Turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Kings, specifically 1 Kings chapter 19. Last Sunday night, we looked at the darkness of depression from the book of Proverbs. And one of the mentions or one of the persons mentioned in that study was Elijah. Elijah certainly had depression or he had an episode of depression or what we might call melancholy or sorrow.
And one of the other things stated last week was, as those who deal with people suffering or struggling with depression, there are right ways and there are wrong ways. And I want to make sure that we handle Elijah in a right way. He does not manifest the sorts of things that many commentators suggest in this particular passage. His depression, his sorrow, his melancholy is legit.
Not to suggest that everybody else's is not, but we need to understand why Elijah is the way Elijah is in 1 Kings chapter 19. So I'll begin reading at verse 1. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die and said, It is enough. Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my father's.
Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, arise and eat. Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.
So he arose and ate and drank, and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. And there he went into a cave and spent the night in that place. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him. And he said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah?
So he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts. For the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they seek to take my life. Then he said, go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.
And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake. The Lord was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake, a fire. The Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice. So it was when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.
Suddenly, a voice came to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life. Then the Lord said to him, Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.
Also you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, as king over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel, Mahola, you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.
Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word and we thank you, God, for your blessedness and your holiness and your righteousness. We thank you for your goodness as evidence to this prophet, and we pray that you'd help us to understand 1 Kings 19 in the life and the ministry of this prophet.
Help us, Lord God, to think biblically, to think accurately, to think rightly concerning men in their various downcast states, to see what it is and to see what it isn't. Lord, we ask for the guidance and the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit now. We again pray for the forgiveness of all of our sins, and we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Introduction: Reading Elijah Rightly
Well, some suggest that Elijah basically lost it in 1 Kings chapter 19, that he cracked up, that he had an episode of self-pity. He had an episode of selfishness. He had an episode wherein he stopped looking to God. He no longer walked by faith.
Rather, he was fearful, he was full of trepidation, he feared the thought of Jezebel, and so he ran. He ran far, far, far away so that he could evade this murderous queen, and so that he could evade the various things that he had interpreted that were all working against him. In fact, listen to the way that some of these men write about Elijah. One says, Elijah cracked up.
As we read on, we see the man at whose courage all Israel had marveled, fleeing before the threat of a mere woman. We see the man who had spoken as if he had but to raise his hand, and God would send legions of angels to aid him in the battle, now floundering about for some prop by which to hold himself up. we see the man who had been the most spectacular political success suddenly sink into a mood or of despondency and gloom." Again, he does, but not for the reasons suggested by this particular commentator. The very worst way you could deal with somebody who's going through or has undergone depression is put a spin on it that has no basis in truth whatsoever. We need to be kind to Elijah.
We need to respect Elijah. We need to understand what's happening with reference to Elijah. Another commentator said, he exhibited symptoms of manic depression, wishing for death, together with loss of appetite, an inability to manage, and with excessive self-pity. Again, not discounting some gloom, not discounting some despondency, not discounting some melancholy and some depression, but nevertheless, not the way this fellow suggests.
In fact, even one of our heroes, A.W. Pink, describes Elijah in 1 Kings 19 this way, and it pains me to do this, but we need to understand how we ought not to deal with those who've undergone depression. He says, up to this point, Elijah, quote, had been sustained by faith's vision of the living God, but now he lost sight of the Lord and saw only a furious woman. This merely underscores the disastrous consequences of walking by sight.
Our brother is suggesting that in 1 Kings 19, Elijah is only walking by sight, that he has abandoned, essentially, faith in God, and now he is on the road, not to apostasy, but he's certainly not in a good place. He stresses the fact that Elijah went for his life, verse 3, but not for God, nor for the good of his people, but because he thought only of self. Now again, as much as I esteem and love and revere our dear brother A.W. Pink, that is a bad take on what's happening here with reference to the prophet Elijah.
If you want to ruin people that suffer melancholy, depression, sorrow, or seasons, or episodes of such things, put a spin on their situation that has no basis in reality, and you will, in fact, exacerbate their problems. So let's look at what the text actually does say concerning Elijah.
Flight from Jezebel (vv. 1–8)
Notice in the first place this flight from Jezebel in verses 1 to 8, and then we'll notice in the second place the revelation at Horeb in verses 9 to 18. Now remember, Elijah has just witnessed amazing things. Chapter 18 was the God contest at Carmel. Remember that scene where the prophets of Baal were told to prepare their offering and to call upon Baal, and then Elijah would prepare his offering and call upon Yahweh.
