation. “Go, say
unto Ahab.” Elijah had predicted that rain should come “according to his word.”
3. There is a direct answer to a particular request. Elijah prayed
for rain. The blessing was sent “while” he sought it. It was a great rain.
IV. Reveals the source of a good man’s strength. “And the hand of the
Lord was on Elijah.” Remember what Elijah had done! Think of his weariness and
hunger, then picture him, outrunning for twenty miles the fleet steed of Ahab.
From this superhuman event let us learn two things.
1. That God imparts strength to the good man for the performance of
the most arduous duties. “The hand of the Lord was on Elijah.” Man is a poor
fragile thing, but God can gird him with infinite strength. God’s influences
touch the body, the mind, the heart.
2. The resources of infinite strength are within the reach of a good
man. What God did for Elijah He can do for the Church--individuals. (Preacher’s
Analyst.)
The prayer of faith
On the eastern
shore of the Mediterranean Sea and opposite the far-famed town of Acre, on the
south side of a beautiful bay, there is a range of mountain-land rising to an
elevation of from 1200 to 1500 feet. This range of hills stand out with marked
distinctness and forms a very prominent object from the sea and from all the
country round about. It is known by the name of Mount Carmel. The view from the
summit is very imposing. The tableland on the summit extends inland for some
eight or nine miles. It is a locality interesting not simply on its own
account, but also from its varied scriptural associations.
I. The prophet’s prayer. He is bold enough before men, but humble
indeed in the presence of God.
1. Look at his posture. He is on his knees with his head bowed downward,
so that his forehead touches the ground. This was the attitude assumed in
supplication on occasions of special urgency. Standing in prayer was not
unusual in ordinary worship (Mark 11:25; Luke 18:13). Attitude in prayer is of small moment in comparison with the
spirit of devotion; yet as an outward indication of inward feeling is net
altogether unimportant:--
II. The prophet’s faith.
1. He expected the rain, although as yet there was no sign of its
coming, and it had been withheld for more than three years. He says (1 Kings 18:41), “There is a sound of abundance of rain”; but this was as yet
only in the word of God’s promise.
2. He continued So expect although the fulfilment of the promise was
long delayed. He said to his servant seven times:--“Go again.” “Go again.” It
will come! God often tries faith and patience by delay.
III. The prophet’s success. (Homiletic Magazine.)
The rain
I. The object of his faith. To procure rain for the parched land.
This was the one object upon which his mind was fixed, and which he was
stimulated to seek by the promise of God.
II. The means by which he sought this object. “He cast himself down,”
etc. The attitude of prayer. He might have been tempted to have left God to
fulfil His own promise, but He did not. His faith was operative, and led him to
pray earnestly for the object upon which it was fixed. True faith will always
influence us to labour and to pray for its object.
III. The encouragement he received. “A sound of abundance of rain”
IV. The discouragement he met with. “The servant returned from looking
toward the sea and said there is nothing.”
V. The perseverance he manifested. “Go again seven times.”
VI. The success he realised. “And it came to pass, in the meanwhile,
that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.”
Perseverance is still rewarded by success, and by it God’s servants still
honour Him whom they serve. (Thomas Carr.)
Rain at last
There are
certain characteristics in Elijah’s prayer which we must notice as we pass,
because they should form part of all true prayer.
I. It was based on the promise of God. God’s promises are given, not
to restrain, but to
incite to prayer. They show the direction in which we may ask, and the extent
to which we may expect an answer. They are the mould into which we may pour our
fervid spirits without fear. They are the signed cheque, made payable to order,
which we must endorse and present for payment. Though the Bible be crowded with
golden promises from board to board, yet will they be inoperative until we turn
them into prayer. We are content to pray, though we are as ignorant of the
philosophy of the modus operandi of prayer, as we are of any natural
law. We find it no dreamy reverie or sweet sentimentality, but a practical
living force.
II. It was definite. This is where so many prayers fail. They are shot
like arrows into the air. They are like letters which require no answer,
because they ask for nothing. They are like the firing by artillery in a mimic
fight, when only gunpowder is employed. This is why they are so wanting in power
and interest.
