Good Memorial Day weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Depending on where you live in the world, your country may have a “Memorial Day” which honors those of your military which have fallen in battle defending your country. Of course for Americans most all of our ‘fallen’ have died outside the United States, helping other countries defend themselves against aggressors.
It’s a somber weekend for Americans and I salute any ‘gold star’ families who may be part of our “Walking with Jesus” family, anywhere in the world. War is ugly no matter where, when, how or why, and sadly, always, many civilians are also casualties of war, including the survivors of those who did not come home from war alive.
War is almost always an exaggerated conflict over differing visions of what the future could be. Yesterday I left you on the top of Mount Carmel in Israel, with Elijah and King Ahab, surrounded by thousands of people who had gathered for a conflict over the identity and future of the nation of Israel. Few of those gathered had military weapons, but the hearts of these Israelites were no less engaged and impassioned than soldiers on the battlefield.
If you visit Israel today, Mount Carmel and the location of this Biblical event is a highlight of almost every tour of Israel. In many ways that gathering, though it happened around 870bc, is echoed in the current conflict in modern Israel. Both then and now there is wide disagreement on who the people should be who reside in the land of Israel and what their values, their world view, and their religion should be. So let’s rejoin the 1 Kings 18 account and witness one of the most amazing events in history!
The old prophet Elijah was facing nearly 1000 religious prophets of Baal and Asherah, two of many false gods and idols of nations outside Israel. These false gods and the nations who worshipped them were enemies of Israel, in some cases wanting the destruction of Israel. Under the leadership and influence of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel these false religions had swept through Israel and were dominating Israelite society and intimidating any person who attempted to remain faithful and true to the God of Israel. Altars of worship to false idols were everywhere in Israel.
In response Almighty God had closed the skies and no rain or dew had fallen for 3 years and drought was pervasive throughout the land. But still King Ahab, Queen Jezebel and these wicked religious frauds were resolute in their refusal to bow their knee or their hearts to Almighty, Holy God.
On that day Elijah laid out the challenge with clarity and simplicity: “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow HIM, but if Baal is God, follow him.” (1 Kings 18:21) “The LORD” of course is the name God had given Himself when Moses had encountered God on Mount Sinai in their burning bush encounter! (Ex. 3:13-15) The values of the LORD God and those held by the followers of the false gods Baal and Asherah were vastly different and as the people of Israel more and more rejected the LORD God of their ancestors, everything was changing and imploding in Israel.
The truth is, in almost every city of our world today, there are not only two opposing opinions, there are many, many voices each declaring that their view of the issue and the future is truthful and most helpful to their society.
But here’s an important question for every person: upon what unchanging, ultimate, moral standard of right & wrong; and upon what standard of ultimate, unwavering TRUTH do we build and base the opinions we hold, enduring through time, on any issue? Whatever strongly held position on any issue that a person holds, isn’t it true, that same person must be able to identify the foundation, the basis upon which they build their position? And to do so without hiding behind a face mask or a poster, a megaphone or even a weapon!
We need to stand with the crowd on Mount Carmel watching and listening in 870bc; and with the same intrigue we need to watch the news reports coming to us daily from around the world in 2024… the debates in the UN or Washington or Moscow or Beijing or the EU or Jerusalem or any place where people gather to debate the issues of life and society, including your city and mine, your neighborhood and mine. People are wavering between major opinions, some even life and death opinions!
But how many people are considering the LORD God Almighty and what He has said about all this? God spoke these powerful words through Isaiah the prophet: “This is what the LORD says:, ‘He who created the heavens and the earth, HE is God and He says… I am the LORD and there is no other… I the LORD speak the TRUTH and I declare what is RIGHT.” (Isaiah 45:18,19) Each person in the world must define their response to this clear declaration by God! What is yours and mine?
Elijah set out a practical challenge. These nearly 1000 prophets of Baal and Asherah were to build an altar there on Mount Carmel and sacrifice an animal on their altar, and then call on their gods to show their power and their acceptance of the sacrifice of their worshipers by sending fire, from their place of authority, to burn up the sacrifice. Then after an appropriate time, Elijah would build his altar, sacrifice his animal, and call on the LORD God to send fire from heaven to consume Elijah’s sacrifice. Elijah’s final challenge was again clear: “The god who answers by fire – He is God!” (1 Kings 18:24)
The people agreed and the showdown began! Frantically the prophets employed by King Ahab and Queen Jezebel worked to build their altar and prepare their sacrifice while hundreds of their fellow prophets worshiped and danced and called on their gods. Time passed and nothing happened. 1 Kings 18:25-29 is a good, clear description of their growing, passionate, desperate cry to Baal and Asherah, including cutting themselves with swords, and it was all met with nothing but hollow silence.
A few years later God’s prophet Jeremiah wrote these scathing, accusing words from God about Israel: “My people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols. Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror, declares the LORD. My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns which cannot hold water…Your wickedness will punish you, your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of Me’, declares the LORD Almighty.” (Jeremiah 2:11-13,19)
Finally Elijah called the people to him and he repaired the altar of God which was on that mountain top from worship in years past but had fallen into disrepair over the years of being abandoned. Elijah then sacrificed the bull, and placed it on the wood. Then to further emphasize the greatness of God, Elijah poured water over his sacrifice and finally began to pray and worship Almighty God: “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I your servant have done all these things at Your command. Answer me, O LORD, so these people will know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You are turning their hearts back again.” (1 Kings 18:36,37)
Look around my friends as described in 1 Kings 18, what do you see? Thousands of people; hundreds of exhausted, bleeding prophets of Baal and Asherah; an altar with a bleeding sacrifice without any response from false gods Baal and Asherah; a frustrated King Ahab; and a trusting, confident, worshiping old Elijah, ready for God to respond with fire from heaven!
We need to pause again… and reflect. Is this same Almighty God doing the very same thing in thousands of cities around the world? Is God watching and waiting for some faithful, courageous people of God to rise up in response to HIS leading of them, and stand courageously in the power of the Name of Jesus, the power of the Truth of God’s Word, the power of the Holy Spirit of God among His people, standing against the advance of darkness?
What is God seeing in your town and mine as He watches for the Elijah’s of our day? How much wavering between opinions is happening in your extended family, your church, your friends, and what damage is the drift away from God’s truth causing? This weekend, let’s reflect deeply on that and on Monday we’ll see what God did on Mount Carmel and why even today, 2800 years later, pilgrims still visit that mountain top to pray and thank God!
Today’s Scripture: 1 Kings 18:21-37.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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