The God who responded by fire was in fact the true and living God. Well, the prophets of Baal danced and cut themselves, they gashed themselves, they go into a frenzy all day long, calling upon Baal, but there's no voice, there's no response, there's nobody to come and consume their offering. Elijah, conversely, prepares his sacrifice, prays a simple short prayer, and God sends fire down and consumes the sacrifice. Elijah saw the manifestation of God's glory in a most powerful way.
On the heels of that particular episode, Elijah then saw the end of the drought, and God communicates to his servant his faithfulness in terms of bringing an end to that particular drought. Now both Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones highlight that depression, just to go back to that theme from last week, Sunday night, depression oftentimes or episodes can follow seasons of great usefulness. it can follow a time of great blessing. In other words, after revival, more often than not, in the wake of it, there is depression and melancholy. We're not seeing the sorts of displays that we saw yet a week ago, and that sinks us into a bit of despondency.
Whether that's what's happening here with reference to Elijah or not, I simply offer it for your consideration. Be on guard. When you experience a season of great blessing, it doesn't mean the rest of your life is going to be a season of great blessing. Sometimes when we've gone high, we fall especially low, and we need to be aware of that with reference to our own emotional well-being.
But now notice with reference to this flight from Jezebel.
Jezebel's Threat and Elijah's Motive
In verses 1 and 2, notice Ahab told Jezebel. Now for those of you who are coming late to the game, Ahab and Jezebel are terrible people. They're miserable specimens of human beings. Ahab is the king in the northern kingdom and he marries this woman Jezebel.
We even use that name today to speak of a woman who's just, you know, bad. She's bad news. She's a Jezebel. Well, there's a reason for that, because Jezebel really was bad news.
She was a bell-worshipping, pant-wearing person that called the shots, essentially, with Ahab. Ahab would kowtow to Jezebel and engage in decisions based on her particular desires and whims. You'll see that in 1 Kings chapter 21. But here, he basically tells Jezebel all that has transpired.
Remember that Elijah's only had interactings with Ahab. He's not had any interactings with Jezebel. Jezebel and Elijah haven't hung out, they haven't spoken, they haven't discussed, so Ahab is filling her in on the situation. And now notice what we see.
Verse 1, Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so let the gods do to me and more also if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. So you see her response to the contest at Carmel. We have to take out Elijah.
We have to stop this prophet. We have to kill the troubler of Israel. We cannot allow him to continue on. Because as Elijah continues on, he continually presses people to stop looking to Baal and to only look to Yahweh.
And so Jezebel has a vested interest in spilling the blood of Elijah. Now notice verse 3. It's important that you follow the argument that I'm about to make. The translation of verse 3 is most important.
The ESV and the NIV, all non-King James sort of tradition texts, say that Elijah was afraid at the beginning of verse 3. And Elijah was afraid. Now, that little interpretation or translation then colors the interpretation of the text following from that vantage point. Just suffice to say, I think the King James and the New King James is accurate here.
It's not that Elijah was afraid, but verse 3, and when he saw that, He arose and ran for his life and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there." Now you see where he runs for his life. That's what drives A.W. Pink to say he wanted to spare his life, not the glory of God, not all these other things. Yes, he wanted to spare his life, but verse 4, he asks that God takes his life.
I want to suggest to you that in verse 3, Elijah's not afraid. He doesn't have a trepidation concerning Jezebel and her threats of having him done in. No, Elijah sees what happened. There's been no change in the royal family.
There's been no policy change in Jezebel or in Ahab. After the display on Carmel, after the end of the drought, two things that anybody would think would work to convince Israel to give praise and worship to God alone didn't work. So Elijah sees the way things were are the way things are. And so Elijah runs for his life, not in the sense that he is egocentric, that he's full of self-pity, that he's only concerned about himself.
He doesn't want Jezebel to kill him. Because if Jezebel kills him, then Jezebel won. What Elijah is motivated with is not Elijah. It's God.
It's Yahweh. If Jezebel spills his blood, then Jezebel's God is to be feared and glorified. So Elijah sees the situation and Elijah runs for his life. Now, he goes a long way.
He goes to Beersheba. Yes, the Dan and Beersheba of the common familiar reference. It's in the southernmost part of Judah. So Elijah goes a long way from her.