III. It was earnest. “Elijah prayed earnestly.” This is the testimony
of the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle James. It was the effectual, fervent
prayer of a righteous man, which availeth much.
IV. Elijah’s prayer was humble. “He cast himself down on the ground,
and put his face between his knees.” We scarcely recognize him, he seems to
have lost his identity. Our only plea with God is the merit and blood of our
great High Priest. It becomes us to be humble.
V. It was full of expecxtant faith. “Whatsoever things ye desire,
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them: and ye shall have them.” Faith is
the indispensable condition of all true prayer. It is the gift of the Holy
Ghost. It thrives by exercise. It grows strong by feeding on the promises: the
Word of God is its natural food. It beat strongly in Elijah’s heart.
VI. It was very persevering. He said to his servant, “Go up now, look
toward the sea.” And he went up, and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” How
often have we sent the lad of eager desire to scan the horizon!--and how often
has he returned with the answer, There is nothing! There is no tear of
penitence in those hard eyes. There is no symptom of amendment in that wild
life. There is no sign of deliverance in these sore perplexities. There is
nothing. And because there is nothing when we have just begun to pray, we leave
off praying. We leave the mountain brow. We do not know that God’s answer is
even then upon the way. Not so with Elijah. “And he said, Go again seven times.”
Not unfrequently our Father grants our prayer, and labels the answer for us;
but He keeps it back, that we may be led on to a point of intensity, which
shall bless our spirits for ever, and from which we shall never recede.
VII. And the prayer was abundantly answered. For weeks and months
before, the sun had been gathering up from lake and river, from sea and ocean,
the drops of mist, drawing them as clouds in coronets of glory around himself;
and now the gale was bearing them rapidly towards the thirsty land of Israel.
Presently the lad, from his tower of observation, beheld on the horizon a tiny
cloud, no bigger than a man’s hand, scudding across the sky. No more was needed
to convince an Oriental that rain was near. It was, and is, the certain
precursor of a sudden hurricane of wind and rain. “More things are wrought by
prayer than this world wots of.” Why should not we learn and practise his
secret? It is certainly within the reach of us all. Then we too might bring
from heaven spiritual blessings, which should make the parched places of the
church and the world rejoice and blossom as the rose. (F. B. Meyer, M. A.)
Elijah an example of the
true spirit of prayer
I. The place whither Elijah went to seek him. He ascended to the top
of Carmel! Here was a privacy remote from every eye, and well calculated to
bring his mind into near and dear communion with God, after the public and
awful duties in which he had been engaged--duties equally affecting the honour
of Jehovah and the welfare of His people.
II. The prayer of Elijah seems to have been offered up in deep
humility. He cast himself upon the earth, and put his face between his knees.
Lowliness is the very essence of prayer--for what is prayer, except the soul’s
confession of its unworthiness, its rebellion, its vileness, its helplessness,
its merit of God’s wrath, arising out of a broken law and a neglect of all the
blessings that are centred in Jesus, and that have been offered to and pressed
upon its acceptance?
III. The prayer of Elijah is beautifully distinguished by a spirit of
deep and settled earnestness. We do not hear a word spoken, nothing that
interrupts the soul’s silent communion with God. We know not that a tear was
shed, we know not that a sigh was uttered; yet have we obviously the supplication
of one who wrestled with God, under an almost overwhelming sense of the
momentous nature of the petition which he asked at God’s hand.
IV. He wrestled with God, as “one who would take no denial.”
V. Elijah, then, exhibited a full assurance of faith that his
petition would be granted.
VI. Elijah exhibited a waiting spirit of supplication.
VII. The supplication of Elijah was distinguished by a watchful state
of mind.
VIII. The prayer of Elijah was the pleading of a spirit capable of
discovering an answer which common observation could not detect.
IX. The prayer of Elijah was one which served to strengthen him for
duty. It did not suffice to send his servant, that Ahab might be warned, and
proceed on his way. No, the prophet arose from his station and posture of
lowliness on Mount Carmel, in joy and comfort, to do Jehovah’s bidding, as
Jehovah’s prophet. “The hand of the Lord was upon Elijah, and he girded up his
loins, and ran before Ahab, to the entrance of Jezreel.” (R. P. Buddicom, B.
