Quiz:

1) The prophet who stopped the rain in Israel for three years was named a) Elisha b) Eliazer c) Englebert d) Elijah

2) The evil King who the prompted the stopping of the rain was: a) King Athaliah b) King George II c) Simba, King of the Jungle d) King Ahab

3) After warning the king of no rain, Elijah went into hiding and was brought his daily food by: a) leprechauns b) c) ravens d) squirrels

4) T or F Elijah's miracle for the widow and her son was producing never ending barrels of flour and wine, and cheese?

All this time, in Israel, the sun rises every day and bakes the soil… but no rain falls…not even a cloud forms in the sky. Famine sets in…oddly there is no turning back to God as one would have suspected.

If your nation started out… then left worshipping Yahweh God and started worshipping Baal idols and then some prophet of Yahweh God came along and told you that it wasn't going to rain because of your rebellion and disobedience…and three years went by without rain… doesn't it seem like somebody would start suggesting a turn back to the God of Abraham, Moses, David and Solomon… might be in order?

Instead of Israel turning toward God, all worshippers of the true God were persecuted and killed until there was almost nobody left…apparently there was nobody who wasn't hiding out from King Ahab for fear of their very lives.

Finally, the day arrived when Elijah was sent, by God, back to Ahab with news that it was at long last going to rain. But before the first raindrop fells there was going to erupt the "mother of all spiritual showdowns".

1Kings 18:1 Later on, in the third year of the drought, the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab. Tell him that I will soon send rain!” 2 So Elijah went to appear before Ahab….

Remember God had been preparing Elijah for this moment: Every miracle Elijah had performed had been a lesson from God in how empty he, and everything else, was without the presence and power of God. Empty sky, empty brook, empty barrel, boy's body empty of life….

Elijah was figuring out that nothing in this world amounted to anything at all without the infilling presence of God.

All of that was setting him up for this "mother of all showdowns". A face to face taking on of evil that would literally change the course of his country.

 …Meanwhile, the famine had become very severe in Samaria. 3 So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace….5 Ahab said to Obadiah, “We must check every spring and valley in the land to see if we can find enough grass to save at least some of my horses and mules.” 6 So they divided the land between them. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. ( I'm sure that somewhere along the way Ahab thought concerning thoughts about what he would put in the bellies of his own people…not just his horses and mules??)

 7 As Obadiah was walking along, he suddenly saw Elijah coming toward him. Obadiah recognized him at once and bowed low to the ground before him. “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” he asked. 8 “Yes, it is,” Elijah replied. “Now go and tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’”

 9 “Oh, sir,” Obadiah protested, “what harm have I done to you that you are sending me to my death at the hands of Ahab? 10 For I swear by the Lord your God that the king has searched every nation and kingdom on earth from end to end to find you. And each time he was told, ‘Elijah isn’t here,’ King Ahab forced the king of that nation to swear to the truth of his claim. 11 And now you say, ‘Go and tell your master, “Elijah is here.”’ 12 But as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you away to who knows where. When Ahab comes and cannot find you, he will kill me…..

 …v: 15 But Elijah said, “I swear by the Lord Almighty, in whose presence I stand, that I will present myself to Ahab this very day.”

It's not hard to imagine what is in Ahab's mind…. I'll get that old goat by his nasty old beard and I will squeeze his mouth until he says "let it rain" and then I'll terminate him before he can change his mind….

What do you think was going through Elijah's mind.? Did he think…I'm going to walk in there and I'm going to tell that evil old reprobate that I had the power to stop the rain and I have the power to start the rain back up… and if he continues to rebel against God I can continue to do anything to him my heart pleases… I'm like Merlin the wizard…???

I don't think so! Elijah was a Pretty Potent Prophet…not because he had figured out how great he was… but because he had figured out how great his God was! We've already seen evidence, last week, that when Elijah was faced with one of these huge, impossible situations…he would go, humbly, before God and beg for a God sized solution to his impossible human situation.

He's had three lonely years for God to get him ready for this big task and God had spent that time getting his courage up to take on not only the evil king of his country…but all the pagan idol worshipping influences… as well.

He's going to get a chance to say "let the rain start back up"… but not until he has demanded "let the evil idol worship stop!

16 So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come, and Ahab went out to meet Elijah. 17 When Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, “So, is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?”

Interesting… Here's a guy who had broken every law God had written… God had clearly promised justice and punishment for those who broke His Law…particularly those in leadership… yet there wasn't one shred of personal guilt in King Ahab. His problems were all somebody else's fault. Elijah has no intentions of letting Ahab off the hook:

18 “I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead.

19 Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.” 20 So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel.

You've got to picture this scene… You're up on plateau on a fairly tall mountain… If you look down to the west you can see the Mediterranean Sea. In the East you can see the valley of Megiddo where Israel today has a huge underground airfield. If you're watching, just at the right time, you can see fighter jets seeming to come right up out of the ground.