He leaves his servant there and then he goes another day's journey. He's not afraid of Jezebel. He is sufficiently far from Jezebel. When he leaves his servant and he goes and he gets under that broom tree, we do see something of his gloom.
We do see something of his despondency. We do see something of his melancholy and his sorrow. But again, the larger context indicates for us that it's not egocentrism, it is not self-pity, but rather it is jealousy for the glory of God Most High and the pure worship of that God within the confines of Israel. That's what makes him sad.
That's the circumstance that provokes this response. It's not him, it's God. It's not him, but it's the glory of God. It's not him, but it's the condition of his fellow countrymen that have witnessed glorious things from Yahweh and nevertheless are still bowing to Baal, the god of the heathen.
The Broom Tree: Depths of Despair
Notice verse four, but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree and he prayed that he might die. Interesting prayer from a man that only wants to spare his own neck, isn't it? Interesting prayer from a man who is so driven to protect his own eye. He's asking God to take him.
Again, it's not death that scares Elijah. It's not death that troubles Elijah. It's Jezebel killing him that troubles Elijah. And not because he will die, but because she will have gotten the victory.
This is still a God contest as far as Elijah is concerned, and that's what sends him to the broom tree, and that's what causes him to say to the Lord, he prays specifically to the Lord, he prayed that he might die and said, it is enough now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my father's. One man said he wanted to die, for he was broken. He did not wish to die at Jezebel's hand, for that would be judged her victory, hence his flight. But south of the proverbial southernmost city of the southern kingdom, in the wilderness of Judah, where none would give Jezebel credit for his death, there he begged for Yahweh to take his life.
And again, I'm not suggesting this is a legitimate response in times of sorrow and depression, but I am suggesting it is a realistic response in times of trial and depression. We don't try to kill ourselves. Suicide is murder. It is forbidden by the sixth commandment.
Notice he doesn't take a knife to his own throat. He doesn't ingest poison plants, but rather he asks God for God to take him. Now, this is the depths of despair and depression. Brethren, persons get to this particular point.
And how do we respond to that? Do we reprove them? Do we rebuke them? Do we tell them to pull up their bootstraps?
Do we tell them to put on their big boy pants? Do we tell them to march right in there and face Jezebel? No, we tell them to have a nap, to get some rest, and to eat some food. Because that is precisely what Yahweh does with His servant in this particular instance.
The recognition that the contest at Carmel didn't work, the recognition that the end of the drought didn't work, produced a despondency in the prophet such that he says, it is enough. Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my father's. God's response is to provide rest. God's response is to provide food.
God's response is to allow the prophet a season of refreshment, a season of restoration, before a season of reconstruction. That's the way God deals with his servant in this particular instance.
God's Response: Rest and Food
Notice verse 5. Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel, This may be a capital A angel, namely the angel of Yahweh vis-a-vis our Lord Jesus Christ. Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, arise and eat. Now brethren, you have to appreciate the goodness and the kindness and the mercy of God here.
What would you say to your friend if he says, oh, it's enough. I want the Lord to take me now? We'd say, well, you shouldn't talk that way. And there's a place for us to say you shouldn't talk that way.
But would we say, you just need to get some rest? You're not thinking properly. You see, that's a reality. Persons shouldn't make life-altering decisions when they're not well-rested.
People shouldn't make life-altering decisions at 2 AM. People should make life-altering decisions when they're well-rested, when they've well thought through things, when they've looked at consequences, and they've counted the costs. You see, God the Lord comes to his servant, and he says, I want you to rest, and I want you to eat. Verse 6, then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water.
So he ate and drank and lay down again. The text is very conspicuous here, isn't it? It doesn't just say in the next scene we see Elijah on Horeb having covenant dealings with his God. No, it leads us by the hand to show us the kindness of the God who leads his prophet by the hand.
Arise and eat. He provides the food for him. There's a freshly baked loaf. Elijah eats and Elijah rolls over and he goes back to sleep.
This is that holy inactivity that Spurgeon speaks of. This is that pious recreation that Spurgeon speaks of. These are the needful hours for a man to refresh himself so that he can engage with what God has called upon, or God called him to do.
Directed to Horeb by the Angel
Now notice in verse 7, And the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. So he arose and ate and drank, and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, as far as Horeb, the mountain of God." Now, we need to deal again with some of the sorts of ways that persons look at this passage and see bad Elijah. They say, why is he going to Horeb? This just shows his place.
