Hope From the Word

Guest (Male): Having trouble understanding why people believe the things they believe? You're not alone in this dilemma. Pastor Bill Luebkemann offers this encouragement.

Bill Luebkemann: Sometimes when you try to figure out what's going through the minds of these people, you really can't figure it out because their positions are illogical and untenable, which is usually the way it is with atheists and people who don't believe in God and agnostics and people who aren't sure who God is and people who say you can get to heaven all different ways and it doesn't matter what God you worship as long as you worship him sincerely. That certainly didn't happen to the prophets of Baal. They didn't get to heaven by worshipping some other god, and they sure were sincere.

Guest (Male): Great to have you along today as we bring you Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann of Calvary Chapel Marlton. You may feel that the decisions made in the high places of government have the final say in the lives of God's people, but you'll be encouraged to know that God has ways of confronting and even overruling the most powerful leaders.

In 1 Kings chapter 18, we have an example of this. We'll see Elijah's challenge to King Ahab and the false prophets of his day. Let's join Pastor Bill as he begins with some background.

Bill Luebkemann: Elijah the prophet had prayed that there would not be any rain in Israel. And he told the king Ahab, "There's not going to be any rain until I say so." Verse one of chapter 17: "Now Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead said to Ahab, 'As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.'"

God then sent Elijah away. He lived by the Brook Cherith for a while. The ravens brought him food in the morning, food in the evening. He drank from the brook until it ran dry. There was no rain. Then after a period of time, the Lord sent him to live with a poor widow who didn't have much. She had a fraction of a jar of oil and a fraction of a jar of flour. And through Elijah, the Lord spoke to her and said those jars are not going to run out until this famine is over.

Well, why was there a famine? There was no rain, so there were no crops. So there was no food, so people were hungry. So there was a famine. So some three years have gone by, and we're going to see as we get into chapter 18 that Ahab, King Ahab, is one unhappy camper. And he has spent the last three years searching for Elijah because he is hopping mad.

And I don't know if Ahab believes in the Lord a little bit or not at all. He's certainly worshipping the Baals, false gods of the sky, gods of the weather. They believed Baal had control over all these things as we get into this whole thing about calling down fire from heaven. Well, that would have been a Baal thing. If Baal was the god of the weather and the god of the sky, then it should have been no big deal for Baal to send down a little fire from on high, right?

And so if Ahab really did believe that Baal was God and not the Lord, then Ahab might have believed that Elijah had just ticked off Baal. And so we're just going to have to find this guy Elijah and kill him, and then Baal will be happy and he'll give us some rain. Now, that's one possible explanation about what's going through Ahab's mind. Now, if he in any way Ahab believes in the Lord in some small way, then I don't know what's going through his mind.

So sometimes when you try to figure out what's going through the minds of these people, you really can't figure it out because their positions are illogical and untenable, which is usually the way it is with atheists and people who don't believe in God and agnostics and people who aren't sure who God is and people who say you can get to heaven all different ways and it doesn't matter what God you worship as long as you worship him sincerely.

Well, we're going to find out that's certainly not true in this chapter here. That certainly didn't happen to the prophets of Baal. They didn't get to heaven by worshipping some other god, and they sure were sincere. Not only that, man, did they have zeal. They had loads of zeal. And that didn't help them either.

So this period of time went by, three years, and in the third year, actually, it says over in James, I believe in around the fifth chapter or so, that it had been three years and six months. So the rains came in the spring and in the fall, and I believe this was in the spring when we're going to see the rains came again. So previously when the rain stopped coming, I believe it had rained in the fall and then it wasn't due again to rain in the spring. So it was probably six months went by before they even realized that the rain stopped. And then it was three more years of famine, so something like three and a half years actually without rain.

But in the third year when these events happen, verse one of chapter 18 of 1 Kings: "After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 'Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.' So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab." Now, we're going to see here also that this whole thing, even though we've seen over and over again that Elijah prayed for it, we're going to see this was God's will that these events happen.

Elijah just didn't get up one day and say, "Well, I don't have anything to do today. I think I'll pray for a famine and no rain. And I think I'll just order God to do that, and since he likes me, maybe he'll go along with it." No, this whole event was put together by God. And Elijah was praying in accordance with the will of God. God told him, "Pray for this," and he prayed for it and God did it.

And he still answers prayer in the same way today in that God wants us to pray in accordance with his will. And when we know what his will is and we pray in accordance with his will, God answers those prayers. And so here we have a long time going by, in the third year. And what happens? Elijah just didn't wake up and decide, "I'm tired of this famine. I've been doing this a long time now. I want to do something else in my life." No, the word of the Lord came to him and said it's time to go present yourself to Ahab.

Now, I think he must have known Ahab was looking for him. He had to have heard this somehow. I mean, he had to have seen some story posted on the internet, or he had to have got some cards or some letters or he had to have heard this from somebody. I can't believe he didn't know that Ahab was looking for him after all this time.

