September 25th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

Just to let you all know, I’m still absolutely loving reading the OT. I’m not sure what happened to me, but a few months ago it just clicked. I used to hate reading the OT and commonly spoke about how boring it was to me. How wrong I was! I’m glued to those pages as I read them now!

So last night I was reading my absolute most favorite story in the OT. It’s above all the others for me, and I’ll explain why later. It’s found in 1 Kings 18:20-40. The story of Elijah’s Mount Carmel butt-whoopin of the prophets of baal. If you already know the story well, go ahead and skip on down; for those who don’t know it… you’ve got to check this out:

20 So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 23 Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. 24 Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.”
So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”
25 Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”
26 So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.
27 And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. 29 And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.”^[b] 32 Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” 34 Then 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 So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.
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 Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”
40 And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.

There are a few reasons that I absolutely love this story. First of all, Elijah is totally bad here (if you didn’t get the memo… bad means good; really good… and cool; really cool). He flat out stood up to the king and literally lays his life on the line. At this point the king is blaming Elijah for the drought that is upon the entire nation; let’s just say he (and his wife) wasn’t too happy about it. He then stands up against 850 prophets (450 of baal, 400 of asherah) and challenges them; then mocks them; then defeats them; then executes them. Let’s listen to the play by play as Al Micheals & John Madden would have said it:

Al: We’re here today as Elijah takes on 850 false prophets in a fire starting competition to the death.
John: Whoever loses here today is going to die.
Al: The false prophets step up to the alter first, notice that they have no flint, they have no matches.
John: They’ve got nothing there to start a fire!
Al: The false prophets are running around, screaming as loud as they can. Their god does not appear to be responding to their calls.
John: They’re knockin’, but nobody’s home!
Al: Elijah seems to be making fun of the prophets as they cut themselves and dance. Saying to them that perhaps their god is sleeping or on vacation.
John: I bet he’s using the bathroom!
Al: Elijah now steps up to the alter and surrounds it with 12 stones. They’re pouring water all over the bull and into the trench surrounding it.
John: If you want something to be wet putting water on it is a great idea.
Al: Elijah now appears to be praying to his God…
John: Boom!
Al: Fire has fallen from the sky and has completely devoured the entire bull, wood & water.
John: Now what happened here is that the fire came down just like this, right there from the sky. It landed right on the bull there and Boom! everything was gone.

Yeah… I had a little fun with that.

So I said all of that to say this.  I’m so glad that our God is a God who is always there for us.  Whenever we call on His name we know he is there for us.  When we serve that kind of God, it gives us the boldness to stand for Him.  I want to do something Elijahish today.