This just shows his mindset. It just shows that he's pursuing isolation. He's pursuing his own high. He has no more thought concerning God and his expressions to God.
Only evidence is whining, his grumbling, his sniveling, and his sort of God complex that he alone is the only one in Israel. Now, brethren, he's already safely far away from Jezebel. Remember, Jezreel's in Issachar, right? Tribe of Issachar.
We've got Jezreel. And then you've got Beersheba, which is a long ways away. Now, notice who tells him to go to Horeb. Some suggest that he went to Horeb of his own bidding.
He didn't go to Horeb of his own bidding. It's the angel who told him, eat this food because you're going to make a 40-day-a-night trip. Horeb is 200 miles away from Beersheba. This was not Elijah's choice.
In fact, I would argue at this point, there's no more despondency, there's no more melancholy, there's no more sorrow. You don't walk 40 days and 40 nights when you're melancholic and sorrowful. You find a broom tree and you sit under it and you ask the Lord to take you. I think he's been healed of his melancholy and now he's on a mission.
When he goes to Horeb, it's at the bidding of the angel of God. Eat this food because you have a long trek. In other words, he's directed to Horeb, not based on his pity, not based on his self-love, not based on his desire to evade Jezebel, but based on divine direction. God sends him to Horeb.
The Revelation at Horeb (vv. 9–18)
Now, let's think about Horeb. We know it more commonly identified as Sinai. And when we think of Sinai, we ought to think covenant. Because it's at Sinai that God has covenantal dealings with Moses and Israel.
That's what's happening here at Horeb. It's not a prophet who's pitying himself. It's a prophet who is functioning as God's prosecuting attorney that is going to engage in a lawsuit against the nation of Israel. This is covenantal dealings.
Now, some say, well, God asks him twice why he's there. And if God is asking him twice why he's there, that's because God is chiding him. No, I don't think that's it at all. Let's look at the text and see what happens here at Horeb.
The common understanding is that it's a self-centered pity party. One man says, what a contrast. Elijah, the hero on Carmel, victorious over Baalism. Elijah, the coward of unbelief at Horeb, self-occupied, utterly discouraged, wishing to die, praying against rather than for God's people.
If you ever function that way toward your fellow when you don't know the facts or the truth, you are doing serious damage to your fellows. We should not treat Elijah that way. We should not lambast the prophet that way. We should rather labor to understand.
And it's not real hard. When I say labor to understand it, it's not going to take a whole lot to understand what's happening here at Horeb. It's not what this man describes, but rather it is God's raising up or rather establishing this prophet as the one engaged in this covenant lawsuit against Israel.
God's Questions: Unburdening the Soul
Notice, the journey to Horeb came at the prompting of God. You can't miss that. He didn't just wander there on his own. He went because God told him.
The question posed by God are questions in verses 9 and 13. Why twice? You know why? Because verse 9, God says, I want you to unburden your soul to me.
That's how good our God is. Doesn't Peter say that prayer is an act of casting our burdens upon God because he cares for us? That's what we have in verse 9, when he says, why are you here? It's simply wrong to read it this way.
Why are you here in Horeb? You should be back in Jezreel facing Jezebel and scaring her. That's not why God says, why are you here? He says, why are you here?
So that the prophet can open his heart. He says, why are you here? So that the prophet can unburden himself. When he asks the question later in the chapter at Horeb, when he says it a second time, that's when the complaint is formalized.
That's when we've entered into the realm of covenant lawsuit. But here specifically, when God says, why are you here? What are you doing here, Elijah? It's wrong to read it that way.
What are you doing here in Horeb? Why is it? But God, you told me to come to Horeb, right? We see that in verses 7 and 8, eat this food because you got to take a 40 day and night trip and you got to go on the strength of this food because you're going to Horeb.
So if God didn't know why Elijah was there, it's really messed up in terms of what God is because God told him and supplied him with the food in order for him to get there. But notice when he says, what are you doing here, Elijah? It's an opportunity for the prophet to do what he does in verse 10. So he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword.
I alone am left and they seek to take my life. Well, there it is, I alone am left. That egocentric, God-complex prophet. No, he says the same thing in 1 Kings 18.
He knows there's additional prophets. He knows that Obadiah had spared the additional prophets from being slain by Jezebel. He knows that there are fellow prophets, but there's no fellow prophets standing up to Jezebel the way that Elijah is. So he's honest and he's accurate.