And so what comes to mind here is the situation when Saul, Paul, got saved on the road to Damascus. And he was lying in that room in Damascus and God told one of the disciples, "Go over to where Paul is and you're going to lay hands on him." And I forget the name of that disciple, but the disciple said, "Excuse me, God. Excuse me, but do you know who that man is? That guy Paul that you're sending me to, he's going around persecuting Christians. And I don't think you want me to go to his house. You must be thinking of sending me to someone else's house, right? You must be mistaken. Let me educate you, God. Have you thought your plan through all the way?"

And that story comes to mind here when I think about this because Ahab here is not liking Elijah. And now we see the word of God, the word of the Lord, coming to Elijah saying, "Go present yourself to him." What? "And I will send rain on the land." So Elijah argued with God? Elijah said, "No, God, you're cracked. You're crazy. You're out of your mind." No, he didn't do any of those things. He argued with God? No.

He delayed, he dilly-dallied, he took his time, he didn't get around to it. No, none of those things. No, very simple. Verse two: Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. He did that which the Lord instructed him to do. Nothing more, nothing less, and he did it immediately, promptly.

Now, the famine was severe in Samaria. Remember, this is the northern kingdom, not the kingdom of Judah to the south. The famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace. Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. The name Obadiah means something like follower of Yahweh, or my God is Yahweh, or something along those lines. Forgive me if I'm a little bit off on that.

But there was something like 13 guys in the Bible named Obadiah, and one of the minor prophets was named Obadiah, and who knows if this is the same one or not. I don't think anybody knows. But Ahab had this guy named Obadiah on his staff. And it's interesting because a lot of these sincere believers had emigrated—with an E, not immigrated. Emigrated. They left the country and they moved down south to the southern kingdom, which was slightly more God-following. Not much more, but slightly more. But they had Jerusalem there, so at least they could go make the offerings when the prescribed time was. We saw that a few weeks ago.

So this guy Obadiah hadn't done so. He was on the staff of Ahab. Somehow he was a believing guy in a God-forsaken place. He was a believer in a place where you wouldn't think there were too many believers around. And he had to wake up every day—I just have to think this guy Obadiah, I have to think that he got up every day and wondered, "What am I doing here? Why did I stay here? Why didn't I leave with the rest of them? Why am I still hanging around this crazy kingdom with this crazy king?"

But something made him stay there. Must have been the Lord. And somehow Ahab either didn't know or didn't care or put up with him or the guy was doing a good enough job that Ahab overlooked the fact that he was a follower of the Lord, not just any old kind of follower of the Lord, but a devout believer in the Lord.

And Ahab trusted him. He didn't summon anybody else. He summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace, an important job. Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord while Jezebel was killing off—Jezebel was the queen, the wife of Ahab. While Jezebel was killing off the Lord's prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, 50 in each, and had supplied them with food and water.

So here's a guy, how devout is he? He's devout enough that he has hidden a hundred prophets. Now, remember that number because in a little while Elijah's going to be saying, "I'm the only one left who believes in the Lord." Well, there's at least 101 because there's Obadiah and the hundred guys he's got in hiding. And this guy is so devout that he risked loss of life and limb.

You have to think if the queen is killing these people and this guy is in charge of the palace and he's hiding them, that the penalty for being found out would have been severe. And in this area of Mount Carmel where this whole scene is going to happen here shortly, have been discovered somewhere in the vicinity of 2,000 caves. There are a lot of caves in this area. So it's not at all implausible to find out that he hid them in some caves and that they would not discover them.

So when he saw what Jezebel was doing, killing off the Lord's prophets, he grabbed a hundred prophets and he quick said, "Quick guys, let's get going here." And he found some caves and hid 50 in each cave. And somehow he was sending out food to them, food and water. I think some of your translations might say bread and water, but I think the generic meaning there is he kept them supplied with food so they could eat.

So he was that kind of guy, that he loved the Lord, devout to the Lord so much that he would risk his own life to do the right thing and the just thing and protect those lives. And Ahab had said to Obadiah, "Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals."

So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another. So this is what the plan was. They were so desperate that the king himself is going searching through the land with Obadiah in opposite directions just to find some grass so they can keep their animals alive.

Now, I read one commentator and he said, "This is terrible. They were worried about feeding the animals and not the people." But I don't think I really buy that. My guess is they were bringing in food from Egypt for the people, and they were looking for some cheaper food to feed their animals. But you can take this anyway you want to. They were destitute, they were poor, they were flat out of choices. They were searching for whatever they could come up with. Their animals were not getting fed. And the king said, "Let's—we're scraping the bottom of the barrel here. If we can find a little bit of grass somewhere, let's see what we can get. You go that way, I'll go this way, see what we can come up with."

And here we have this God-ordained meeting. As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Haven't seen him in three years. There he is, just happens to run into him at the local Wawa out there in the middle of nowhere. You know how they always have Wawas in the middle of nowhere? That's how I know there was a Wawa there because there's always a Wawa in the middle of nowhere. If you're driving somewhere and you're going through nowhere, you can count on getting a soda there at Wawa because there's always one there.

As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground and said, "Is it really you, my Lord Elijah?" "Yes," he replied. "Go tell your master, 'Elijah is here.'" "What have I done wrong?" asked Obadiah. "That you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you."

