ELIJAH CALLED FOR FIRE- GOD SENT REVIVAL. I Kings 18

‘There was no voice, no one answered, no one paid attention’ even though they prophesied until the time of the evening sacrifice.’ (v29) Elijah had waited years for this moment.

‘Come near to me, he demanded. Without public address system, his voice must have echoed across the mount, and been relayed from one crowd to the next, ‘ because all the people came near to him.’ What would the man of God do? His life hung in the balance if there were no response to his cry to the living God. They watched keenly.

‘He repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.’ In every home where Christ is loved, raise an altar to make the truth of God’s Word clear to the entire family. How is your’s? ‘Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, ’Israel shall be your name.’ Joshua had gathered twelve stones for an altar in the bed of the River Jordan after the miraculous crossing; and the same number at Gilgal to remind the people that the Father cared for them.

‘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.’ Did he pray or sing psalms while building this altar? If so, were they psalms about the name of the Lord? Every eye focussed on this courageous, lonely man. The trench separated the altar from everything around it. Paul’s teaching concerning separation from the world surely applied to Elijah in his courageous stand.

‘He put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood,’ and said, ‘Fill four water-pots with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.’ Had the prophet lost his senses, for three and a half years of drought had dried up most sources of water?

He was directed of the Lord, many of whose schemes may seem to go against nature, yet come from an infinite, loving Father. What faith they needed to pour this life-supporting fluid on the sacrifice. ’Do it a second time’ and they did it a second time. Faith was tested further when ’He commanded, ’Do it a third time,’ and they did it a third time.’ The Lord Jesus later said, ‘ If any man come after me, let him deny himself and follow Me.’ A dear friend was on the eve of selection for cricket’s highest honour that Australia could offer, when the Lord called him to ‘Follow Me’ to serve Christ in another nation. He poured out the water of his life for his Lord.

Did the prophets of Baal burst into raucous choruses of mockery, taunting and fun-making at the extravagant gift of precious water, crying, ’They’re mad’. Elijah knew, and God the Father knew, that his people would sacrifice this precious water as a love gift to the Lord.

‘so the water ran all around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water.’ (v35)

The crucial hour had come, for ‘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, ( the God of successive generations ) let it be known this day that you are God in Israel. And that I am your servant, and have done all these things at your word.’ (v36) Elijah knew the eternal God in his own experience. He longed that the people should know this also; and that he was a faithful follower of his God, in obeying the command of his Lord.

Elijah’s heart nearly broke as he cried, ’Hear me, O Lord, hear me that this people may know that you are the Lord God, and that you have turned the hearts of the people back to you again.’ Intercessors like Elijah are required in every church, and nation.

‘The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth, searching for him whose heart is perfect with God’ ( 2 Chron 16:9) described the Father’s joy at Elijah’s solemn plea. No wonder this prophet appeared with Moses on Mount Transfiguration so precious he would be in the Father’s eyes. As a husband knows his beloved wife, so must we know and understand the Lord God. Only a miracle would turn every single heart back to their God. This is Australia’s dire position.

Heaven answered Elijah, for ’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 in the trench.’ Only supernatural fire could do that- nuclear fission alone would account for the burning up of stones and dust. God had answered. How would the people respond?

They surely did; for ’When the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, ’The Lord He is God. The Lord, He is God.’ Did they repeat this cry, showing that God had given them a clear sign. The entire nation was on its face, humbled to the dust, in the presence of the almighty God. Oh, that the same Lord would reveal Himself to our nations!

The false prophets had erected idols, worshipped false gods, bowed to a diabolically -evil queen, dethroned the living God and qualified for the stern judgment of a holy One. Elijah directed them to ‘Seize the prophets of Baal. Do not let one of them escape.!’ So they seized them and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kidron, and executed them there. God had warned. ‘Shall not the judge of all the earth do well?’ The holy God has not changed.

The drought ended. ‘Go up and drink, Elijah said to Ahab, for there is the sound of abundance of rain.’ What a contrast when ‘Ahab went up to eat and drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel , where he bowed down to the ground, and put his face between his knees.’ (v42) He pleaded with the Father to fulfil HIS gracious promise. Prayer is indispensable, always characteristic of the faithful servant. Seven times Elijah sent his servant to the mount to tell if there be a cloud. Finally he cried, ‘There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea.’ Faith holds tenaciously to the promise of God.

Elijah commanded, ‘Go up, say to Ahab, ’Prepare your chariot before rain stops you.‘

‘Now it happened in the meantime, that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. (v45) So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.’ Elijah respected Ahab as king, knowing God’s judgment was inevitable! As it indeed proved.

God had sent a spiritual revival, so ending years of spiritual drought.

The Lord broke the long famine, sending life-refreshing rain.

Although Elijah thought he was alone, the Lord told him ‘there were seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal.’ Are you among those faithful ones?