I am the only one facing down this terrible specimen of a human being. I'm the only one that's getting close enough to see the rouge on her cheeks, to see the lipstick on her lips, to see the heavy, you know, eye shadow on her eyes. I'm the only one, God. It's not complaining in the sense that I've got this God complex sort of thing.
No, his interests are God's interests. How could we ever conclude, based on this, that Elijah is not walking by faith? That Elijah has no longer submitted to the Lord Most High. What are his interests?
I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts. For the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life. That's him unburdening his soul.
That's him casting his burdens upon the Lord because the Lord cares for him. Davis says, is he despondent? I think so. Over what?
Over Yahweh's interests, his covenant, his altars and his prophets. To read into this some sort of a messed up episode in the life of Elijah, it's just bad. And notice God doesn't upbraid him for what he says in verse four. God doesn't say, how dare you ever say such a thing to me?
And we also ought to appreciate God's answer to prayer in the negative. We don't like the negatives, but the negatives are good. We don't like the no answer, but here's a display of God answering no for the benefit of Elijah and for the benefit of Israel. Elijah asked God, take me.
God said, no, I've got work for you to do. I want you to eat. I want you to rest. I want you to go in the strength of this food to Horeb because it's at Horeb that we're going to deal together.
It's at Horeb that I'm going to show you what we're going to do. It's at Horeb that I'm going to reveal to you my plan and purpose for this otherwise apostate nation. The fact that God answers his prayers, the fact that God leads him by the hand, the fact that God deals with him the way that God deals with him in this passage, completely and utterly demolishes the idea that we have a crisis of faith. We have a man who's fearful of Jezebel.
We have a man that has this God complex. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let's be kind to Elijah. In Romans 11, 2, the apostle says, or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel saying, and then notice the Lord's response in verses 15 to 18 demonstrate his approval of what Elijah is doing.
When Elijah denounces the nation of Israel, when Elijah denounces the state of worship and religion in Israel, God in verses 15 to 18 assures him that through God's justice and through God's grace, he's going to deal with the very problem that Elijah's mentioned. He doesn't say, are you crazy, Elijah? Everything's great. Are you nuts, Elijah?
Everything's wonderful. No, he provides this particular plan. Verses 15 to 17, justice. Verse 18, grace.
That's God's way to deal with the crisis of faith, not in Elijah, but in Israel. That's what's in view in Horeb.
Theophany: Wind, Earthquake, Fire, and Voice
Now note this revelation, this wonderful passage that I'm sure we're all familiar with in verses 11 and 12. And just if you want to strengthen the covenant connection, Elijah's like Moses here, isn't he? There's a lot of Moses-Elijah parallels going on. They're both at Horeb.
They go there 40 days, 40 nights. We see the references that Moses is hidden in the cleft of the rock while God passes by and Moses is able to witness the the hind parts, as it were, of God. There's theophany present with reference to Moses. That's a manifestation of God to Moses.
We have theophany here in Horeb with reference to Elijah. Elijah's not having a crisis of faith. Elijah is being informed by Yahweh concerning Yahweh's plan for Israel in this crisis concerning Baal and Ahab and Jezebel. But notice in verse 11, then he said, go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.
So before he had been in the cave, according to verse 9, he's in the cave and that's where God says, what are you doing here? And he pours out his heart. Now he's standing on the mountain before the Lord, covenant mountain before the Lord. This is official business.
That's why there's repetition. That's why twice. The first was his unburdening of his heart. The second is the formal charge against Israel.
And that's what we see here. He said, Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind.
And after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire, a still small voice. Now, I think as we move through this particular section, we ought to appreciate this. The emphasis is upon the Word of God. The contest at Carmel didn't change men's hearts.
The end of the drought didn't change men's hearts. It's the Word of God that shapes history. It's the Word of God that moves people. It's the Word of God that raises men up and puts men down.
It is that still, small voice. God doesn't need to manifest Himself in the wind. He doesn't need to manifest Himself in the earthquake. He doesn't need to manifest Himself in the fire.
He can certainly do that. He can do what He does in 1 Kings 18. But the emphasis, with reference to the prophetic contact in this point, is on the voice of God. It is on the Word of God.
