After the scene on Mount Carmel, which was the subject of last week's lesson, Ahab went and told Jezebel all that had been done, and how that the prophets of Baal had been slain. "Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for you. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God." (1 Kings 19:2-8)
Thus Elijah was compelled to flee for his life because of his faithfulness to the Lord and in the defense of His commandments. Remember, that with the exception of the rain of that same day, there had been no rain for three years and a half, and all the vegetation had dried up, as was shown in the lesson of August 2. (See Article 11 in this section, "The Famine in the Land.") And into this waste, desolate wilderness Elijah was compelled to flee for his life, and when he had gone a whole day's journey, "He ... came and sat down under a juniper tree, and requested for himself that he might die." (1 Kings 19:4)
But what a singular reason it was that he gave for wanting the Lord to take away his life, "O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers." (1 Kings 19:4)
Nowadays, in a great many, indeed in most instances it seems to be considered the very peak of perfection to be no better than our fathers were. Just as soon as the duty of keeping the Sabbath of the Lord is urged upon the people, then the plea arises, "Our fathers, for generations back, all kept Sunday, and they were good people and accepted of the Lord, and if we are as good as they were we shall be all right; if they are saved we shall be; if I can be as good as they were that is all I want."
Elijah reasoned not so. He had a better idea of the principles of righteousness, of duty, and of allegiance to God, than to offer any such beg-off as that. So has everybody a better idea of consistency than to reason so upon any subject of minor, or even common, importance.
No person refuses to ride in a palace car because our fathers had nothing better than a lumbering stage-coach. No person refuses to ride on a steamer because our fathers never saw one. So likewise it is with all advancement in science, art, and human knowledge. Instead of refusing it men take every advantage of it, and try by all means to profit by it.
And the man who makes a new discovery in the field of science, of philosophy, or of exploration of a continent, it matters not though his discovery upsets all the accepted theories of men, if his discovery bears the test of the truth in the field to which it belongs, men readily accept it, and the discoverer is honored, and rightly so, as a benefactor of his race in that he has enlarged the view, and added to the sum, of human knowledge.
Thus it is when the matter relates to things of this world. But when the subject is one that concerns the eternal destiny of men; when it is discovered by someone that in matters of faith and morals, men are wrong; then when the way of truth is pointed out, even though it bear every test of truth known to the Bible, that man is held up as a heretic, a propagandist, a troubler of Israel, an exciter of divisions among the people; then, a question upon which hang eternal interests, is calmly put aside with the observations that: "Our fathers knew nothing of this, therefore it is of no interest to us; our fathers did not find it out, therefore it cannot be the truth; what matters it, though the Bible does say it is the truth, as it was not obeyed by our fathers, we need not obey it; if we are only as good as they, we shall be safe."
But let all such know that our fathers, who were good, did all that they knew, and were accepted of the Lord, in it. "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man has, and not according to that he has not." (2 Corinthians 8:12)
And unless we do all that we know, or all that we may know, we are not as good as they were. Therefore it is plain that we cannot be as good as our godly fathers were by simply doing what they did. To be accepted of the Lord they had to do all that they knew; to be accepted of the Lord, we likewise must do all that we know. And if in the advancing work of God in the world, points of truth, of which our fathers knew nothing, shine forth from the word of God, we must accept them, walk in the light of them, and live according to them, to be accepted of the Lord in this our day as our fathers were in theirs. "While you have light, believe in the light, that you may be the children of light." (John 12:36) "And the law [of God] is light." (Proverbs 6:23)
As Elijah, away in the wilderness alone, lay and slept under that juniper tree, "Behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head." (1 Kings 19:5-6)
Although the bitter Jezebel was seeking for his life, and though to escape her wrath, he has fled into the wilderness where he has neither food nor water, yet an angel visits him, and he has the blessed privilege of eating food from an angel's hand. Blessed privilege, even though it be only bread and water. Bread and water, in the desolation of the desert, from the hand of an angel, is infinitely better than the richest dainties, in the luxury of kings' palaces, from the hand of a Jezebel.
Elijah laid him down again and slept, "And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for you." (1 Kings 19:7)
He did eat and drink and "went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God." (1 Kings 19:8)
There the word of the Lord came to him, and He said unto him, "What are you doing here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." (1 Kings 19:9-10)
We have shown, in previous lessons, the contest that there is to be between the beast and his image and those who keep the commandments of God, just before the coming of the Lord. We have referred to the National Reform Party, and its work of forming a union of Church and State in the Government of the United States, for the sole purpose of compelling all people to keep Sunday, in violation of the commandment of God. We have shown that, in opposition to this, God sends a message calling upon all to "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." (Revelation 14:12)
And when this union of Church and State is accomplished, that will be an image to the beast--the papal church. And from this history of all such unions, we may know what will be the inevitable result--persecution of dissenters. We are not left, however, to infer from what has been, what will be; the word of God tells us plainly what will be the result of such an action. The word says: "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. ... And that no man mighty buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." (Revelation 13:15,17)
Then it will be with these who keep the commandments of God, as it was with Elijah, the representative of these. The new Jezebel then swaying the power of the Government, will seek their lives, to take them away. Then these will have to flee, as Elijah did, and they, as he did, will find drought in all the land, and "the rivers of water dried up," (Joel 1:20) and all the pastures of the wilderness dried up. Yes, and these too will find, amidst the desolation, as Elijah did, that "He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways." (Psalm 91:11)
These too, as Elijah did, will find even in the desolate wilderness that their "place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: [that] bread shall be given them; [and their] waters shall be sure;" (Isaiah 33:16) that their eyes too, as his did, "shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off." (Isaiah 33:17)
And when found thus fleeing for their lives, if asked as was Elijah, "What are you doing here?" (1 Kings 19:9) they can reply as he did: "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, ... and they seek my life, to take it away." (1 Kings 19:10)
But even though the new Jezebel shall seek to take away the lives of those who keep the commandments of God, yet the holy prophet says, "I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." (Revelation 15:2)
The Lord calls, now, for those who will be "very jealous for the Lord God of hosts." He calls for those who will jealously regard His commandments, even at the expense of every earthly thing. He seeks now for those who will "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus," (Revelation 14:12) against all earthly powers. What are you doing here? Are you very jealous for the Lord God of hosts?--Signs of the Times, August 20, 1885--Notes on the International Lesson, August 23--Original title: What Doest Thou Here?--1 Kings 19:1-18
A.T. Jones