ALL THESE THINGS AT HIS WORD
"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. 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.'" (1 Kings
18:26-27)
It was one of the most dramatic scenes of the Old Testament.
Elijah, the faithful prophet of God who had stopped the rain from
the northern kingdom of Israel for some three years, stood before
gathered representatives of the kingdom to make a great
demonstration. He had challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel:
"My God against your god." He proposed that they each built an
altar on a prominent hill, sacrifice an animal on the altar, and pray
to each deity to consume the sacrifice by fire from heaven. The on
looking multitude would thereby know which God was real and
powerful.
In this proposed test, Elijah was careful to give the prophets of Baal
every potential advantage. He allowed them to pick their preferred
bull for sacrifice. He allowed them to go first. And he fought the
battle on their own ground, because it was thought that Baal was
the sky-god, lord of the weather and the sender of lightning
(thought to be fire from the sky). If Baal were real, he certainly
could send fire from heaven.
To put God and himself on the line before the gathered nation of
Israel took a lot of faith. Elijah learned this faith over the many
months of daily dependence on God, both at the Brook Cherith and
at the widow's house at Zarapeth.
He let the prophets of Baal go first and they failed miserably. They
prayed, they danced, they screamed, they even practiced self-
mutilation to please their grotesque god. Elijah sat by until they
exhausted every effort, then he draw the nation to his altar. When
he set up his altar he asked them to soak the sacrifice and the
stones so no one would think that the fire was a magician's trick.
Elijah's explanation in these verses tells us why he was willing to
stack the deck against God.
First we are told that he did this "at the time of the offering of the
evening sacrifice." Some 50 years before this, Jeroboam the King
of Israel officially disassociated the citizens of the northern kingdom
from the worship of the God of Israel at the temple in Jerusalem.
Nevertheless, Elijah still remembered the evening sacrifice that
was offered according to God's commandment every day at the
temple in Jerusalem.
The he said to the people: "Let it be known this day that You are
God in Israel and I am Your servant." Both were important. It was
important for the people of Israel to know who their God was, and
who God's servant was. They needed to know that Elijah was the
servant of the true God and the prophets of Baal were not.
Then Elijah said some of the most important words in the entire
passage: "And that I have done all these things at Your word."
This also was essential, and helps us to understand the whole
event. We think of the prophet of God making such a big step of
faith - of putting God's honor and his own on the line. If the fire did
not fall then Yahweh would be just as discredited as Baal. Yet
these words of Elijah tell us that he did this according to the word of
God. It wasn't prompted because of his own cleverness, because of
presumption or because of vainglory. God led Elijah to this
showdown with the prophets of Baal.
You can figure out how it ended: the fire fell, God was glorified, and
His servant was vindicated. Elijah knew he could stack the deck
against God because he knew he was doing what God commanded
him to do.
In our life, we aren't always as confident about the will or voice of
God as Elijah was. But when we do know that God has spoken His
word to us, we can have the same confidence of Elijah. We can go
to God's throne in heaven through prayer and say, "I have done all
these things at Your word." That is the place of confidence and
power before God.
By David Guzik
For Bible Study resources by David Guzik, go to:
www.enduringword.com/library_commentaries.html
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David Guzik is the director of Calvary Chapel Bible College Germany, near Siegen, Germany. David took this position in January of 2003, after serving for 14 years as the founding and Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel of Simi Valley. He has been in pastoral ministry since 1982. Learn more about David and his ministry at his website “The Enduring Word,” located at: http://www.enduringword.com where you will find excellent bible study commentaries and much more.