“How Great Is Our God!”

I Kings 18:20-40

As each year comes to an end and each new year approaches, every one and their grandmother has their list of top things that happened that year.  ESPN will have the greatest sports event. VH1, MTV, CMT and others have the best songs and/or video of the year. Time, Newsweek, USA Today, and others put out the most significant political events in the year. Entertainment Tonight, TV Guide Chanel, Ebert and Roper etc. put out the best movies and TV shows of the year.  Sometimes each talk show plays their “best of” shows from the year.  When it’s a new decade or even a new century or worse yet, a new millennium, the lists get bigger and more frequent.  Then you can start to make “best of all time lists” and once again the list gets bigger and bigger.  These lists are often debated, disagreed with, and believe it or not, complained about. 

I don’t know if this is an age old tradition or if it’s something that has happened with the advancement of technology.  I wonder if at the turn of the century 700 B.C. the Israel Insider magazine published a “best of” list?  If so, there is no debating that Elijah and the prophets of Baal should be listed at the top of a few different categories.  Elijah would be Man of the Year, the prophets of Baal would be losers of the year, the confrontation would be fight of the year. 

This morning I would like for us to go on a field trip.  Let’s leave Simi Valley and go to Mt. Carmel.  I want us to place ourselves in the story and watch the event from the eyes of one of those gathered there.  Here are the words of FB Meyer:

“It’s early morning upon the heights of Carmel.  From all sides the crowds are making their way towards this spot, which from remotest times has been associated with worship.  No work is being done anywhere; the fires are dying out in the furnace and the forge; the instruments of labor hang useless on the walls; and the whole thought of young and old is concentrated on that mighty convocation to which Ahab has summoned them.  See how the many thousands of Israel are slowly gathering, and taking up every spot of vantage ground from which a view can be obtained from the proceedings.  They are prepared for any extreme—from the impure rights of Baal to the reestablishment of their father’s religion. 

“The people are nearly gathered, and there is the regular march of marshaled men; for hundred prophets of Baal, conspicuous with the sun-symbols flashing on their brows…But our thought turns from the natural panorama, and the sea of upturned faces and the flashing splendor of the priests…and we fix our thought with intense interest on that one man, of sinewy build and flowing hair.  One man against a nation!  See with what malignant glances his every movement is watched by the priests.  No tiger ever watched its prey more fiercely.  But do not fear for Elijah, he needs no sympathy.  All heaven is at his back.  With flashing eyes and compressed lip, he awaits the quiet hush which will presently fall upon that mighty assembly.” 

²¹And Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." And the people did not answer him a word.

Take a look at that phrase, “limping between two different opinions”.  That’s a very interesting phrase in the Hebrew.  It’s a figure of speech they used in ancient times.  If we were to translate it very literally, it would say something like, “How long will you limp between two branches?” or “how long will you hobble between two forks”.  That phrase takes the word of lame and the word for limb or and puts them together. 

The ancient figure of speech was “hobbling back and forth between prongs on a big old fork.”  That was the ancient way of saying it.  Today, Elijah might have used a different figure of speech to address the people.  He might have said, “How long will you straddle the fence?  How long will you have one foot in the worldly systems of worship, and one foot in the biblical form of worship?”

The  people were being syncretistic.  They were blending elements from different religions to suit their own personal preferences.  That’s how people are today.  They treat their religion like their lunch at the salad bar.  Some of this; a little of that.  I like the love of God.  This idea of Jesus dying for my sin, I’ll take that.  Let’s hold off on that holiness stuff, that does not taste so good to me.   I prefer this concept of personal morality. Hey I like this Hindu concept of Karma.  These Tarot Cards are neat, I’ll take a helping of that. 

That’s called syncretism.  It is the blending of elements of different religions to suit our personal preference.  That’s what people of today do very commonly.  That’s what the people of Elijah’s day were doing. Not only do people do it with religions, but they do it with God.  I like the loving God, but not the wrathful God.  I like the merciful God, but not the just God.  That’s idolatry and that’s SIN! God is who/what the Bible says He is and we do what the Bible says we should do.

Notice that God hasn’t given up on His chosen people.  Throughout the Old Testament we see the Israelites going astray and throughout the Old Testament we see God doing whatever it takes to get them back.  They went astray after some pretty amazing events!  Being led through the wilderness; parting the sea; crossing the Jordan; the fall of Jericho, etc.  Praise God that the prophets didn’t give up on them!  They simply did what the Lord wanted them to do.  Moses had a hard time with his followers.  God told him that they weren’t rejecting him, but the Lord.  Moses responsibility was to lead, whether or not the people followed.  Our responsibility isn’t how people react; it’s how we follow what God has commanded us to do.  Elijah was sent to these people to call them to repentance.

So Elijah said, “How long will you waiver between two opinions?  How long will you hobble between the forks?  How long will you straddle the fence?  Go one way or the other.  This is the key to the entire passage. 

²² Then Elijah said to the people, "I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. ²³ Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose on bull for themselves and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it.  And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it ²⁴ And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, He is God.”  And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.”

