Elijah, 9...Who Made Fire Come Down From Heaven ! [1 Kings 18:38] / Paul's Bible Characters

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Elijah, 9...

Who Made Fire Come 

Down From Heaven !

[1 Kings 18:38]

 

/ Paul's Bible Characters 

 

/ By Paul

 

1. Personal information

 

His Hebrew name is 'Elijah',

which means 'the LORD is God'.

 

 

Elijah is a major prophet

of Israel, who was born

around 900 BC in the

 

 

 southern region of

Tishbe in Naphtali,

 

 

and his family moved to

Gilead east of the Jordan,

and settled down and

grew up there.

 

 

Gilead is a desolate

and stony mountain region,

 

 

a suitable place for prophets

to develop confidence through

divine communion with God.

  (1 Kings 19:13) 

 

 

He worked for 32 years

from 874 BC to 842 BC

until the beginning

of the reigns of Ahab,

 

 

the 7th king of Israel,

Ahaziah the 8th, and

Jehoroam the 9th.

 

 

He made Elisha his disciple

and handed over his

ministry to him.

 

 

And later a chariot of fire

and horses of fire appeared,

 

 

and Elijah went up to

heaven in a whirlwind in

the Jordan River.

 

 

 2. His Life

 

 

Elijah is a prophet respected

by the Jews and he is adored

as a figure comparable to Moses,

 

 

and he is also the person

who appeared with Moses

on a mountain of transfiguration

of the Lord to convey heavenly

comfort to the Lord. 

 

 

Israel at that time had

economic prosperity and

mighty military power,

 

 

and the wicked kings

were religiously corrupt

because of their extreme

idolatry. 

 

 

Against King Ahab and

Queen Jezebel (daughter

of the King of Sidon),

 

 

who served Baal and

Asherah, and the 450

prophets of Baal

 

 

and

400 prophets of Asherah

 they were training,

 

 

Elijah proved that only 

God was the true LORD

through a religious

 

 

confrontation

on Mount Carmel.

 

 

He also prophesied

to King Ahab that there

would be no rain for

 

 

many years as God's

punishment for idolatry. 

 

 

He was also a prophet

of power who prayed earnestly

to God and made rain come

down in 3 years

 

 

and 6 months after leading

the spiritual battle on

Mount Carmel to victory.

 

 

Due to Jezebel's threat

of vengeance, Elijah

escaped from her

 

 

and fled to Mount Horeb,

where he heard the

voice of God.

 

 

God commanded him

to put down all worries

and fears and go down

again to fulfill his mission,

 

 

and comforted Elijah

with the words below.

 

 

"I reserve seven thousand

in Israel--all whose knees

have not bowed down

to Baal

 

 

and all whose mouths

have not kissed him."

(1 Kings 19:18)

 

 

He preached in the

palace three times

(1 Kings 17:1, 18:2, 21:20),

 

 

and each time he felt that

his life was in danger, but 

he warned the king

in confidence. 

 

 

Elijah was truly a man

of the Holy Spirit recognized

by God in the Old Testament Age.

 

 

He finished his ministry,

and the fact that a chariot

of fire and horses of fire

appeared,

 

 

and Elijah went up to

heaven in a whirlwind can 

be regarded as evidence

 that reflects this well.

 

 

He is one of only two

people in the Old Testament

who ascended to heaven

 

 

without dying.

(Enoch and Elijah)

 

 

3. Characteristics of the

ministry of prophet Elijah

 

 

1) Elijah fully served God

and experienced God's care.

(1 Kings 17:1-9)

 

 

The word for 'serve' is

עָמַד [‛âmad ]

 

 

' in Hebrew, which means

'to stand in the face

waiting for orders'.

 

 

In other words,

it means that we live by

serving the LORD with

faithfulness and obedience.

 

 

Elijah received God's

revelation by serving

God rightly.

 

 

He declared the wrath of God

against King Ahab, who

had fallen into idolatry.

 

 

And he was guided by God

and spent 3 years and

6 months in the wilderness.

 

 

While surviving through

the food supply of ravens

for a year in the Kerith Ravine,

east of the Jordan,

 

 

he maintained only his

relationship with God

as a period of growth to

fulfill his public mission.

 

 

(Example: Saul's three-year

stay in the Arabian Desert). 

 

 

After that, God led him to 

the widow of Zarephath

of Sidon,

 

 

and it was a period

of assurance that God

answered his prayers as the

outpost of his ministry.

 

 

When a man of God

has both the certainty of faith

and the certainty of experience,

he can fulfill his mission

in confidence.

 

 

The widow of Zarephath

received the blessing of

abundant provisions

by feeding Elijah,

 

 

but her faith was limited

to the faith to seek blessings.