John Gill says, which emblems, the powerful, the mighty, may represent the power of God, the terribleness of his majesty, and the fury of his wrath, which he could display, if he would, to the destruction of his enemies. But that still small voice is the way that he is going to reveal himself. Davis comments here, might this suggest that God will not be giving many dramatic overt proofs of his reality as at Carmel, now that such revelation has been officially rejected? Instead, his presence and reality will primarily be seen in his ongoing work of judgment and grace, which through his voice and his word he has disclosed to his prophet.
The quietness of Yahweh's work does not mean he is not at work, but rather that the kingdom of God has gone into its mustard seed mode. He's not going to do what he did at Carmel, but he's still present. He's still active. You see, I think there's a great word for charismatics and Pentecostals and for the rest of us here as well.
We like the wind, we like the earthquake, we like the fire, we like the visible manifestation and demonstration of the power of God. Why don't we like the still small voice? Why don't we respond to that still small voice the way that we respond to that majestic display of the glory of God? Now again, I'm not suggesting God doesn't reveal himself in the wind and the earthquake and the fire.
He most certainly does. He does what he does there in 1 Kings chapter 18. He does what he does there in Acts 5, 1 to 11. That was no still small voice when Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead before God Most High and his church.
But brethren, if we don't see the great displays of God Almighty, we ought never to conclude that there are no displays of God Almighty. He comes in the still small voice in the same way that he comes in those thunderous episodes. And we need to have ears to hear and hearts to receive.
The Formal Covenant Complaint
So God then asks him officially what his issue is in verse 13. Notice that Elijah hears it. He wraps his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Pink is excellent here.
He says, the wrapping of his face and his mantle betoken two things, his reverence for the divine majesty and a sense of his own unworthiness. So again, God asks him, 13b, what are you doing here, Elijah? Again, verse nine, unburden your soul. Verse 13, we're gonna formalize the complaint and I'm going to answer and I am going to show you the program I have established to deal with the situation in Israel.
So Elijah rehearses or Elijah repeats what he said. I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they seek to take my life. Now, it seems to me that the only way those other guys could be believed concerning their sort of emphasis on Elijah's self-centeredness is if verses 15 and 18 weren't here.
But for 15 to 18 is God's response. 15 to 18 speaks specifically to the situation that Elijah's just outlined. 15 to 18 is how God is going to neutralize the threat of Baalism and Jezebelism and Ahabism within the Northern Kingdom. It is God's response to the prophet, and it's a favorable one that should indicate for us that whatever is happening at Horeb, it is not some episode of self-pity, walking by sight rather than by faith, and basically a prophet who is cracking up under the pressures of the prophetic ministry. That's not it at all. God answers him.
God's Answer: Justice and Grace
And then notice, as I mentioned, justice and grace. Justice will come via Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha. God's judgment will come through those three individuals, the king of Syria, the king of Israel, and the prophet Elisha. You see this, right?
Everybody's with me? God answers favorably. You get that? The prophet was sorrowful, the prophet was melancholic, the prophet was depressed.
Not because of his own interest, but because of Yahweh's interest. God refreshes him with rest and with food. God then calls him to Horeb, where God allows him to unburden his heart. And then God says, okay, let's get down to business and let's fix the problem. and I'm going to fix the problem with these three men.
You anoint Hazael. That king of Syria is going to be a thorn in the flesh of the northern kingdom. You ordain, or rather anoint Jehu. Jehu is going to be a great enemy of Baal.
Jehu is going to distinguish himself as one who eradicates Baalism from the northern kingdom. And then Elisha, the prophet, he's going to be the ecclesiastical arm of God's judgment upon the nation of Israel. But it's not just judgment. Verse 18 assures the prophet Elijah that there's grace.
Verse 18 highlights, and again, this is quoted by the apostle in that same argument in Romans chapter 10. Yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him. Maybe this is a little bit of a, not chiding, but a gentle reminder to Elijah, you're not alone. You're not it.
Sometimes the people of God can feel that way, can't they? Oh, we are the only ones that know the truth. No, we're not. God has 7,000.
He's reserved them. He has kept them. They are recipients of His grace. We're not alone in this world.
Brethren, that's why in our Sunday morning prayer meetings and at our Wednesday night prayer meetings, we try to lift up our eyes and look at the fields that are white under harvest. It's good to hear about what God is doing in Africa. It's good to hear about what God is doing in Korea. It's good to hear about what God is doing elsewhere.
