Elijah

The prophets were lonely, despised, brutalized, persecuted, in many cases murdered individuals who were uniquely called of God and gifted of God for the specific task of being the conscience of God's people. Being a prophet wasn't all glitz and glamour, yet their role was significant in Biblical history. Welcome to the Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind, and over the next several weeks we'll see why and how the Lord used those prophets. The messages that you'll hear are from a larger series that we call Dust to Glory, and it's one of the most important teaching series that R.C. Sproul recorded at Ligonier Ministries. And the goal of the series is to provide a panorama of Biblical truth from start to finish, from Genesis to Revelation, to help you read, understand, and apply Scripture. We're making the entire series available, 57 lessons, on a special edition DVD, and we'll send it to you and unlock digital access to the messages and study guide until midnight tonight when you give a donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org.

And don't forget, wherever you are in the world, if you'd like digital access to this series and study guide, you can also respond at renewingyourmind.org slash global. To get us started, here's Dr. Sproul on the prophet Elijah. We turn our attention now to the emergence of the important Old Testament prophets.

Now in order to do that, I want to leap forward just for a few minutes over the centuries and go to the very end to the last prophecy that is recorded in the Old Testament. It is found in the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, in the last chapter of the last book of Malachi, which is chapter 4. We read in verse 4 of chapter 4 these words, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. The last prophecy of the Old Testament is a prophecy about the coming day of the Lord, and the content of this prophecy is that before the coming day of the Lord, God would send His prophet Elijah. Now I think it's significant that even in this day, in the customs of modern Judaism, in the celebration of the Passover, when the table is set, that there always remains an empty chair at the head of the table. No one is to sit in that chair during the Passover celebration because that chair is reserved for Elijah. Because modern Judaism does not believe that the Messiah has come.

They're still awaiting the Messiah, and they don't believe that this prophecy was fulfilled. And yet the New Testament record opens with the appearance of a very strange, some have even called him, bizarre figure, John the Baptist, where the voice of prophecy had been silent for 400 years in Israel, suddenly out of the desert, the traditional meeting place between God and His prophets, comes this strange figure, wearing the garments and looking for all intents and purposes like the Old Testament prophet Elijah. And John the Baptist creates great consternation and interest so that the religious leaders come out from Jerusalem, and they begin to interrogate him, and they ask him who he is and what he's doing. Then they say to him directly, are you Elijah?

And he says, no I'm not. But then later on, our Lord identifies John the Baptist in a somewhat cryptic way with the manifestation of Elijah, where Jesus said, if you can bear it, referring to John, this is Elijah who was to come. And then we are told in the Scriptures that John the Baptist comes in the Spirit and in the power of Elijah. And so he's been called Elijah Redivivus. That is a revival of the ministry of Elijah. Well, why all this importance associated with Elijah? Well, I think there are several reasons for that, not the least of which is that we recall that in the Old Testament record of the life and ministry of Elijah, Elijah doesn't die. Elijah ascends into heaven. We're all familiar with the famous movie Chariots of Fire, which borrows its title from the record of the ascension of Elijah, when at the end of his years, he was standing with his disciple, Elisha, when behold, in the sky, they saw chariots of fire. And Elisha cried out, my father, my father, the chariots of God. And Elijah is swooped up in a whirlwind and carried off into heaven, that was presumably the symbol of the mobile judgment seat of God. But because he doesn't die, there is this expectation that at some time in the distant future, he would arrive to be the herald of the coming Messiah.

And that's the rule that is assigned to John the Baptist. It's also significant in the New Testament that when Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration, when the cloud comes and envelops him, the disciples see his transfiguration and behold, two men appear having an intense conversation with Jesus, just before Jesus begins his final journey to Jerusalem and to the cross. And the two men who appear on the Mount of Transfiguration with Christ are Moses and Elijah.

Now, what's the significance of that? Just as Moses, in a very real sense, personifies the Old Testament law, so the supreme personification of the Old Testament prophet was the prophet of Elijah. When the Jews would speak in summary of the whole Old Testament, sometimes they would say simply, the law and the prophets. Now, that can be misleading because Moses, who is the lawgiver, is also described in the Old Testament as a prophet. And he functions in many ways as the prophet.

