Study 12 - Fire and Rain

Elijah used twelve stones to rebuild the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. ‘Look,’ he was implying, ‘this is symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel. I’m taking you back to your heritage, reminding you that you’re the covenant people of God, calling you to return to him.’

Send the fire!
The people desperately wanted water, but Elijah knew that before water could come, they needed fire. Their sin had to be judged. God’s wrath had to fall on an innocent sacrifice, so the prophet took a sacrificial animal, cut it in pieces, laid it on the altar and poured water over it. Then he called to God to send the fire. This was not the only time in the Old Testament that fire fell from heaven. When the first priests were ordained, Aaron sacrificed to God and ‘fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar’ (Lev. 9:24).

When David sinned against the Lord by numbering the people, God judged them by sending a plague. David repented, built an altar and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. ‘He called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering’ (1 Chron. 21:26).

Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord and dedicated the temple to him. When he’d finished praying ‘fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple’ (2 Chron. 7:1).

‘At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you are turning their hearts back again”’ (1 Kings 18:36, 37).

Send the rain!
When the Lord answered by fire, the Israelites knew that he was God and slew the false prophets. What was Ahab’s reaction to all this? Did he fall down and exclaim with the people, ‘The Lord – he is God! The Lord – he is God!’ Probably not.

Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain’ (1 Kings 18:41). Elijah knew him. ‘Off you go,’ he said. ‘You’ll be more interested in your dinner than in what has happened here today.’ Ahab should have been on his face, pleading for mercy, crying, ‘Oh, God. What have I done to this nation?’ but there was no sign of remorse, no sign of repentance, no sign of any reaction at all.

Standing there on Mount Carmel, Ahab must have been a pathetic sight. The fire had fallen, the people had acknowledged the Lord, the false prophets had been slaughtered, and now the rain was on its way. There was the king of the nation, untouched, unmoved, unchanged. ‘Eat and drink,’ said Elijah. ‘All right,’ replied Ahab, and trotted off to do just that (1 Kings 18:42).

While Ahab went off to satisfy his stomach, Elijah went to pray. His job was not yet complete. He spoke a word of faith that rain was on its way, but now he would pray it into being, humbling himself before his God in fervent intercession.

What a contrast we have here. Two men attend the same event – the unequivocal demonstration of the futility of Baal; the prolonged and passionate pleading of the Baalite priests that went unanswered; the unmasking of the false god and his spiritually bankrupt followers. They both witness the extraordinary miracle of fire actually falling from heaven, burning up not only the water-sodden sacrifice but the very wood and stones as well. Yet their responses are completely opposite. You may wonder how a man can be so indifferent to the workings of God.

The very cross of Christ stood between the scoffer on one side and the penitent thief on the other. Both witness the world-changing sufferings of the Lamb of God. One is humbled, the other hardened. But it will always be so until Jesus comes and separates the sheep from the goats forever.

The warning is trumpeted loud and clear. Keep a humble heart lest you should ever find yourself witnessing the activity of God but failing to recognise it when it’s right before your eyes. Let’s worship God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for he’s a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28, 29).

Quote
‘A man can counterfeit love, he can counterfeit faith, he can counterfeit hope and all the other graces, but it is very difficult to counterfeit humility.’
D.L. Moody