What If God Decided To Show Himself Real?
Ahab became king of the ten northern tribes, known
as Israel, in 919 B.C. (according to Fausset) and reigned for twenty-eight
years. Ahab professed to believe in
Jehovah but surrounded himself with four-hundred paid false prophets who told
him what he wanted to hear. He married
Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal
the king of Tyre. Ethbaal was both king and a priest of
Baal. Jezebel led Ahab in the worship of
“Baalim” (the plural of Baal). Baalism
was a sexual fertility cult in worshipping the sun-god. This pornographic focus is what appealed to
people and what drew then into the cultus wherein they were willing to
sacrifice infants and children to their worship in fornication. Sensual Baalistic worship is what we find
described in Exodus chapter thirty-two where the children of Israel danced
naked before the golden calf (sensual music that stirred the emotions,
immodesty in dress, pagan worship was intent upon manipulating and appeasing
the gods for man’s benefits). This is
the environment into which God sends Elijah to speak for Him.
“17 And it came
to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that
troubleth Israel? 18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel;
but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of
the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. 19 Now therefore send, and
gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four
hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at
Jezebel’s table. 20 So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel,
and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah
came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if
the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And
the people answered him not a word” (I
Kings 18:17-21).
This
text ends with a group of professing believers standing before a prophet of God
in indecision. I find the words “And the people answered him not a word”
amazing in light of the history of Israel within a little more than
five-hundred years of the miraculous events recorded in the book of
Joshua. These so called believers in
Jehovah had integrated the worldly worship of Baal into their lives. Jehovah would not, and could not, bless them
because of their worldliness so they began to seek out Baal and the priest of
Baal for their blessings. Elijah has
just challenged these professed believers about the reality of their faith in Jehovah. The reason for the challenge and ultimatum is
that there is only one true God. The one
True God will only accept worship in the accuracy of Who He is. “God is a Spirit: and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Everything that is involved in the worship of
God must be about Him and directed towards Him.
Even our music and preaching must direct our hearts and souls towards
God.
WORSHIP IS NOT ABOUT US – WORSHIP IS ABOUT GOD
Elijah
was obviously a man who had the power of God on his life. I wonder what some of our churches would do
if their pastor was a man with the power of God in his life like Elijah. What if such a man were to stand up before
his congregation and say, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be
God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.”
After
saying that, he would than tell them that he was going to begin a season of
prayer and fasting. He was going to
begin to pray that God would make Himself known by extreme chastisement on the
lives of any member of his church that was not being faithful, not tithing, not
seeking to win souls, or who might be living in any other manner of
carnality. I wonder what might happen in
that preacher’s life. I wonder what
would happen if the first week the church had a Ananias and Sapphira experience
(Acts 5:1-11). I wonder what would
happen if during the next week two more members of the church died unexpectedly. How many weeks would it take for people to
realize that God is real and that they better start getting serious about
living for Him? As we look at these
kinds of events in the Bible, we certainly should be grateful to God for His
longsuffering in our numerous inconsistencies and carnality.
Sometimes
people are so hard to the truth that they stiffen their necks and harden their
hearts to God in such a manner that leaves God no other alternative but to take
drastic action in their lives. God must
take that kind of action because He cannot bless a local church if individuals
in that church are living in carnality and hardness to His commands.
The
historical backdrop of I Kings 18:17-21 is very similar to the present
situation in the United States of America.
Ahab was a king of Israel who was so out of touch with God that he had
lost the reality of Who God was (18:17).
Like the liberal who blames our nation’s problems on the religious
right, Ahab viewed Elijah’s prophecy of a three year drought as originating
with Elijah. It did not. The three year drought was brought about by
the touch of the chastising hand of God.
“And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the
inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth,
before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according
to my word” (I Kings 17:1).
Ahab
saw the condemnation of his ungodly lifestyle originating in the mind of an overzealous
preacher (a religious nut). However,
Scripture tells us it was Ahab’s lifestyle that provoked the anger of the
Lord.
“31 And it came to pass, as if it had been
a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he
took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went
and served Baal, and worshipped him. 32 And he reared up an altar
for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 And
Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger
than all the kings of Israel that were before him” (I Kings 16:31-33).
The
truth of the situation was that king Ahab had been seduced away from living for
and serving the real God by his relationship with the wrong person, a person he
had chosen. We need to be very careful
about the alliances we make in life and the people to which we join
ourselves. Ahab had allowed his selfish
desires and carnal interests to involve himself with someone who then became
the idol of his heart. The only reason
this happened was because the true God was not real to him. His faith was not real. Ahab needed a sensual god because of his own
sensual focus. He wanted a god who
would serve him.
