...another one for June...

Die Prophet, Die!

I Kings 19:1 “And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 19:2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.’ ”
Introduction
Elijah is to die! So he runs.
19:3 “And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
19:4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!’ ”

This was not the first time Elijah had to flee for his life! The first time the threat on his life was made by King Ahab; now it is Queen Jezebel. Today he runs to Beersheba the uttermost southern edge of Israel to get as far as he can from these wicked rulers who killed God’s prophets.
You may remember that in chapter 17, which we read two weeks ago, Elijah had to run to Zarephath in the Sidonian countryside and stay at the brook Kidron and then was sent to the poor land where he met with the widow who fed him. Well today, he’s on the run again!
19:5 “Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’
19:6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.
19:7 And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, ‘Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.’
19:8 So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.”
Here again, God provides for His prophet.
Cakes do not bake themselves and jars of fresh water do not appear out of thin air…unless God provided for His prophet as the word of God says!
While the mad and bad Ahab and Jezebel cried “Die prophet, die!” the Lord said “Live my prophet and go and do my work.”
The Wicked Rulers of Israel
Who was Ahab? He was the king who: “did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him.” (I K16:30) He was the king who with his wife Jezebel: “set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.” (I K16:32)
IK18:17 “Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, ‘Is that you, O troubler of Israel?’
18:18 And he answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.’”
Who was Ahab? He was the king who set up a wooden image in the altar and: “did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” (IK16:33)
God was displeased with him for another reason. He took a wife from the Sidonians; from the family of Ethbaal. (I Kg16:31) Her name was Jezebel which has become the synonym for a wicked, shameless woman.
“The worship of God by symbols had hitherto been the offensive form of apostasy in Israel, but now gross idolatry is openly patronized by the court. This was done through the influence of Jezebel, Ahab’s queen. She was ‘the daughter of Eth-baal, king of the Zidonians.’ He was priest of Ashtaroth or Astarte, who, having murdered Philetes, king of Tyre, ascended the throne of that kingdom, being the eighth king since Hiram. Jezebel was the wicked daughter of this regicide (king killing) and idol priest - and, on her marriage with Ahab, never rested till she had got all the forms of her native Tyrian worship introduced into her adopted country.” (James, Fausset and Brown Commentary, 1Ki 16:29-33 in e-Sword Bible.)

What can Jezebel teach us?

We must be careful to make sure we do not introduce forms of worship that displease God, even if they seem terribly good to us, but do not conform to the teaching of Scripture.

Back to Elijah…
I K19:9 “And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’
19:10 So he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.’
19:11 Then He said, ‘Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.’ And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
19:12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
19:13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’
19:14 And he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.’
19:15 Then the LORD said to him: ‘Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.’ ”
What are you doing here….Elijah…?
Notice three things:
1. God speaks to Elijah with a voice. An angel, God’s messenger, speaks to him in verse 5 and 7.
Then, more plainly, the Bible says “a voice came to him” (I K19:12-13) and “the LORD said to him…” (I K19.15)
There is too much detail in the messages for it not to be by a voice.
2. God addresses him by name: “What are you doing here Elijah?”
Has this happened to you? God still speaks to us today. If not, then there is no use in us being here, unless we are just some sort of holy huddle, a club!
Have you heard God speaking to you personally in Scripture, and if so, what have you done about it?
Is there a blessing to find? Is there an evil to face? A sin to avoid?
If you have heard the voice of God in your conscience, have you followed the prompting and obeyed God? Is there someone you should speak up for?
If you have not heard from God recently, I can suggest a Bible reading plan that will help you. It’s a great blessing to read God’s Word…and to thank Him and to pray for His answers to life’s problems and to pray for others. It’s quite an adventure! As the Dilmah man says: “Do try it!”
Elijah’s name means God of Jehovah or God of the self-existent or the self–existent God. The self sufficient God.
God tells Elijah: “I am, as your name indicates, Elijah, the self-existent, self sufficient One who inhabits eternity and who calls you to stand up and to go in my name.”
3. God is interested in what Elijah does and challenges him to fight against evil.
See James 5:17 “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 5:18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”