He is the spokesman for God. And between Moses and Elijah, there are many appearances of lesser prophets. But with the appearance of Elijah, it's as if a whole new institution emerges on the scene of Israel, that is, is at least elevated to a new degree of significance and importance. And when we think of the canonical prophets, that is, whose books are part of the Old Testament canon, people like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and so on, all of these follow after the trailblazing introduction of this institution by the prophet Elijah. And it's significant when Elijah appears on the scene.

He is sent by God to the northern kingdom, to the kingdom of Israel in perhaps their lowest hour during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel. Now, before I say a little bit more about Elijah in particular, let me talk for a moment about some of the functions of the Old Testament prophets. So often, Christians look to the Old Testament prophets and consider them nothing more than fortune tellers or of people who gave future prophecies, that is, we see or tend to see the primary function of the Old Testament prophet as being a foreteller, that is, somebody who makes predictions about the future. Now, certainly the prophets do that, and I don't want to underestimate or devaluate the supreme importance of this task and function of predictive prophecy in the Old Testament.

But I would say that the making of future predictions, if we're going to put them on a rating scale, that that would be secondary in their mission. Their primary task, the first job that God gives to them, is to be what we call forth tellers. If anybody invented the idea of telling it like it is, it was the Old Testament prophet. The prophets were lonely, despised, brutalized, persecuted, in many cases murdered individuals who were uniquely called of God and gifted of God for the specific task of being the conscience of God's people. Some have described the work of the prophet in Israel in legal terms.

Remember that the nation had been created by God in terms of a treaty agreement, a covenant, which covenant had stipulations or laws and sanctions or penalties imposed if the stipulations of the treaty were transgressed. And when Israel broke the covenant that they had made with God, they were violators of the law of God, God sent His prosecuting attorneys to the nation. And so one of the roles that was played by the Old Testament prophet was to be God's divine agent of prosecution.

He was filing suit against His own people for breaking the terms of their agreement. And the ones who served the subpoena against Israel were the prophets. So you can imagine how popular they were in the Old Testament. So having said that, about the prophets in general, let's look at some of the glimpses that we find in Scripture regarding the life of Elijah. Elijah was described by Ahab as the troubler of Israel. When Ahab's transgressions became so severe, Elijah prayed that God would act.

And in the midst of Ahab's wickedness, God curses Israel with a drought that destroys their crops and lasts for three years as a result of the prayer of Elijah. And Ahab knows that it is this Elijah who is behind all of the judgments that the king is now receiving. And so we read in the Old Testament about the ultimate confrontation between the followers of Ahab and the followers of Elijah in the context that takes place on Mount Carmel.

And this is recorded for us in the 18th chapter of 1 Kings. And verse 17 reads, Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, Is that you, O troubler of Israel? And he answered, that is, Elijah responded, I haven't troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the bales. Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.

Do you see what's going on here? That Jezebel had now imported all of these prophets and priests of the pagan religions. So there are now eight hundred and fifty of them in the palace complex, and Elijah issues a challenge to the king. He said, Go and get all your prophets and all your religious leaders from the cult of Baal and the Asherah, and bring them here, and we'll settle our dispute. So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 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. Some of the people then came up to Elijah and said, Elijah, chill out.

I've made it a practice in my life never to discuss religion and politics because issues of this sort have a tendency to divide. That's not part of the record, but it had to happen because it happens every time the truth of God is at stake. And Elijah put it as tersely as he could. He assembled the people of Israel, and he said, How long are you hesitating or halting between two opinions? If God is God, follow Him, and if God is Baal, then follow Him. But remember I said earlier on that the thing that would undo the nation of Israel was syncretism, the blending, the merging, the combining together of elements of true godliness with the elements of pagan religion. What was happening was that the truth of God was becoming secularized and paganized so that the truth of God was now being blurred and the distinctions of the covenant rule of God were now confused in the people's eye. And Elijah said, Make up your mind. Don't try to play both ends against the middle.

Don't try to sit on the fence. If you're going to follow God, then follow God, and that means you've got to remove yourself from following after Baal and the Ashtoreth. And if you're going to be disciples of Baal, then be disciples of Baal.

Quit trying to justify it with sprinkling a little bit of biblical religion on it. And so that's the challenge that Elijah gives to the people, that the people answered him, not a word. So then Elijah said to the people, I alone am left a prophet of the Lord.