When
any person lives like God is not real, God begins to show Himself real (Romans
1:21-32). Before this would all be over,
Ahab would know without a shadow of doubt that the God of Israel and the God of
Elijah was the real God. However, until
that time (as is usually common when a preacher says something sinners do not
want to hear) Ahab simply tried to eradicate the preacher (you know how that
works, i.e. silence the voice of condemnation and the problem will go
away). Or, find a preacher who will tell
you what you want to hear.
“7 And as Obadiah was in the way, behold,
Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art
thou that my lord Elijah? 8 And he answered him, I am: go,
tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. 9 And he said, What
have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to
slay me? 10 As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or
kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He
is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they
found thee not. 11 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold,
Elijah is here” (I Kings 18:7-11).
Remember
in I Kings 18:17, Ahab tried to blame Elijah for the famine and drought in
Israel. In I Kings 18:18, Elijah sets
the record straight. The famine and
drought were not due to Elijah’s prophecy, but to Ahab’s failure to follow the
path of life laid out for him by the Scriptures. Instead he had become a worshipper of
Baalim. It is in this name we find the
depths to which his degeneration had fallen.
Baalim is a synonym for Ba`al (bah'-al) who was the supreme male
divinity of the Phoenicians or Canaanites.
It is also the same pagan god commonly known as Ra in the pagan religion
of Egypt. This same pagan idol was
worshipped as Baalzebub (bah'-al zeb-oob', lord of the fly) by
the Philistines. Jesus used a derivative
of this name for Satan.
“22 Then was brought unto him one possessed
with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and
dumb both spake and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and
said, Is not this the son of David? 24 But when the Pharisees heard it,
they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the
prince of the devils. 25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said
unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and
every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 And
if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his
kingdom stand” (Matthew 12:22-26).
Ahab
had become a Satan worshipper. This is
where sensuality always leads us when we allow it to become the focus of
worship. Whenever a person fails to
follow God’s direction, he in fact chooses to follow another direction. If it is not God’s direction, it is the wrong direction. Satan’s direction is the direction of
deception and its end is destruction.
Understand this, if you get yourself on that pathway it will ultimately
end in destruction. That is where
Satan’s pathways always lead. Satan’s
pathway of deception is any pathway outside of God’s commandments.
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a
man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
God had
established some perimeters for life that Ahab completely ignored. When he began to reap the consequences, he
began to blame the resulting calamity on the man of God. Ahab not only married a wicked woman, he
allowed that wicked woman to introduce her Satan worship into the nation of
Israel. Ahab was supporting four-hundred
and fifty false prophets of Baal and another four-hundred prophets of the
groves (Druids, tree worshippers).
In I
King 18:19, Elijah gathers all the people of Israel and all of these eight-hundred
and fifty false prophets together at Mt. Carmel. It is at this time Elijah asks this question
of I Kings 18:21, “How long halt ye between two opinions?”
The
question might be phrased - How long are you people going to set on the fence
on not make a decision? How long do you
want God’s blessing withheld? How long
can you last without food and water? The
fact that it had not rained for three years (I Kings 18:1) was directly due to
the pathway that Ahab chose for himself and the pathway that the people
followed.
This
was not the result of disobedience. This
resulted because of unbelief. So often
we confuse disobedience and carnality as rebellion when in fact it is just
unbelief. If we really believed God is
Who He says He is, we certainly would not do the wicked things we do or refuse
to do the works of righteousness we are supposed to do.
Elijah
is going to give the pagan gods and the pagan prophets a reality check. He is not
testing God. He knows what God can
do. Elijah knew and believed in the one
true God. Elijah is putting the pagans
and their false god to the test of fire.
Let me ask you, how many of us would like the reality of our faith
tested as to its authenticity? How many
of us would be willing to stand before God accepting His consuming fire to fall
on us if there is anything in our lives that we refuse to get right with
Him?
If
the LORD (Jehovah) is God, follow Him (with your whole heart). But if Baal is god, than follow him
with your whole heart (18:21). That is
an excellent invitation to a congregation.
However, like most invitations given to sinners by God, “the people
answered him not a word.” There was no
response. They were indecisive. They were unwilling to commit.
The
question really goes to the point, is God really who He says He is. If He is who He says He is does He mean what
He says? In I Kings 18:23-24, Elijah
defines the rules of the test. Two bullocks would be killed and prepared to
be offered as a burnt offering, one to the pagan gods and another to
Jehovah. The people answered, “it is
well spoken.” In other words, “Let’s do
it!” We might look at this as a good thing, but it is blatant unbelief.
