Bible Studies

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He had been there before with God, but this time felt different. Certainly more pressure in terms of the sheer volume of people who had come to watch. He had proven Him and been approved by Him in a very personal way.

He waited for the din to die down. The prophets of Baal had a pumped-up confidence, fuelled by the drama of the occasion as well the adrenalin. There was yelling and shouting, dancing and laughing. There was terror and darkness in their eyes in equal measure.

He looked across the crowd and his eyes fixed on Ahab. He recalled marching straight into the royal palace. He remembered it well and could still feel Jezebel’s eyes burning with disbelief and indignation as he turned and exited the throne room after delivering his ultimatum. But there was more intensity here. The sneer of Ahab and the eyes of the people of Israel were on him.

Elijah had followed the same pattern as he had done before. He presented the challenge to the people before acting himself and engaging the power of God. ‘Let’s do this challenge and if Baal is Lord, then follow him, but if Yahweh is Lord then follow Him. The one who answers by fire will be the true God.’

He politely offered the Baal boys to go first, sure that their efforts were doomed to failure. So they did what they could, working themselves into such a frenzy that they began to cut themselves. Elijah began to warm to the occasion, making light of their attempts and seeing the humour of the situation. ‘So where is your god? Is Baal on holiday, or contemplating?’ The noise of the crowd swelled as hopes of the Baal representatives faded with their strength. In the cool of the evening sun they accepted defeat, having given it everything, with no answer in return. They moved off centre stage to regroup and allow the God of Elijah to have His say.

Elijah turned to the men waiting and sensed the gravity of the scenario. Once again, it was all or nothing. God had to show up. There was nowhere to run. ‘Okay now. I want you to dig some trenches round the altar. Let’s prepare the sacrifice.’ The crowd was intrigued.

‘Now bring me four jars of water and soak the sacrifice.’ Now they were beginning to talk excitedly amongst themselves. ‘Do you think he has lost it? What on earth is he doing?’
The sacrifice and the wood was soaked in the water. They waited to see what would happen next.

‘Okay. Bring me another four. Same again.’
Now it was the Israelites’ turn to get excited. There was a growing sense of anticipation. Would their champion come up with the goods? Would their God, the God of Israel, answer Elijah’s challenge? If He did, then He was surely God!

Elijah inspected the altar. The stones, the wood, the sacrifice. Everything was swimming in water. So for emphasis he added triumphantly, ‘And another four!’ The crowd were ecstatic now –clapping, shouting, jeering at the prophets of Baal who looked on disbelievingly, hoping against hope for a no contest result.

Then silence. Elijah stepped up to pray. And as He prayed God listened and the silence was broken by the sound of men falling prostrate and crying out in fear as the fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sacrifice and the wood and the stones. The trenches gave up their water as the heat from Heaven proved what Elijah had always known – the Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God! Follow Him.

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