Baal's prophets are 450 men. Therefore, let them give us two bulls. Let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, lay it on the wood, put no fire under it, and I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I'll call on the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, He is God.

So the people said, it's well spoken. And so then we read this record of how the prophets of Baal took their bull and prepared it. And we read that they called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us.

But there was no voice, no one answered. So then they leaped about the altar which they had made. And so it was at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, cry aloud, for he's a god.

Either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he's on a journey, and perhaps he's sleeping and must be awakened. And so they cried aloud, cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances until the blood gushed out of them. Now you talk about religious fervor. These people are religious to the core.

They are so committed and devoted to their religion that they cut themselves, tear up their own flesh, jump and leap all over the place, pray for hours at a time. But as much as they pray, as much as they call upon their God, there is no answer. Now 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. Until finally Elijah said to all the people, come near to me. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. 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. Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and it's also in the name of the country in which he is speaking.

He made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seers of seed, and he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, laid it on the wood, and said, fill four water pots with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. And they did it. And he said, do it a second time. And they did it a second time. He said, do it a third time.

And they did it a third time so that the water ran all around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water. 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. He's saying this in the presence of people who were the descendants and who were sworn by covenant loyalty to follow the Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac, and not in this case Jacob, but of Israel. Let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and I am your servant, and 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. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood, the stones, the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, the Lord, Yahweh, He is God. The Lord, He is God.

Now, what do you suppose happened? Some of them got up and said to Elijah, well, Elijah, that was a magnificent display of the truth of God, but I hope you won't mind if I stay in my membership in the church of Baal because I want to be an influence there. And I want to build bridges to these people who have gone astray. Now, here was a moment, not to divide over petty differences, that's not what I mean, but here the central truth of God Himself was at stake. And this is what Elijah did with the power of God.

Miracle surrounds his life. He raises a person from the dead. He comes and he confronts Ahab on other occasions.

Think of the time when Ahab seizes for himself Naboth's vineyard. And again, Elijah comes and rebukes him and admonishes him for his unrighteousness because what happens now in Israel is that the people turn away from God and they turn away from the law of God. Is this not what John the Baptist did when he comes and first of all calls the people to repentance and to true religion? Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. That was the message of John the Baptist.

And then what does he do? He gets his finger in the face of the king and rebukes the king for ungodly behavior. Now, this is significant because sometimes today we are told that it is never the business of the church to comment on the pagan practices of the civil arena or of the secular state.

Even though the church today is not called to be the state, the church in every generation is called to exercise prophetic criticism when governments become unjust. But that's why Elijah was a hunted man pursued relentlessly by the hatred and fury of Jezebel and Ahab until God's judgment fell upon the house of Ahab and as he had prophesied when these were killed that their blood was licked up by the dogs of the street. Read the whole story of Elijah. It is rich with the drama and the illustrations of what was typical of the life of every godly prophet in the Old Testament because the message of Elijah needs to be heard today and in every generation.

You can see the sovereignty of God at every turn of Elijah's story in the Bible. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind. I'm your host, Nathan W. Bingham. You've joined us as we begin a new Saturday series highlighting several Old Testament prophets, today Elijah, next time Isaiah, and others. Each of these messages is actually part of a much larger series called Dust to Glory, which is a study tour through the entire Bible.

The goal is to help you master your study of the Scriptures so that those Scriptures can master you. The series Dust to Glory is 57 messages, and until midnight tonight, with your donation of any amount, we'll send you the special edition package containing eight DVDs, plus a bonus disc that features 57 messages and a printable study guide. Give your donation at renewingyourmind.org or by using the link in the podcast show notes. We're so thankful for your generosity.

We're able to offer resources like these because of your ongoing support. Dr. Sproul has said that he believes Dust to Glory is the most important teaching series that Ligonier has ever produced. The series will give you background and insight and will help you improve your ability to understand and apply Scripture. We're called to be people of the Word, and this series, Dust to Glory, can be a great tool in that pursuit. Respond today at renewingyourmind.org before this offer ends in only a few hours, and visit renewingyourmind.org slash global if you live outside of the U.S. or Canada. Thank you. From Elijah to the prophet Isaiah. That'll be next Saturday, here on Renewing Your Mind. .