The
prophets of Baal put their bullock on their altar to their pagan god and for
the next six hours called on their god to consume the sacrifice (I Kings
18:25-26). Elijah begins to mock them
and their god. He tells them to shout
loader. Gods get pretty busy sometimes,
he probably has not heard you, maybe he is talking to someone, maybe he is away
on a trip, or maybe he is sleeping and you will need to wake him up.
Baal
does not answer. So the false prophets
begin to cut themselves (as was their normal practice) to get Baal’s attention
until blood was gushing out all over the place (that is the kind of thing Satan
deceives people into doing. It happens
in different forms all over the world today even under the banner of
Christianity). This goes on for another four
or five hours (I Kings 18:29). Yet there
was “neither voice, nor any answer, nor any that regarded.” False gods never answer. They take and take and take, but they never
give.
False
gods are not real gods. They are only
make-believe gods. If a person allows a
made up god to establish his standards for living, that person will end up the
same way these false prophets ended up.
That person will end up shouting into the air. However, the great problem is not that the
false, made up gods do not hear. The
problem is that the real God does hear and He is a jealous God Who hates
idolatry. This is why right doctrine is
so important.
“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve
them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of
them that hate me” (Exodus 20:5).
“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD,
whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:” (Exodus 34:14).
After
watching this ridiculous charade for almost ten hours, Elijah calls out to the
people of Israel, “Come near to me” (v. 30).
Elijah begins to build an altar by taking “twelve stones” (v. 31)
reminding the people of Israel that they existed as a nation solely because of
a covenant making God Who was not the figment of someone’s imagination. He is real!
Then,
just to prove that what was about to happen would be no accident, Elijah has
four barrels of water hauled up to the top of the hill three times and has them
dumped on the sacrifice and the wood, even filling the trench dug around the altar
(and just in case you miss the point, water is a major hindrance to getting
something started on fire). Twelve
stones, one for each tribe of Israel.
Twelve barrels of water, one for each tribe of Israel (I Kings
18:32-34).
Elijah
is about to show these people what a real God can do all by Himself. In a quiet, calm voice he lifts his head to
heavens and prays, “Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that
thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back
again” (I Kings 18:36-37) He wasn’t
doing this for himself. He was doing
this to turn the people’s hearts back to one true God, the real God.
Yes,
this would be a great spectacle. Yes,
God would show Himself real, but the great tragedy is that after all God had
already done for Israel, why was this necessary? It was because generation after generation
had allowed their knowledge of God to slip away until the true God was
forgotten and make believe gods took
His place.
As soon
as the words got passed Elijah’s lips, “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” (v. 38). There was no shouting, no pleading, nor
begging. Elijah did not have to run
around like some fool cutting himself. Elijah
did not involve himself in any ritual incantations or any other such
nonsense. He simply asked God to do it. God did it.
That’s the way the real God does things!
That’s the way my God does
things!
The
consuming fire of God fell and in a split second the whole bullock was
gone. The wood was gone (wood burns and
bullocks burn). The stones (representing
the twelve tribes of Israel) were gone (that was a warning). The twelve barrels of water were gone
(another warning). Even the dust on the
ground around the Altar was consumed.
All that was left was a blackened hole in the ground. This was a reminder of what might have
happened to them - “23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the
covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven
image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath
forbidden thee. 24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even
a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:23-24). These Jews had all memorized these verses of
Scripture.
The
next thing God tells us is that the people of Israel standing around that Altar
fell on their faces to the ground shouting, “The LORD, He is God; The LORD, He
is God.” They did not do that because of
the great miracle they had just seen.
They did it because the only thing around that Altar that was not
consumed was them! That is the reality
of Who God is. He is a God of grace and
mercy. The only reason why many
professing Christians (who live in carnality and disregard for Who God is) are
allowed to live is because:
“The Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (II
Peter 3:9).
When
professing Christians live like God does not exist, it is probably because they
do not believe He is real. If they
really believed in the God of the Bible they would know enough to fear
Him. If they really believed in the God
of the Bible, they would know that one day they will stand before Him and give
account for every idle word, for every neglected opportunity of ministry, and
for anything and everything they have done in this body of flesh whether good
or bad.
However,
if that is not a major concern of your life, your problem is not with rebellion. Your problem is one of unbelief. I have only one warning for you friend.
“30 For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And
again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:30-31).
What
will it take to get you serious about the work of the Lord? Perhaps the real issue is not one of
apathy. Perhaps the real issue is one of
unbelief. Perhaps the real issue is the
lack of faith in the one real God. What
will it take in your life for Him to prove Himself real? What catastrophe must happen? How deep into sin will God allow you to get
so you will finally see your own degeneracy?
Indifference to God and His commands is only the first step down the
pathway of destruction. We all know
where that pathway ends.
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Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.