This must have brought a wide smile to the faces of the prophets of Baal.  Baal was the god of human and agricultural fertility.  And they believed that he had authority over all the elements, including fire.

Notice that Elijah didn’t insult the prophets by saying something like “you call upon your false god and I’ll call upon the one true God, the LORD Almighty.”  He simply said “your god.”  We don’t need to verbally assault what people believe in, we simply need to let the power of God speak for itself.

    ²⁵ Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of you god, but put no fire to it. ²⁶ And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!”  But there was no voice, and no one answered.  And they limped around the altar that they had made.

We’ve got to stop and try to visualize this spectacle.  There 450 of these men.  That’s a big group.  They are all wearing fancy, bright, ornate priestly attire.  And they are shouting for 3 hours straight as they move and limp.  See that word for limp?  That is the same word as in verse 21.  It meant to limp or hobble.  So it was an erratic dance they used to win the favor of Baal like Herodias lured the favor of Herod. 

It must have been a fascinating sight to see.  It was loud.  It was frenzied.  It was creepy.  And it was producing little results.  For three hours, nothing happened.  Now Elijah sees an opportunity.  The people are straddling the fence.  He is trying to get them off.  He draws the attention of the people to make sure that people are noticing the folly here. 

    ²⁷ And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god.  Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened”

Now Elijah’s mockery is not comprised of random sarcastic comments as it may seem.  Most of what he says is related to the well-known activities of Baal.  The first thing that Elijah says is “Either he is musing.”  There are ancient writings that claimed Baal to be “the Philosopher” and source of science and astronomy.  The second one, “he is relieving himself” is nothing more than an insult.  The third one said that “he is on a journey.”  There are some ancient writings that indicate that Baal journeyed to Libya in N. Africa to establish colonies.  The forth mockery is that Baal was sleeping.  They actually had festivals each spring to awaken Baal from his winter slumber. 

The “relieving himself” comment was probably a bit over the top.  This shows us that God can and will work for His glory in spite of the sinful acts of his people.    

 ²⁸ And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out upon them.

Their dancing did not seem to earn the favor of Baal.  So they try to win his sympathy with their masochistic rituals.  This was common in the worship of pagan deities. 

²⁹ And as midday passed, the raved on until the time of the offering of the obligation, but there was no voice.  No one answered; no one paid attention.

I started to wonder how it was that they could be so persistent in their attempt to bring fire from Baal.  All day long for hours on end they exhausted themselves in their attempts to get a response from Baal.  And it seems that they truly expected an answer.  They truly expected some kind of manifestation from Baal.  There is a reason.  The reason is that they had results in the past.  They had probably received manifestations of the supernatural in the past.  But what they thought was Baal was actually a demonic spirit leading them astray.  These men were sincere.  But they were sincerely deceived.  

I think that Mt. Carmel was the scene of an unseen battle.  That place was crawling with demons.  But those demons were being held at bay by angels and the power of God! 

It’s a truly pathetic scene here.  They have exhausted themselves in their attempt to call upon Baal.  But look at the middle of verse 26.  There was no voice, no one answered.  And then in verse 29, once again it says there was no voice, no one answered.  And then a really sad note.  Now, no one was even paying attention anymore.  They people were not interested.  The prophets ran out of gas, and they fizzled out with their hoarse voices and blood caked vestments. 

    ³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.”

He gathers them in real close where they can investigate all that he is about to do.  But that is a loaded statement.  These people were hobbling between the forks.  They were straddling the fence.  Trying to explore Baalism and hold on the Lord.  Now Elijah says, “Come here to me.”  In other words, “Off the fence.  Come stand with God where I am standing.  Get off the fence an over here where you belong.” 

And Elijah is going to do several things before God shows his power.

And all the people came near to him.  And he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been thrown down. ³¹ Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, “Israel shall be your name,” ³² and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD.

It’s very interesting to me that Elijah waits until he has all the attention of the people before he repairs the altar.  He could have repaired it while the prophets of Baal were doing their routine.  But he waited until they could all watch.  He may not have spoken audibly here, but he was communicating powerfully for sure!  He was going to revive their faith of their fathers and bring them back to their first love.

The altar had been destroyed by Jezebel and the prophets of Baal in an attempt to eradicate the worship of Jehovah.

And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would conceal two seahs (about 1 ¾ gallons) of seed. ³³ And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood.  And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood." (Water from nearby Med Sea.) ³⁴ And he said "Do it a second time." And they did it a second time.   And he said, "Do it a third time.”  And they did it a third time. ³⁵ And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

Have you ever tried to start a fire with wet wood?  There was no way it would catch flame.  Wet wood just smolders.  Elijah is putting himself at every disadvantage.  He wanted it to be known that nothing short of the power of God would set that sacrifice ablaze. 

A couple of different things ran through my head when reading this.  First I thought, “WOW!  Elijah’s got a lot of faith!”  And that’s true.  Then I thought, “Is this sin?  The Scripture says not to test the Lord your God.  Is this what Elijah was doing?”  I sat and pondered these things…I looked them up in a couple of books and commentaries, and no one addressed the point.  I was becoming very frustrated with this action, then I read the next verse!  It was at the word of the LORD that Elijah did all these things!  He did exactly what God wanted him to do.