Fighting/Opposing Evil
When I read what happened to Elijah and how he did such hard things, I think: “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.”
I don’t fight against evil much. I want the word of God to do that in your hearts, for sure, but I am able to do that in a fairly safe environment and do not risk having my house burnt down or have threats made against me like Salman Rushdie who had to flee for his life. Or Sadhu Sundar Singh who was badly treated and nearly killed for his faith in Jesus Christ. Or the many Christians who suffer for Christ in some Muslim countries and others with suppressive regimes like China and Myanmar.
As for standing against evil systems or governments, I am not sure I have the bottle for it. I prefer to support those who do it on my behalf.
Last time, we looked at I Kings, we tried to answer the question: What is a prophet? A prophet is:
“One inspired or instructed by God to speak in his name, or announce future events…”
(http://dict.die.net/prophet/ )

It was as the widow of Zarephath said: I K 17:24 “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.”If you make a study of the whole of Scripture you will discover that: “The title (prophet)…has a general application to all who have messages from God to men.”

Sometimes that message is not easy to hear, so it’s not easy to say. Wise Nathan, David’s prophet tells the king a story in order to accuse him before God of murder and adultery.You may have heard of the phrase, “Don’t shoot the messenger.” Well, that is exactly what happened in Elijah’s day.
The prophet Elijah had messages from God, the self-existent One, the self-sufficient One, to men: to needy, sinful, weak, foolish men.
Quite a calling! Elijah is the one in the middle. Like a priest who is to take God’s message to men and to take men’s requests to God, Elijah had the hard task of facing the most evil couple to lead the nation of Israel up to that time. [(I K17:1, I K16:29-34 (see Mathew Henry Commentary)]

There are times when evil must be eradicated and there are times when it must be fought with good. “Overcome evil with good” says Paul in Romans 12:21. Jesus said: Lk 6:27 "But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 6:28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”
But what Elijah did at the end of chapter 18 was not that.
How can we explain Elijah’s actions in killing the prophets of Baal?
Not Personal
He had the prophets of Baal killed, but it was not personal vengeance. His case is different in that it was not a personal evil that he faced. He faced no personal evil from the prophets of his day toward himself but he knew that ISRAEL faced a national evil.
Now he was God’s appointed national prophet. All Israel would suffer if he did not get rid of the false prophets. What they were doing was an affront to Almighty God.
It was not a personal thing at all.
By God’s Command
Secondly, the prophet Elijah was commanded by God to do the killing. It was not his own value judgment. I see no sign that he wanted to do it or revelled in taking men’s lives. If a prophet gave a false word in those days, he was to be executed. Deut 13:1-4 sets out the details of that commandment.
Only after the wickedness had been removed did the rain returned to the land of Israel.
It was God’s time for judgment; a cleansing for Israel of all that was leading them astray and a warning to Ahab and Jezebel until they too received their come-uppance in 2 Kings chapter 9.
In NT terms, the beloved disciple says in 1JN 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Jesus says we are to beware of them: MT 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
In Acts 5, two members of the church were judged and died as a result of lying or bearing false witness.
In Acts 13, a false prophet, by way of punishment, was blinded by the Apostle Paul. We sometimes forget that God judges false words harshly if they are going to do a lot of harm. Think about the damage these prophets of Ahab and Jezebel were doing to God’s people Israel. They promoted worship of the false God Baal.
1 PT 4:17 “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

Elijah’s Problem
So, if Elijah was able to deal with those false prophets why was he now afraid to face Ahab and Jezebel?
Had no one told him that the people of God would be strong? That they would know their God and do exploits?
Well he did know that because we see how he had prayed and stopped the rain from coming and how he prayed and it rained again and how that the prophets service to the widow brought her son back to life again! “The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits” is not only a truth known to the prophet Daniel. (Dan 11:32)
So why run away now? Elijah? What are you doing here, Elijah?
God could ask us the same question.
Why are you running away from your calling?…running away from your responsibilities?
We are not always keen to risk everything for God. We are often keen at the beginning and make great promises but later fail to live up to them.
Elijah suffered great lapses in his courage though he still had a faith in God.
As Jas 5:17 says: “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 5:18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
See here this great contrast and use it in three ways:
Use it:
1. To realise how far you have forsaken God’s call on your life.
2. To see that while we fail we can ask God’s forgiveness in Christ and get back to what He has called us to do.
3. Help someone else who may be discouraged or lost.
Jas 5:19 “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 5:20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” Amen.