A.)
Persevering prayer
“God’s seasons
are not at your beck. If the first stroke of the flint doth not bring forth the
fire, you must strike again.” That is to say, God will hear prayer, but He may
not answer it at the time which we in our own minds have appointed; He will
reveal Himself to our seeking hearts, but not just when and where we have
settled in our own expectations. Hence the need of perseverance and importunity
in supplication. In the days of flint and steel and brimstone matches we had to
strike and strike again, dozens of times, before we could get a spark to live
in the tinder; and we were thankful enough if we succeeded at last. Shall we
not be as persevering and hopeful as to heavenly things? We have more certainty
of success in this business than we had with our flint and steel, for we have
God’s promise at our back. Never let us despair. God’s time for mercy will
come; yea, it has come, if our time for believing has arrived. Ask in faith,
nothing wavering; but never cease from petitioning because the king delays to
reply. Strike the steel again. Make the sparks fly and have your tinder ready:
you will get a light before long. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Prayers for fire and for
water
The prayer for
fire was answered at once; the prayer for water was not. By putting the two
instances together we shall see how they explain one another, and what a
striking argument for their common probability is established. Notice as the
fundamental fact that the prayer for fire was answered instantaneously, and
that the prayer for water was not answered until it had been offered seven
times.
1. There was an urgency in the one case which there was not in the
other. The king was waiting; so were the prophets; so were the people; it is an
unprecedented crisis in the history of the nation. In the case of the rain, the
prophet was alone; no immediate expectancy on the part of the public was to be
answered.
2. We are not to live in the unusual and the exciting, but in the
ordinary and regular. It was good for Elijah himself to be taught that he was
only a suppliant, not the Lord. God has always been sparing of His exceptional
manifestations. Christ was sparing in His miracles: He never did them merely
for the sake of doing them.
3. No human imagination would have risked such a conjunction of
immediateness and delay as is given in this chapter. Such a contrary act on the
part of God is a simple impossibility to the imagination. It amounts to what is
called, sometimes foolishly, a discrepancy or contradiction. Yet it is the very
law of the mystery of our life! We live it, but dare not imagine it! Great
honours are followed by great reverses to keep us sober. Out of this reasoning
comes the high probability of the historical and literal truthfulness of the
whole narrative. Literary completeness there is none. No attempt is made to
satisfy the suggestions of fancy. All tricks of management, all skill in
artistic disposal of incident is ignored, and truth is left to attest and
vindicate its reality. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The rustling and the rain
The solemn
scenes Ahab had just witnessed would, we should think, have made the most
flippant thoughtful, and earnest; but Ahab is unmoved. “Get thee up, eat and
drink,” Elijah says to him. That is all he is fit for. He is quite ready for a
good banquet; he would be out of his element at a prayer-meeting. In like
manner there are some to-day who seem unmoved by any manifestations of Divine
power. They pass out of church after listening to a most moving sermon, and
merely complain of the length, or criticise the preacher’s style. Human nature,
even when totally unregenerate, often manifests some traits that are noble and
genuine. It is seldom so outrageously carnal and callous as Ahab seemed on this
occasion. We turn with relief to Elijah. “There is a sound of abundance of
rain,” he had said to Ahab. Perhaps he heard it only with the ear of the spirit
by faith. But why should not Elijah also eat and drink? He was exhausted with
the labour and strain of the day. Why not be content, now that he has heard the
soughing in the trees, and just eat and drink until the rain fall? Because the
rustling was not the rain, it was only the precursor of the rain, and a call to
prayer. How often we hinder blessing through lack of prayer. We hear the
rustling and we take our ease. If we waited without prayer for the fulfilment
of the promise, it would seem as if we thought we had a right to the blessing.
Once we begin to take our mercies as a matter of course, there is no blessing
with them to our souls. So we find two features specially prominent in this
prayer of Elijah’s--his utter self-abasement before God and his believing
perseverance. But why does not the first prayer prevail? It is good that our faith should
be tested and our desires proved. It is well, too, that we should be taught our
dependence upon God. Perhaps if our prayers were always answered at once we
should seem rulers and commanders in the things of God, and forget our
subordinate and dependent position. We might even make an idol of prayer, as
the Israelites did of the brazen serpent, and look upon our prayers as a charm
or divining red, giving us a legal claim upon the bounty of heaven. (F. S.