Elijah doesn't address Ahab… he purposely doesn't address the idol worshipping prophets. He turns toward, and addresses, the Children of Israel who have struggle by the thousands from all over Israel and up the side of this mountain. These people are what this whole three year, no-rain lesson has been all about. They are the one's Elijah has come to convince to turn back to their God.

21 Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.

It's clear, to me, that they were sitting on the fence. They hadn't completely deserted their faith in Yahweh God…but they were dabbling in idol worship. It wasn't that they had completely forgotten God splitting the Red Sea or giving Moses the law on Mt. Sinai. But they just didn't see the wrong in dabbling in idol worship along with their pagan neighbors.

Everyone was doing it! It seemed harmless enough…A cute little idol as a decoration on the mantel…a trip to a pagan shrine with a neighbor on a special day. Then came the hard times when prayers to Yahweh God were interrupted by a brief prayer to the Baal idol, just in case he had any power to help them too. Perhaps all paths, after all, led to the same God…

God has a zero tolerance policy for idol worship in any form! God spoke at every turn, that there was and is only one pathway to God, salvation and heaven. All paths do not lead to God. There is one path to salvation and all other pathways mankind presents are false, pagan, and constitute the worshipping of idols. God doesn't care a speck about political correctness and he couldn't care less who likes it and who doesn't.

“How much longer will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.

Of course they were silent…like a kid caught with his hand buried in the cookie jar.. They were absolutely guilty and they knew it!

One can't possibly mistake what God leads Elijah to say next as political correctness…

Elijah- "Here's what we're going to do. Bring two bulls to sacrifice. Baals boys can choose their bull, cut it up and lay it on the wood on their altar. No matches boys, no Bic Scripto lighters, no flint, and no magnifying glasses…

I'll get my bull ready for sacrifice using the same ground-rules…

24 Then (you all) call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed. (now they are talking)

Ok. Ok… you guys go first…since there are so many of you… you should be able to get this over with quickly and then all the pressure will be on me……

… So the Baal boys bustled busily breaking up their bull.

 26b… Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no reply of any kind….

Elijah's sitting off to one side with a growing grin on his face. One of the things that happens when you spend a lot of time by yourself… hiding out by brooks, hanging out in the attic of a widow…is that you don't have a lot of time to learn interpersonal people skills. Sometimes you just can't stop yourself from saying sarcastic and hurtful things…so it was with Elijah long about lunchtime

27 About noontime Elijah began mocking them. “You’ll have to shout louder,” he scoffed, “for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!” 28 So they shouted louder, and following their normal custom, they cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. 29 They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response.

Actually this well worded sarcasm was not just for Elijah's fun…He wanted every word to sink into to the Israelite's brains… he wanted them to repeat the words for years to come around the dinner table….and he wanted every storyteller to end with the same words: but still there was no sound, no reply, no response.

…Finally Elijah got the people to huddle around him. he began repairing the long, broken-down altar of the Lord. He spent some time gathering twelve perfect stones to include in the altar representing all twelve tribes. He wanted everyone to understand that what was about to happen included them. This was significant because the twelve tribes had been split up since just after Solomon's time…they had been fighting, even going to war and killing each other…. Elijah cements together these twelve symbolic stones:

Then he did something very unusual…he dug a deep trench around the entire altar. Then he put the wood on the altar and positioned the bull on top. Perhaps he turned the pockets of his robe inside out to show…. No matches , no Bic Scripto lighters, no flint or magnifying glasses…

33b  Then he said, “Fill four large jars with water, and pour the water over the offering and the wood.” 34 After they had done this, he said, “Do the same thing again!” And when they were finished, he said, “Now do it a third time!” So they did as he said, 35 and the water ran around the altar and even filled the trench.

 36 At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant.

I got these people exactly where you wanted them to be this evening. They, now, all have my exhortation running through their brains::

How much longer will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!”

Quietly he prayer fervently… God you have taught me that I am nothing and you are everything. You've showed me my emptiness and now I acknowledge like never before how much I need you…. If you don't come though now…absolutely everything will be lost….Out-loud he prays…

…Prove that I have done all this at your command. 37 O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”

Then there is silence…nobody moves… how will The God of Heaven respond?

38 Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”

Are you sure? Yes!

Are you done wavering between two opinions? Yes

Is Baal God in any way, shape, or form? No!

Are you going to remain true to Yahweh God? Yes!

Don't all pathways lead to salvation and God? No!

Will you purge what is un-godly from your midst? Yes!

Even if an ungodly leader tells you to do wrong will you resist? Yes!

Who is the one, true God of heaven and earth? Yahweh God…Jehovah God!

Song: Days of Elijah….

If you are sitting on the fence today….

How much longer will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!”