 

 

After that, her most

precious son died,

and Elijah brought

him back to life. 

 

 

Through this miracle,

the widow she truly came

to believe in Almighty God

and have faith in resurrection.

 

 

And Elijah came to trust God

more as he experienced God

who raises the dead.

 

 

Faith is trust. 

Life in the wilderness is a

process of self breaking

 

 

and cultivating trust,

and God's care is the

beginning of the ministry.

 

 

Elijah experienced the faith

to receive God's care through

fully serving God.

 

 

2) He experienced the power

to establish the kingdom of God

through spiritual battles.

(1 Kings 18:36-39)

 

 

After 3 years and 6 months

had passed, Elijah appeared

to King Ahab and challenged

him with authority.

 

 

He proposed to King Ahab

to gather 450 prophets of Baal

 

 

and 400 prophets of Asherah

on Mount Carmel to

confront him

 

 

and prove whose

god was the true God.

 

 

However, 400 prophets

of Asherah did not show up

(they were Sidonians),

 

 

and only the prophets of Baal

were present to demonstrate

the power of the god Baal.

 

 

Everyone watched them

from morning to evening,

but when nothing happened,

 

 

Elijah prayed to God in the

evening, and fire came down

from heaven and consumed

all the altars.

 

 

Elijah called out to the people

with the authority of God

as follows.

 

 

"How long will you waver

between two opinions?" 

 

 

So they seized the prophets

of Baal, and brought them

down to the Kishon Valley

and slaughtered there.

 

 

God, through Elijah,

revealed His dislike for

His people to waver.

 

 

Even today, we serve both

God and money and put both

Jesus and ourselves in the

place of the Lord.

 

 

We count on the Word

and commit unrighteousness

at the same time.

 

 

We start with the Holy Spirit

and end with the flesh.

 

 

We work for our own success

under the name of God's work.

 

 

God never wants us to waver

between two opinions.

 

 

The power of Elijah's prayer

came out when he willingly

left everything to God.

 

 

3) Elijah experienced God's

comfort in his spiritual depression

and was finally able to overcome

human weakness.

 

 

The wilderness leads us

to look only to God, while 

the world leads you look 

to the spirit of the world.

 

 

After returning from Mount

Carmel, Elijah encounters

the spirit of Jezebel.

 

 

The power of the world

comes out of the sword.

 

 

However, the power of God

comes out of the Word.

 

 

In other words,

it is a confrontation

between physical power

and spiritual power.

 

 

When man is limited to

physical power, spiritual

power is extinguished. 

 

 

When spiritual power is

extinguished in front of reality,

total exhaustion comes to  man.

 

 

As a human being,

not a prophet, Elijah fell

into spiritual depression,

 

 

possessed by Jezebel's

spirit of vengeance.

 

 

Spiritual depression is a

swamp that we can fall into

when we focus on our own

standards, judgment,

and ministry.

 

 

Elijah

complained to God.

 

 

He asked God why He

let him fall into such danger

even though he worked

 wholeheartedly for God.

 

 

But unexpectedly,

God informed him that

He reserved seven thousand

in Israel and told him

 

 

what he had to do,

encouraging him.

 

 

We human beings can only

see the visible right before us,

 

 

but God can see even

everything that is covered

  with our eyes.

 

 

Faith is like the glasses of

the Holy Spirit that change

human eyesight into

God's eyesight.

 

 

After recovering with firm faith

in God's care and responsibility,

 Elijah resumed his last ministry.

 

 

I do not live my life

under my responsibility,

but the Lord lives my life

under God's responsibility.

 

 

4) Elijah is a prophet

who showed us what the

rapture would be like through

his splendid ascension.

(2 Kings 2:11)

 

 

All human

beings experience

death because of sin.

 

 

However,

God tells us through

Elijah that if we are in God,

 

 

we can have eternal life

without experiencing death.

 

 

This is proof that when

the Lord of the New

Testament returns

in the air,

 

 

the saints

will also becaught up

in the air.

 

 

However, it will be

allowed only to the saints

who live a life in Jesus.

 

 

In other words, it means

that we lead a life in confidence

that He takes care of us and

that He is responsible for us,

 

 

and it means that we

entrust our lives to the Lord 

and rely on His Word, and

that we walk with the Lord.

 

 

When we live for Jesus,

our lives will be in Jesus.

 

 

There's one thing

we should remember:

 

 

Elijah is a prophet who lived

only for the LORD God all

the way from his life in the

wilderness to his ascension.

 

 

- To Be Continue - 

 

 

2023/03/14(Tue)

 

/ By Paul