Webster, M. A.)
The coming rain
I. The cause of the famine.
II. The cause of the rain.
1. Primary cause, God’s mercy. He seems to catch beforehand the sound
of its footsteps (LXX.). But as the punishment was not brought about without
the prophet’s intervention, so now the rain is to be hastened by his prayers.
2. What we may describe as the instrumental cause was Elijah’s
fervent supplications. It is the instance of the “effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availing much.” “He prayed again, and the heaven gave rain” (James 5:16-18).
III. Lessons.
1. We learn from
this lesson that prayer is of avail with regard to outward things.
2. We see clearly that it must be the prayer of faith, and not of
human caprice, which is offered.
3. The lesson also warns us that national sins bring down national
chastisements. (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)
Verses
41-46
And Elijah said unto Ahab.
The conquest of faith
This passage:--
I. Indicates the bent of a
good man’s mind. Both Ahab and Elijah “went up,” but how different their
purposes. One “went up” to eat and drink, the other “went up” to pray. One
event may produce various impressions on different minds. These different
impressions indicate the true character of men. The mind of the ungodly man is
bent upon pleasure, the mind of the godly man on prayer. We may learn three
things respecting a good man from this event.
1. The good man possesses an earnest spirit. Elijah needed rest.
2. The good man possesses a humble spirit. The victory Elijah had
achieved produced an amazing influence on the minds of the spectators.
3. The good man possesses a devout spirit. He retired to pray. “He
cast himself upon the earth, and put his face between his knees.”
II. Exemplifies the power of a
good man’s faith. There are three things about Elijah’s conduct that claim our
attention.
1. His confidence. There were no indications of the approaching
storm. The air was calm, and clear, and cloudless. Elijah had faith in God. He
remembered Cherith, Zarephath, and Carmel.
2. His patience. Disappointed once, twice, even six times, he sends
again. Elijah knew what God had promised He had power to perform. He waited.
3. His perseverance. Elijah had noted the rustling among the trees,
but this did not set aside the necessity of prayer. Elijah prayed, continued in
prayer. Don’t let us be discouraged in our approaches to God.
III. Records the success of a
good man’s prayer. God had given one answer to prayer--fire had fallen from
heaven and consumed the prepared sacrifice. Elijah prayed again. Continued
mercies necessitate repeated supplication. To-day’s prayer will not do for
So-morrow’s blessing. We know not the nature of Elijah’s petition, but we see
three advantages accruing therefrom.
1. There is a Visible indication of God’s purposes. “Behold there
ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand.” God’s
children have the earliest intimation of God’s purposes. “Like a man’s hand.”
Small beginnings--in literature, science, and religion--often have important
and far-reaching results.
2. There is a special warning for the king’s preparation. “Go, say
unto Ahab.” Elijah had predicted that rain should come “according to his word.”
3. There is a direct answer to a particular request. Elijah prayed
for rain. The blessing was sent “while” he sought it. It was a great rain.
IV. Reveals the source of a
good man’s strength. “And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah.” Remember what
Elijah had done! Think of his weariness and hunger, then picture him,
outrunning for twenty miles the fleet steed of Ahab. From this superhuman event
let us learn two things.
1. That God imparts strength to the good man for the performance of
the most arduous duties. “The hand of the Lord was on Elijah.” Man is a poor
fragile thing, but God can gird him with infinite strength. God’s influences
touch the body, the mind, the heart.
2. The resources of infinite strength are within the reach of a good
man. What God did for Elijah He can do for the Church--individuals. (Preacher’s
Analyst.)
The prayer of faith
On the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and opposite the
far-famed town of Acre, on the south side of a beautiful bay, there is a range
of mountain-land rising to an elevation of from 1200 to 1500 feet. This range
of hills stand out with marked distinctness and forms a very prominent object
from the sea and from all the country round about. It is known by the name of
Mount Carmel. The view from the summit is very imposing. The tableland on the
summit extends inland for some eight or nine miles. It is a locality
interesting not simply on its own account, but also from its varied scriptural
associations.