    ³⁶ And at the time of the offering of the obligation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.

 ³⁷ Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

This is such a simple moment in comparison to the frenzy of the prophets of Baal.  It’s so pure and simple.  God does not desire showy ritual.  All he wants is a heartfelt worship and prayer.  And now he responds.  Take off your shoes friends.  Humble your hearts.  We are about step onto to Holy Ground. 

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

There fire of the Lord fell.  Our impulse when reading this is to think of a bolt of lightning dropping like a bomb on that sacrifice with an explosion that blew away all the people.  But that is not what is pictured here.  There is not a trace of a cloud in the sky at the tail end of this drought until verse 44.  The fire of the Lord fell.  Fire is different from lightning.

What is the fire of the Lord?  It appears throughout the OT Testament record.  Let’s look at a couple of the occurrences.  Leviticus 9:24 (Aaron’s first sacrifice after being consecrated as priest of Israel); II Chronicles 7:1-4 (as Solomon’s temple is dedicated to the Lord)

Some of the Hebrew scholars say that the language of these passages indicates God’s presence in the fire.  The fire is a manifestation of the presence of God. So this was something of a theophany like the burning bush or the glory cloud that covered the Tent of Meeting.  Our God is a burning fire. 

How would you have responded when you were there?  There you are on a mountainside at dusk.  It’s growing dark and cool.  The man of God prays and the brilliant flame of God appears.  The fire fell and first the sacrifice, second the wood.  But then, what was next was totally unexpected.  The first burned up the stones and soil and licked up the water in the trench. 

How would you respond?  You would have responded just like these people.  And these people responded just like everybody does when they are suddenly made aware of the presence and the glory of God.  They ended up on their faces!

    ³⁹ And when all the people saw it,  Notice, all the people saw this. they fell on their faced and said, “The LORD, He is God; The LORD, He is God!"

Think of all those thousands of people.  They all fell prostrate.  That’s what always seems to happen when God somehow manifests his glory.  The three disciples of the Mt. of Transfiguration were on their faces in and sore afraid.  Paul on the Damascus road fell off the camel on to his face.  John when he was caught up from Patmos into the presence of the Lord saw the glory and fell prostrate like a dead-man.  And one day o Christian when you pass from this life into the glorious presence of Jesus Christ you will fall on you face and say, The Lord he is God, The Lord he is God.  Let us worship the Lord with Joy.  Let us worship the Lord with gladness.  But let us worship the Lord with humility and reverence.

At the beginning of this story all the people were straddling the fence.  Elijah called them out.  He said if Baal is God worship him.  If the Lord is God, worship him.  They were silent.  None of them, not a single one would claim his belief in the Lord.  There are no fence straddlers any more.  And just to show us that they were not going to tolerate any more Baal worship we read,

    ⁴⁰ And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.”  And the seized them.  And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

For Ahab, Jezebel and the false prophets, it must have been such a terrifying moment when the fire of God fell.  That may seem severe but it is justice.  These men led people away from God, killed babies in sacrifices, and were probably used of Jezebel to murder the prophets of the Lord.  They were immoral, bloody thirsty idol worshippers who received what they deserved.  Just like it says in Psalm 101:1, “I praise you oh Lord for your love and your justice.”  Here is this chapter we see his love demonstrated to the family of Israel.  We see his justice demonstrated to the prophets of Baal.

But what we need to notice is that the people were off the fence.  They were proclaiming the Lord.  They were not tolerating sin.  They got off the fence.

As we come back from Mt. Carmel and return to Southern California, I’m wondering if there is any one here straddling a fence.  Oh, I’m sure that none of us worship Baal, but there may be many trying to hold on to the Lord with just a partial allegiance and devotion. 

1. There are Christians who are straddling between the world and God.  They have a foot in the world and a foot in the faith.  That’s very common today. 

Hannah Whitall Smith in The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. (Christianity Today, Vol. 32, no. 11.) - The standard of practical holy living has been so low among Christians that very often the person who tries to practice spiritual disciplines in everyday life is looked upon with disapproval by a large portion of the Church. And for the most part, the followers of Jesus Christ are satisfied with a life so conformed to the world, and so like it in almost every respect, that to a casual observer, there is no difference between the Christian and the pagan.

James 4:4 "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."

If that is you, get off the fence. 

2. There are people who are straddling the fence of indecision.  There are many who have a good understanding of Christianity.  They know enough about the Christians and the teachings of righteousness through Christ.  But they postpone or teeter-totter about embracing Christ as Lord.

When Elijah said come over here to me, I was reminded of what the Lord Jesus said.  Come to me, and I will give you rest!

So today I ask you…are your straddling the fence?  Does the grass look greener on the other side?  I’m reminded of the cry of Joshua, “Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.  Put away the gods that our fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.  And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”  Joshua 24:14-15

In every church crowd this size, there is usually someone who needs to choose whom they are going to serve.  Jesus said you can’t serve two masters.  Get off the fence and serve the One, True and Living God!

Pastor Lance Skifter

www.faithchrist