TEXT: I Kings 18:17-40

SUBJECT: The Life of Elijah #5: Mount Carmel

We return this afternoon to our study of Elijah's life. Our interest is not the prophet himself, but Christ; what our Lord was doing with Elijah and what it means to us.

Our text narrates the key event of his ministry. The site is Mount Carmel. To one side stands King Ahab with his four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. To the other side is Elijah, the prophet of the LORD and most hated man in Israel. Around them, the whole nation has gathered. Elijah steps up with a challenge: "How long will you falter between two opinions?" They people remain silent. He proposes a contest: Both he and the prophets will build an altar, lay bull on it, and pray for fire from heaven. Whoever answers by fire, is God. The people agree. The match is under way.

The prophets of Baal go first. They begin at 6:00 A.M. They pray and plead and beg and leap and shout and cut themselves till "the evening sacrifice" twelve hours later. But to no avail. Their god doesn't answer. He and his prophets are beaten.

Now it's Elijah's turn. He rebuilds the altar of the LORD and lays another bull on it. To avoid any charge of trickery, he calls for water to be poured over his sacrifice. Twelve barrels leave the bull and altar waterlogged. He invites the people to draw near. A short prayer is offered and fire descends from heaven, burning up the bull, the altar, the stones, and the dust, while "licking up the water" for good measure.

The people are stunned by the action of a Living God. They fall prostrate, confessing, "The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God". Elijah demands the execution of the false prophets in obedience to the Law of Moses. The people are eager to comply. The prophets are taken to the Brook Kishon and paid in full for their evil deeds.

That day God achieved a great victory in Israel.

What was our Lord Jesus up to that day? Four things.

In the first place, He was calling His people to choose.

Israel was "faltering between two opinions". The LORD was their traditional God. But, in recent years, Baal had been introduced to the nation and supported by the government. This left the people unsure. They hadn't renounced the LORD, but they weren't quite loyal to Him either. Some of them were partial to the LORD but were attracted to Baal; others favored Baal, but couldn't altogether shake the LORD out of their consciences. This was no new thing; it had been going on for years.

But enough is enough! The Lord was demanding they make a clear-cut choice that day. Two Gods went up Mount Carmel that day; only One would come down. The divided hearts of Israel must be reunited in the worship and service of the True God.

It was a dramatic call that rang in their ears that day. It was not, however, the first. At the foot of another mountain, Moses shouted: "Who is on the LORD's side?" Only one tribe answered him. A few years later, another man, Joshua, threw down the same gauntlet: "Choose you this day whom you will serve!" The people answered with a single voice: "The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey".

Nor is it the last time Jesus Christ called His people to decision. It is a perennial demand. "No man can serve two masters, for either he will love the one and hate the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon".

Did you catch the progress? It days of old, it was a visible idol that drew the Lord's people away from Him. It was Baal; it was the gods of Egypt, the gods of Babylon; the Golden Calf. Today, it is "Mammon" or money what it represents: "the lust of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life". These things--no less than Baal--are rivals to Christ. We make them our chief concern; we worship and serve them! But no more! "How long will we falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, then serve Him. And if Baal (or money or ease or reputation) is god, then serve him".

He was helping His people to choose wisely by showing the futility of Baal.

Baal had the numbers, the power, the riches; he had it all. But when it came time to act, he had nothing. There is an irony here. Baal was the fertility god; Asherah was the fertility goddess. They would guarantee your fertility, and that of your livestock and farm. But at Mount Carmel, the "macho" god proved impotent! Who emasculated Baal? The Lord Jesus.

He has done the same for us. In His Word, He has shown that false gods are unable to deliver on their promises. He's made the same case by Providence. The things we so wanted have not made us happy; they have not provided meaning for our lives. Working within us, the Savior persuades us to see the futility of pinning our hopes to anyone or anything but Himself!

Christ was helping His people to choose wisely by revealing His Divine attributes.

"The God who answers by fire, He is God". What did this "fire" bring to mind that day? The obvious answer is "power". After all, Baal was powerless; the LORD acted decisively. But, although that is true, I don't think it's the best answer. Two other Divine traits stood out in sharp relief that day. They were justice and grace. "Fire from God" had a double-meaning to the Hebrew mind.

The fire at Mount Carmel was both a judgment and an invitation. The people were guilty; they deserved "everlasting burnings". But they were also bidden to come back to the God of their Fathers, who awaited them with open arms and a forgiving heart. Nothing would more help them to choose wisely than this awesome display of justice and grace.

But we have a display more awesome. On another Mountain, the justice and grace of God met in a unique way. It was Mount Calvary; the Son of God suffered fully on our behalf. Never has God so displayed His justice; never has He so shown His love.

If the combined justice and grace of God won't cause us to choose wisely--to choose Him and only Him--now and forever, nothing will.

Christ called His people to work out the implications of their choice.

The people mustn't pay lipservice to the Lordship of God. They must act upon it. Positively, "If the LORD is God, then serve Him". Negatively, "If the LORD is God, then seize the prophets of Baal. Do not let one of them escape".

What Elijah wouldn't allow, Christ won't either. "Why do you call me `Lord' and do not do the things I command you?"

If the Lord Jesus is the One and Only Lord, then He deserves our whole-hearted devotion and our untiring service. And, if "the LORD is God", our "prophets of Baal" must be put to death too. Not people, of course, but the things which draw us away from His worship. Metaphorical "right hands" must be "cut off"; "right eyes" must be "plucked out". How painful this is! How galling is the loss! Until we remember for Whom we're doing it. The One in whose "Presence is the fullness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures forever more".

With the Divine fire still fresh in their minds, it was easy to slay the false prophets. With the cross placed firmly in the center of our thinking, the sacrifices we make for Him are "loss and but dung" in comparison to the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus [our] Lord".

Mount Carmel was a place of choosing. Will it be Christ or Baal? The choice is inescapable. The stakes are high. The time is now. Choose. Choose wisely. Choose in light of eternity. Choose. May the LORD give you the right choice. Amen.