I. The prophet’s prayer. He
is bold enough before men, but humble indeed in the presence of God.
1. Look at his posture. He is on his knees with his head bowed
downward, so that his forehead touches the ground. This was the attitude
assumed in supplication on occasions of special urgency. Standing in prayer was
not unusual in ordinary worship (Mark 11:25; Luke 18:13). Attitude in prayer is
of small moment in comparison with the spirit of devotion; yet as an outward
indication of inward feeling is net altogether unimportant:--
II. The prophet’s faith.
1. He expected the rain, although as yet there was no sign of its
coming, and it had been withheld for more than three years. He says (1 Kings 18:41), “There is a sound of
abundance of rain”; but this was as yet only in the word of God’s promise.
2. He continued So expect although the fulfilment of the promise was
long delayed. He said to his servant seven times:--“Go again.” “Go again.” It
will come! God often tries faith and patience by delay.
III. The prophet’s success. (Homiletic
Magazine.)
The rain
I. The object of his faith.
To procure rain for the parched land. This was the one object upon which his
mind was fixed, and which he was stimulated to seek by the promise of God.
II. The means by which he
sought this object. “He cast himself down,” etc. The attitude of prayer. He
might have been tempted to have left God to fulfil His own promise, but He did
not. His faith was operative, and led him to pray earnestly for the object upon
which it was fixed. True faith will always influence us to labour and to pray
for its object.
III. The encouragement he
received. “A sound of abundance of rain”
IV. The discouragement he met
with. “The servant returned from looking toward the sea and said there is
nothing.”
V. The perseverance he
manifested. “Go again seven times.”
VI. The success he realised.
“And it came to pass, in the meanwhile, that the heaven was black with clouds
and wind, and there was a great rain.” Perseverance is still rewarded by
success, and by it God’s servants still honour Him whom they serve. (Thomas
Carr.)
Rain at last
There are certain characteristics in Elijah’s prayer which we must
notice as we pass, because they should form part of all true prayer.
I. It was based on the
promise of God. God’s promises are given, not to restrain, but to incite to prayer.
They show the direction in which we may ask, and the extent to which we may
expect an answer. They are the mould into which we may pour our fervid spirits
without fear. They are the signed cheque, made payable to order, which we must
endorse and present for payment. Though the Bible be crowded with golden
promises from board to board, yet will they be inoperative until we turn them
into prayer. We are content to pray, though we are as ignorant of the
philosophy of the modus operandi of prayer, as we are of any natural
law. We find it no dreamy reverie or sweet sentimentality, but a practical
living force.
II. It was definite. This is
where so many prayers fail. They are shot like arrows into the air. They are
like letters which require no answer, because they ask for nothing. They are
like the firing by artillery in a mimic fight, when only gunpowder is employed.
This is why they are so wanting in power and interest.
III. It was earnest. “Elijah
prayed earnestly.” This is the testimony of the Holy Spirit, through the
Apostle James. It was the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man, which
availeth much.
IV. Elijah’s prayer was
humble. “He cast himself down on the ground, and put his face between his
knees.” We scarcely recognize him, he seems to have lost his identity. Our only
plea with God is the merit and blood of our great High Priest. It becomes us to
be humble.
V. It was full of expecxtant
faith. “Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive
them: and ye shall have them.” Faith is the indispensable condition of all true
prayer. It is the gift of the Holy Ghost. It thrives by exercise. It grows strong
by feeding on the promises: the Word of God is its natural food. It beat
strongly in Elijah’s heart.
VI. It was very persevering.
He said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” And he went up, and
looked, and said, “There is nothing.” How often have we sent the lad of eager
desire to scan the horizon!--and how often has he returned with the answer,
There is nothing! There is no tear of penitence in those hard eyes. There is no
symptom of amendment in that wild life. There is no sign of deliverance in
these sore perplexities. There is nothing. And because there is nothing when we
have just begun to pray, we leave off praying. We leave the mountain brow. We
do not know that God’s answer is even then upon the way. Not so with Elijah.
“And he said, Go again seven times.” Not unfrequently our Father grants our
prayer, and labels the answer for us; but He keeps it back, that we may be led
on to a point of intensity, which shall bless our spirits for ever, and from
which we shall never recede.
VII. And the prayer was
abundantly answered. For weeks and months before, the sun had been gathering up
from lake and river, from sea and ocean, the drops of mist, drawing them as
clouds in coronets of glory around himself; and now the gale was bearing them
rapidly towards the thirsty land of Israel. Presently the lad, from his tower
of observation, beheld on the horizon a tiny cloud, no bigger than a man’s
hand, scudding across the sky. No more was needed to convince an Oriental that
rain was near. It was, and is, the certain precursor of a sudden hurricane of
wind and rain. “More things are wrought by prayer than this world wots of.” Why
should not we learn and practise his secret? It is certainly within the reach
of us all. Then we too might bring from heaven spiritual blessings, which
should make the parched places of the church and the world rejoice and blossom
as the rose. (F. B. Meyer, M. A.)
Elijah an example of the true spirit of prayer
I. The place whither Elijah
went to seek him. He ascended to the top of Carmel! Here was a privacy remote
from every eye, and well calculated to bring his mind into near and dear
communion with God, after the public and awful duties in which he had been
engaged--duties equally affecting the honour of Jehovah and the welfare of His
people.
II. The prayer of Elijah seems
to have been offered up in deep humility. He cast himself upon the earth, and
put his face between his knees. Lowliness is the very essence of prayer--for
what is prayer, except the soul’s confession of its unworthiness, its
rebellion, its vileness, its helplessness, its merit of God’s wrath, arising
out of a broken law and a neglect of all the blessings that are centred in
Jesus, and that have been offered to and pressed upon its acceptance?
III. The prayer of Elijah is
beautifully distinguished by a spirit of deep and settled earnestness. We do
not hear a word spoken, nothing that interrupts the soul’s silent communion
with God. We know not that a tear was shed, we know not that a sigh was
uttered; yet have we obviously the supplication of one who wrestled with God,
under an almost overwhelming sense of the momentous nature of the petition
which he asked at God’s hand.
IV. He wrestled with God, as
“one who would take no denial.”
V. Elijah, then, exhibited a
full assurance of faith that his petition would be granted.
VI. Elijah exhibited a waiting
spirit of supplication.
VII. The supplication of Elijah
was distinguished by a watchful state of mind.
VIII. The prayer of Elijah was
the pleading of a spirit capable of discovering an answer which common
observation could not detect.
IX. The prayer of Elijah was
one which served to strengthen him for duty. It did not suffice to send his
servant, that Ahab might be warned, and proceed on his way. No, the prophet
arose from his station and posture of lowliness on Mount Carmel, in joy and
comfort, to do Jehovah’s bidding, as Jehovah’s prophet. “The hand of the Lord
was upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab, to the
entrance of Jezreel.” (R. P. Buddicom, B. A.)
Persevering prayer
“God’s seasons are not at your beck. If the first stroke of the
flint doth not bring forth the fire, you must strike again.” That is to say,
God will hear prayer, but He may not answer it at the time which we in our own
minds have appointed; He will reveal Himself to our seeking hearts, but not
just when and where we have settled in our own expectations. Hence the need of
perseverance and importunity in supplication. In the days of flint and steel
and brimstone matches we had to strike and strike again, dozens of times,
before we could get a spark to live in the tinder; and we were thankful enough
if we succeeded at last. Shall we not be as persevering and hopeful as to
heavenly things? We have more certainty of success in this business than we had
with our flint and steel, for we have God’s promise at our back. Never let us
despair. God’s time for mercy will come; yea, it has come, if our time for
believing has arrived. Ask in faith, nothing wavering; but never cease from
petitioning because the king delays to reply. Strike the steel again. Make the
sparks fly and have your tinder ready: you will get a light before long. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
Prayers for fire and for water
The prayer for fire was answered at once; the prayer for water was
not. By putting the two instances together we shall see how they explain
one another, and what a striking argument for their common probability is
established. Notice as the fundamental fact that the prayer for fire was
answered instantaneously, and that the prayer for water was not answered until
it had been offered seven times.
1. There was an urgency in the one case which there was not in the
other. The king was waiting; so were the prophets; so were the people; it is an
unprecedented crisis in the history of the nation. In the case of the rain, the
prophet was alone; no immediate expectancy on the part of the public was to be
answered.
2. We are not to live in the unusual and the exciting, but in the
ordinary and regular. It was good for Elijah himself to be taught that he was
only a suppliant, not the Lord. God has always been sparing of His exceptional
manifestations. Christ was sparing in His miracles: He never did them merely
for the sake of doing them.
3. No human imagination would have risked such a conjunction of
immediateness and delay as is given in this chapter. Such a contrary act on the
part of God is a simple impossibility to the imagination. It amounts to what is
called, sometimes foolishly, a discrepancy or contradiction. Yet it is the very
law of the mystery of our life! We live it, but dare not imagine it! Great
honours are followed by great reverses to keep us sober. Out of this reasoning
comes the high probability of the historical and literal truthfulness of the
whole narrative. Literary completeness there is none. No attempt is made to
satisfy the suggestions of fancy. All tricks of management, all skill in
artistic disposal of incident is ignored, and truth is left to attest and
vindicate its reality. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The rustling and the rain
The solemn scenes Ahab had just witnessed would, we should
think, have made the most flippant thoughtful, and earnest; but Ahab is
unmoved. “Get thee up, eat and drink,” Elijah says to him. That is all he is
fit for. He is quite ready for a good banquet; he would be out of his element
at a prayer-meeting. In like manner there are some to-day who seem unmoved by
any manifestations of Divine power. They pass out of church after listening to
a most moving sermon, and merely complain of the length, or criticise the
preacher’s style. Human nature, even when totally unregenerate, often manifests
some traits that are noble and genuine. It is seldom so outrageously carnal and
callous as Ahab
seemed on this occasion. We turn with relief to Elijah. “There is a sound of
abundance of rain,” he had said to Ahab. Perhaps he heard it only with the ear
of the spirit by faith. But why should not Elijah also eat and drink? He was
exhausted with the labour and strain of the day. Why not be content, now that
he has heard the soughing in the trees, and just eat and drink until the rain
fall? Because the rustling was not the rain, it was only the precursor of the
rain, and a call to prayer. How often we hinder blessing through lack of
prayer. We hear the rustling and we take our ease. If we waited without prayer
for the fulfilment of the promise, it would seem as if we thought we had a
right to the blessing. Once we begin to take our mercies as a matter of course,
there is no blessing with them to our souls. So we find two features specially
prominent in this prayer of Elijah’s--his utter self-abasement before God and
his believing perseverance. But why does not the first prayer prevail? It is
good that our
faith should be tested and our desires proved. It is well, too, that we should
be taught our dependence upon God. Perhaps if our prayers were always answered
at once we should seem rulers and commanders in the things of God, and forget
our subordinate and dependent position. We might even make an idol of prayer,
as the Israelites did of the brazen serpent, and look upon our prayers as a
charm or divining red, giving us a legal claim upon the bounty of heaven. (F.
S. Webster, M. A.)
The coming rain
I. The cause of the famine.
II. The cause of the rain.
1. Primary cause, God’s mercy. He seems to catch beforehand the sound
of its footsteps (LXX.). But as the punishment was not brought about without
the prophet’s intervention, so now the rain is to be hastened by his prayers.
2. What we may describe as the instrumental cause was Elijah’s
fervent supplications. It is the instance of the “effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availing much.” “He prayed again, and the heaven gave rain” (James 5:16-18).
III. Lessons.
1. We learn from
this lesson that prayer is of avail with regard to outward things.
2. We see clearly that it must be the prayer of faith, and not of
human caprice, which is offered.
3. The lesson also warns us that national sins bring down national
chastisements. (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)
Verse 43-44
And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea.