"But now you tell me to go to my master and say 'Elijah is here'? I don't know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me. Yet I, your servant, have worshipped the Lord since my youth. Haven't you heard, my Lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord's prophets in two caves, 50 in each, and supplied them with food and water. And now you tell me to go to my master and say 'Elijah is here'? He will kill me!"

Elijah said, "As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today." Now, what's this all about? Well, look, this is very simple here, very, very simple. Obadiah is saying, "Look, you haven't been around for three years. The Spirit of the Lord took you away. The Spirit of the Lord told Elijah, 'Go over by the Brook Cherith and hide there for a while,' and then, 'Go over and live with the poor widow and hide there for a while.'"

And Obadiah seemed to be aware that the Spirit of the Lord had put Elijah in hiding. And Obadiah says, "Man, if I tell Ahab that I saw you and then the Spirit of the Lord takes you away somewhere and then you're not there anymore, the king's going to kill me because he's going to say you should have brought him in yourself. You should have captured him. You should have killed him. What do you mean you let him go? You saw him and you let him go? What, are you crazy?"

He said, "You're sending me on a death sentence. I can't tell the king that I saw you because I don't know for sure you're going to present yourself to him. And look at me, I'm a good guy. Look what I did. I've worshipped the Lord since my youth. And did you hear what I did? The queen's been killing all these people and I put up a hundred of them in two caves."

It was an early Holiday Inn, you know. No indoor plumbing, but at least they lived. And I got them food and water. See, you thought the Holiday Inn had that continental breakfast buffet, you thought that was a recent invention, but they got the idea from here, see?

And Elijah says, "Look, don't worry about it. I am going to present myself to the king today. You don't have to worry about it. I'm going to make a promise to you and I'm good at my word here. I will present as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today. This is going to happen. I'm going to present myself to him."

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him. And Ahab didn't want to wait, you see. He didn't wait for Elijah to come to him. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"

Isn't that funny? Isn't it funny that the ones who are the troublers always blame it on someone else? Here's a guy who was the troubler himself. Here's a guy who was by any definition of the word the worst troubler of Israel ever. He was about the worst king they ever had. He wasn't the one who invented idolatry or brought it into the land, but he may have been the one who perfected it and allowed the country to engage in more idolatry perhaps than ever before.

It was because of him that the country had all these troubles. And yet he's calling Elijah, who's a holy guy, a man of God, a man who, if you remember at the end of his life on earth, rides up to heaven in a chariot of fire, doesn't even die a natural death. And he calls Elijah a troubler of Israel. Such confusion in the world today between what's right and wrong and what's good and bad. What's good is called bad and what's bad is called good, and right is called wrong and wrong is called right. Sin is called freedom of expression and choice and whatever else. It was no different back then. Here he is expressing it exactly backwards.

Verse 18: "'I have not made trouble for Israel,' Elijah replied, 'but you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have followed the Baals. Now, summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.'"

So here Elijah says to him, "You're really the troubler of Israel. You're the one who abandoned the Lord's commands. You're the one that followed the Baals. Now let's get this—let's get this show on the road here and let's all meet together over on Mount Carmel and bring along all these prophets here, 850 of them: 450 prophets of Baal, 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table." I don't think that necessarily means they joined her for dinner every night, but it probably means that she supplied them with their food.

Now, I don't know why King Ahab did what he was told. I'm surprised he just didn't kill the guy on the spot. But maybe he thought, "Well, we're going to have some kind of a contest and we'll get this over with." Yeah, let's do it! Yeah, 850 to 1! Yeah, we'll do that! That's right, I'll do it! Maybe he just was enough of a head job that he thought, "Well, we could do this. Yeah, that's what you want? You want 850? Okay, we'll do that." I'm not sure what was going through Ahab's head. If you remember back at the beginning, I said I didn't know what was going through his head, and I still don't know what's going through his head.

But for some reason, may have just been that God wanted it to happen, so Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, follow him."

Now, look, this was all the people of Israel as many as could come, and the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Asherah. So the prophets were gathered closer, but there was a large number of people watching. This was up on Mount Carmel, which was a high spot, and the people could have been gathered around for quite a distance watching.

And they all gathered there and he said, "How long will you waver between two opinions?" The same word for waver is the same word that's used later on when it's talking about the prophets of Baal jumping around as they were saying their prayers to Baal. The word gives the connotation of jumping around and dancing like you can't make up your mind.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope From the Word. We're currently in Pastor Bill's study of 1 Kings. If you'd like to hear this message again, you have several options. Visit our website at ccmarlton.org, download the Hope FM app to your smartphone or tablet, or look for us wherever you find your podcasts.

If you've been thinking about visiting Calvary Chapel of Marlton where Bill serves as pastor, we'd love to have you. Our service times are on Sunday mornings at 10:00. We also meet midweek on Wednesdays at 7:00 PM. You can also livestream from home when you visit our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel of Marlton. For more information, go to ccmarlton.org. We hope to see you soon.

Before the day is done, we'd like to connect with you. Share a praise report, prayer request, or what you're learning from this series. You can easily email us at our website ccmarlton.org or just call us at 856-983-1662. There's more to come from Bill's study of 1 Kings, and we'll have that for you next time on Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann.