1 Reis 18

1 Reis 18

Barclay says: "The settled ministry began to resent the intrusion of these wandering prophets who often disturbed their congregations." Amos was not chummy with Jeroboam II. John the Baptist was not a guest in Herod's palace. Paul was a prisoner in Caesar's jail, but not Caesar's prisoner! Ahab was the troublemaker, but Elijah was the troubleshooter. Big business employs such men to look out for bugs and breakdowns. God has such men in the church. They have an instinct for locating trouble and a genius for exposing it. Naturally, they are not popular. It is much more pleasant to be a Gamaliel (see Acts 5:34-36) keeping everything quiet in Jerusalem than to be a Paul exceedingly troubling Philippi (see 1 Thessalonians 2:2). Such men play havoc with the serenity school and irritate the tranquilizers. Just when false prophets of peaceful coexistence have lulled everybody to rest, at ease in Zion, the prophet blasts the neighborhood with a siren that cries aloud and spares not. When Elijah called for a decision, "How long halt ye between two opinions?" the people answered him not a word. Whether from fear of Ahab and Jezebel, because they would not renounce their idols, or they were waiting to see how this showdown on Carmel turned out, they were a fifth-amendment, noncommittal crowd who would not take a stand. It reminds us of the crowd at our Lord's Crucifixion. We read in Matthew 27:36, "And sitting down they watched him there." Imagine sitting as if at a circus or play, watching the Son of God die for the sins of the world! During the French Revolution some women took their knitting to the guillotines and sat watching the beheadings, but that is nothing compared to the spectators at the cross. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Yes, we were all there; we had a hand in it; we are not onlookers. Too often church congregations sit on Sunday morning as if to watch a performance, and when the preacher calls for decision, they answer not a word. Spectatoritis, whether at Carmel or Calvary or anywhere else, is despicable in the sight of God. We are beset by neutralism, drugged by moral inertia, immobilized by spiritual paralysis. It is a strange age trying to live in a third dimension as though there were a no-man's-land between right and wrong, heaven and hell. There will never be revival as long as the church avoids a showdown, merges black and white into grey, sets up the altar of Baal beside the altar of Jehovah, professes faith in Jesus, and tolerates Jezebel. Elijah proposed the test of fire. "The God that answereth by fire, let Him be God." (See 1 Kings 18:24.) Not figures and finances or fame or feelings, but fire, not a painted Pentecost, not strange fire, or stage fire, but Spirit fire. There is plenty of fire loose in the world, and much of it is not divine but demonic. There are false fires in the church and flames we have kindled in the flesh (see Isaiah 50:11). Some find it difficult to determine which fire is from heaven and which is from hell. Satan imitates the work of God, but the counterfeit must not frighten us away from the true. The supreme test is the fire test. The God who answers by fire, let Him be God! Elijah repaired the altar of God that was broken down. There never was a revival that did not begin the rebuilding of broken altars of consecration, of family altars, of altars of praise and testimony. Stained glass windows, robed choirs, eloquence in the pulpit, and elegance in the pew have never deceived God. He demands truth in the inward parts, and heaven will keep silent until we approach Him with rebuilt altars. There must be sacrifice upon those altars—not a sacrifice for sin, for that has been offered once for all. There must be the sacrifice of penitence: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalms 51:17). How little of that do we see in our dry-eyed churches! There must be the sacrifice of person: Present your bodies a living sacrifice (see Romans 12:1). The Macedonians first gave themselves unto the Lord. A little boy had no money to give to church, but he wrote upon a slip of paper, "I give myself" and put that on the plate. And that was the biggest gift that morning! Lord Jesus, look down from Thy throne in the skies And help me to make a complete sacrifice; I give up myself and whatever I know; Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. There must be the sacrifice of praise: "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name" (Hebrews 13:15). We try to work up that sacrifice by artificial means; song leaders sweat and plead trying to bring out a song that is not there. You cannot change the order of penitence, person, praise. When God's people repent and give themselves to God they will have a song. It will be spontaneous, for what is down in the well will come up in the bucket. Elijah poured twelve barrels of water over the altar and the offering. (See 1 Kings 18:32-34.) I have never heard anybody even mention that detail. He did not warm up the altar to make it easier for God to consume the offering. We try to help God out by fleshly devices. Elijah made it as difficult as possible; so that God would get all the glory. He wanted nobody to suspect that there was a trick about it, fire hidden somewhere. He set the stage so that God would be the only performer. Today we decorate the altar instead of drenching it, but it is only the drenched altar that God sets on fire. We need twelve barrels of water poured over most of our religious activity; then if the fire falls, it will have to be supernatural! Flesh glories in His presence and we never seem to learn that they that are in the flesh cannot please God (see Romans 8:8). If Elijah had started a little blaze of his own, God would not have touched that sacrifice. When he did what he could do and should have done and called on God in holy desperation; then the fire fell. When everything was finally in order, Elijah prayed: "... Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again." (1 Kings 18:36, 37.) Elijah was not on Carmel to demonstrate what he could do, but what God could do. We read in the next verse the fire of the Lord fell. Soon Elijah said, "There is a sound of abundance of rain." The fire and the flood! This is the divine order of revival: a prophet calling God's people back to God; a showdown with the forces of evil; the rebuilding of broken altars; the sacrifices on the altar; supplication in desperate prayer; then the fire of God's power and the flood of God's blessing! If we ever needed that fire and that flood, now is the time. But we are not ready for a showdown on Carmel. There are too many Obadiahs. We are out for summit conferences, not confrontations; grass-hunting expeditions are the order of the day. Our great church gatherings come and go. Some good things are said, resolutions are passed, but we are operating on a business-as-usual basis in a world on fire. Some say: "We don't have time to put on a revival in our conventions." We don't have time for anything else! It is too late! Some say, "We are here to attend to business." What greater business is there than to rebuild broken altars and offer the sacrifices of penitence, person, and praise? When we do that and call on God in holy desperation, if we ever do, then the fire will fall, and there will be the sound of abundance of rain. We are beset today with false gospels of liberalism, of secularism, of socialism under church auspices. Great denominations are deteriorating and degenerating. Some have adopted standards of morality that ought to make even infidels blush. The inspiration of God's Word is denied. The church has married the world. Social reform will not get us out of the woods. A return to theological orthodoxy is not enough; the Pharisees were orthodox and separated from the world, but they gave our Lord more trouble than all the publicans and sinners. Evangelism is not enough; the first items on God's program for the church today are repentance, confession of sin, cleansing, separation from the world, submission to Christ's Lordship, and the filling of the Spirit, but we politely dodge all that in our convocations. Elijah did not call a conference of Ahab, Jezebel, the priests of Baal, and Obadiah; he stood alone; and yet he was not alone, for seven thousand had not bowed to Baal. Today there is still a remnant and a cloud the size of a man's hand. Even Elijah ran away from the revival that started at Carmel; so it died aborning. God grant us a visitation that can withstand the threats of Jezebel!