The Servant of Elijah
I. That to aim upwards
in our thoughts and actions is the best way to obtain relief in times of danger
or difficulty. Elijah went up to the topmost position of Mount Carmel, and he
bade his servant go up still higher, to the very peak of the mountain, so as
the better to observe the appearances of the sky far and wide. Are we in search
of some good? Then let us raise our affections above the unsatisfying, the
perishing, the earthly, to the beatific, the eternal, the heavenly; let us
scale the heights of our celestial Carmel, and seek for the rain-cloud of
promise, by the waters of which a well of water shall be made to spring up in
our hearts unto eternal life.
II. That we should
not procrastinate in spiritual matters. “Go up now,” Elijah says to his
servant, “Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” “What thou
doest, do quickly.” Indolence cannot win heavenly riches any more than worldly.
“Procrastination is the thief of time.” The sluggard loses all his to-days in
thinking of his to-morrows. To-morrow, in fact, is the watchword of the lazy
and the idle.
III. That the true
spiritual life consists of two parts, the active and the contemplative. Elijah
went up, after his strenuous exertion in his contests with the priests of Baal,
to the top of the mountain, and there rested upon the ground with his face
between his knees, that is, in prayer or Divine meditation. The servant, too,
was to “go up.” That necessitated active exertion, and then to “look” over the
face of the heaven. That showed the desirability of contemplation.
IV. That we must
never despair. The servant of Elijah had to go up seven times ere he saw any
sign of the coming of the wished-for rain. Let us not then be “weary in
well-doing,” let us not give way to disappointment if we succeed not at once in
our efforts after higher things. To few persons in this life does success come
immediately or at one trial. The spider--that, by its frequent efforts to cast
its web between two distant points, taught perseverance to the royal
Bruce--might also speak to us the lesson to persevere unto the end, to continue
in well-doing, to show forth in heavenly things patience and perseverance.
V. That in small
things, as well as in great we should learn to trace God’s hand. This little
cloud, even at last, was no bigger than a man’s hand; yet it was a messenger
sent to fulfil God’s decree. Many persons are willing enough to recognise God’s agency in
great events, in national revolutions, popular outbreaks, natural disturbances;
but are not inclined to see the power of God in lesser matters, in individual
trials, in the every-day phenomena of life.
VI. That we should
regard temporal matters in the light of eternity. This servant of Elijah was to
look towards the sea. The sea has ever been taken as an emblem of eternity. It
was a fitter emblem of eternity in the ancient world than it is in the modern,
because the ancients knew little of its depth or its extent, whereas we have
mapped out in a great degree both the one and the other. (R. Young, M. A.)
Expectant prayers
A beautiful little book, Expectation Corners, tells
of a king who prepared a city for some of his poor subjects. Not far from them
were large storehouses, where everything they could need was supplied if they
but sent in their requests. But on one condition--they should be on the outlook
for the answer, so that when the king’s messengers came with the answer to
their petitions, they should always be found waiting and ready to receive them.
The sad story is told of one desponding one who never expected to get what he
asked, because he was too unworthy. One day he was taken to the king’s
storehouses, and there, to his amazement, he saw, with his address on them, all
the packages that had been made up for him, and sent. There was the garment of
praise, and the oil of joy, and the eye-salve, and so much more; they had been
to his door, but found it closed; he was not on the outlook. From that time on
he learnt the lesson Micah would teach us: “I will look to the Lord; I will
wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” (Andrew Murray.)
Answers to prayer expected
There is no sense in always telegraphing to heaven for God to send
a cargo of blessing, unless we are at the wharf to unload the vessel when it
comes. (J. Ellis.)
The weather watcher
The Electric Light Company of one of London’s districts has a
weather watcher who sits all day on the roof in a small glass house. It is his
business to keep his eyes open to every sign of change, especially the
gathering of clouds causing darkness, as in that case a sudden demand is made
for electric lighting all over the district, and this requires a greatly
intensified power in the huge generators below. As soon as he sees a great dark
cloud travelling Londonwards, he telephones to the engine-room below that
additional power will soon be needed, and by the time required it has been
generated. Would that God’s people everywhere were watchmen who, when they saw
the clouds gathering over the church and the world, would turn that into a plea
for power--power from God. (H. O. Mackey.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》