At the close of the "many days" (1 Kings 18:1) (three years and one half) (James 5:17) of drought, of which something was learned in the last lesson, "the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth." (1 Kings 18:1)
So the prophet and the king are brought face to face, and "Ahab said unto him, Are you he that troubles Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father's house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and you have followed Baalim." (1 Kings 18:17-18)
It is true that Elijah had said: "There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word," (1 Kings 17:1) and because the blessing of rain had been withheld, the people had suffered exceedingly, "And there was a sore famine in Samaria." (1 Kings 18:2)
But there was a cause back of all this, and that was that the true God had not been recognized as the giver of these blessings.
Why Judgments Come
When God is recognized, and is acknowledged to be what He is in fact, the Creator of all, and therefore, "Lord of all," (Acts 10:36) His commandments at once become the law of the life, and He is thus given His rightful place to rule in the hearts of men.
But Israel had departed from the true God, and the blessings which He intended as a means of turning every one of them away from their iniquities (Acts 3:36) were being so abused that their continuance only served to confirm the people in their sins, and so they are withheld as a means of again calling the attention of the people to Jehovah, the true God, who alone could cause the rain to fall.
Thus does the Lord use every possible way, both by giving and by withholding blessings, in His efforts to reveal himself to men as the only true and living God.
A Decisive Test
But Elijah now proposed a test which shall settle the rival claims of Jehovah and Baalim. He requested Ahab to gather together "all Israel unto mount Carmel," (1 Kings 18:19) together with the prophets of Baalim and the prophets of the groves. This was done, and then: "Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long do you halt between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him." (1 Kings 18:21)
He then directed that the prophets of Baalim should prepare a sacrifice, and he would do the same, and "put no fire under, And call upon the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answers by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken." (1 Kings 18:23-24)
So the prophets of Baal prepared their sacrifice, "and called on the name of Baal from morning even unto noon saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. ... And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded." (1 Kings 18:26,29)
Then Elijah called all the people unto him, "And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord." (1 Kings 18:31,31)
He then prepared his sacrifice, and three times he told the people to "fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood," (1 Kings 18:33) and it was done. In his brief prayer he said, "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel ... Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God. ... Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and 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, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God." (1 Kings 18:36,39)
Whom Shall We Serve
The question to be settled in Elijah's time was not a new one then, neither is it out of date today. From the time of the first solicitation to sin in the garden of Eden, until the end of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, the whole matter at issue is, "Who is God?"
The inducement held out to depart from the commandment of the Lord in the first place was, "You shall be as God," (Genesis 3:5) and Satan has sought ever since to inspire man with a sense of his own superiority, to fill him with his own spirit of disloyalty and rebellion, and to prevent him from acknowledging God as the rightful King over all the earth and from yielding loving obedience to Him as such.
Sometimes Satan has worked in one way and sometimes in another, but his purpose is always the same: to turn man away from the true God. In order that man should be able to make an intelligent choice and that he might be drawn to God by seeing Him as He is, the Lord has through a succession of faithful servants in every age revealed himself to the people, as He did through the ministry of Elijah.
The Spirit and Power of Elijah
The Old Testament scriptures closed with this prophecy: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord," (Malachi 4:5) and this was fulfilled in John the Baptist, whose work was done. "In the spirit and power of Elijah, ... to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:17)
But this work of preparing a people for the Lord's coming was not completed in the time of John the Baptist, and will not be completed until "He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Hebrews 9:28)
And as the fulfillment of the prophetic Word shows that "The great day of the Lord is near," (Zephaniah 1:14) so the Elijah message in all its old-time power ought to be given now: "If the Lord be God, follow Him." (1 Kings 18:21)
History Repeated
But the work of John the Baptist was also in direct fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, "The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, ... Behold your God." (Isaiah 4:3,9)
And the demand for this special message grew out of the fact that in the multitude of forms and ceremonies, and through following the traditions of men, the true character of God was being altogether hidden or misrepresented, and that righteousness which is ... conformity of the heart and life to the revealed will of God,--Ellen White, The Spirit of Prophecy, Volume Two, p. 218. was lightly esteemed. So complete was this departure from God in John's day, and so little was His true character known even by those who professed to be His chosen representatives, that when Jesus appeared among them, "the image of the invisible God," (Colossians 1:15) they did not recognize Him, and John said: "There stands one among you, whom you know not; ... Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world." (John 1:26-29)
Prophecies were interpreted in harmony with their own ambitious desires for an earthly kingdom in which they should occupy the prominent places, and their religion degenerated into mere political scheming, a sort of "civic righteousness" or "Christian citizenship" affair, in which the Messiah could be made to serve their own selfish purposes.
The leaders of the people, while professing to be loyal to the true God, had in reality gone after other gods just as surely as had king Ahab in the days of Elijah. And to them the message came: "Repent ... And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father." (Matthew 3:2,9) "There comes one mightier than I after me." (Mark 1:7) "Behold the Lamb of God!" (John 1:36)
The Closing Call
It is one of the signs of the times "that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, ... Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof." (2 Timothy 3:1-2,5)
Forms and ceremonies, and "science falsely so called," (1 Timothy 6:20) have been substituted for that true knowledge of God through which grace and peace are multiplied, the traditions of men have been followed instead of the Word of the living God, and so now that message is demanded which says, "Fear God, and give glory to Him; ... and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Revelation 14:7)
The nothingness of man and the greatness of God, the inability of man to save himself and his consequent need of a mighty Saviour, man's weakness and God's power,
"All flesh is grass, ... Behold your God," (Isaiah 40:6,9) this is the message which is now to go "to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." (Revelation 14:6)
And thus will the way of the Lord be prepared. The lesson which was taught that day at Carmel is to be taught again, "in the spirit and power of Elijah," (Luke 1:17) and the soul-stirring inquiry which was then made is to be repeated, "How long do you halt between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him." (1 Kings 18:21)
And each one is answering the question by the choice which he is daily making, and soon the decree will go forth, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still:...and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still." (Revelation 22:11)
Oh, that every one would say in his heart and in his life, "The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God." (1 Kings 18:39)--Present Truth, October 17, 1895--1 Samuel 18
E.J. Waggoner