We can become quite parochial and quite fixated upon our own little neighborhood and forget that God has a vast number of people out there that have not bowed the knee to Baal. You see, he affirms this to the prophet to assuage the prophet's fears that all is lost and all is bleak and all is dismal. No, the justice of God through Jehu, Hazael, and Elisha is going to root out Baalism, at least for a time, in the northern kingdom. But as well, Elijah, when everything looks bleak and dark, realize that I have my faithful remnant that have not bowed the knee to Baal, have kissed him.
It's not the episode that some would suggest, but it is nevertheless an episode where a man, a godly and a good man, goes through those melancholic waters and we see the mercy of God in sustaining him in the midst of We see the mercy of God in answering his prayer favorably, not to take his life, and we see the mercy of God in answering the specific prayer and the specific burden that he has with a program to correct the very things that the prophet Elijah has bemoaned before his God. So it's not the case that he is this cracked-up, crackpot prophet that's lost it, he's gone off the reservation, he's in Horeb, and he's just not doing what he's supposed to do. That's just not accurate. You can't read the text that way.
Application and Conclusion
Well, brethren, in conclusion, a few thoughts. First, the faithfulness of Elijah. Notice, not the perfection of Elijah. Faithful people can suffer depression.
Faithful people can undergo melancholy. It's no character defect. If somebody's, you know, aching along or limping along, or they say, yeah, I'm just really down right now, don't reprove them as if they're in sin. Well, come on, you should be 16 ounces to the pound all the time.
You're a new covenant believer. There should be a spring in your step. There should be a smile on your face. And that old favorite, well, the apostle tells us to rejoice always.
Again, I will say rejoice. Yeah, depressed people love to be reminded about that. It's great. It's just fantastic.
They'll tell you, that's exactly what I want to do, but I'm having trouble doing it. Don't yell at me and tell me to do something. I'm just having a tough time doing it. And may I just say, Paul has to repeat that a lot.
Why? Because it's not native even to the New Covenant Christian. It's not the case we all walk around with a spring in our step. It's not the case that we all have a big smile on our face.
It's not the case that we're all dispositionally given a predilection to joy and happiness. We need to be told to rejoice. Why? Because we need to be told to rejoice.
Faithful people suffer depression. So the fact that Elijah is under the broom tree is no indicator whatsoever of any ethical failure on his part. To suggest that he is no longer walking by faith, but rather by sight, is to do positive harm to a champion of the faith. How dare we come and Monday morning quarterback first Kings 19 and then get it dismally wrong? put him on the psychoanalyst's couch rather than having gone to Horeb at the very direction of Yahweh himself.
So he was a faithful man that suffered depression. He saw the great demonstration of God's power on Carmel. He saw the end of the drought, but he also saw that Jezebel and Ahab were still there. See, that's another thing that I think adds to our depression or it can add to our melancholic spirits.
Things that we surmise should work don't always work. We think like pragmatists. If it was right, then it'll work and everybody will change. That's not always God's way.
God has a purpose and a plan. It involves Hazael, it involves Jehu, and it involves Elisha. It wasn't the case that 1 Kings 18 was designed by God to clean everything up. And yet for Elijah, he saw 1 Kings 18, and it looked surely that it would clean everything up.
You see, brethren, we need to learn to think God's thoughts after Him. We can't be looking for the wind and the fire and the earthquake if God chooses to reveal Himself in a still, small voice. As well, the prophet saw the rejection of these displays of God's power by Jezebel, by Ahab, and as we learn, as we move through 1 Kings, by Israel as a whole. And the prophet was affected by that.
I remember last week, one of the purposes or one of the causes of depression that I offered from the Proverbs was hope deferred makes the heart sick. Well, here's some hope deferred making the heart sick. Why don't the commentators cut the brother some slack? Why do they got to pound him over the head because he had this despondency, which by all intents and appearances was perfectly legit.
Would any of us been thrilled at that time? Would any of us witness 1 Kings 18 and the contest at Carmel and see the execution of the false prophets and see the dust settle and Israel continue in their faithfulness to Baal and not been affected? So I would suggest if Elijah does not respond the way Elijah does here in chapter 19, there's possibly something wrong with Elijah. You see, hope deferred does make the heart sick.
And the people of God feel that keenly at times when they see these expressions or displays of God not coming to fruition among the people of God. The prophet was despondent, not because of his own interests, but rather God's interests. Now, I'm sure that when I taught this material at the Wednesday night Bible study, I did address the point, too, that I have here, the discouragement associated with ministry. But I will spare all of you those grisly details and just move in, finally, to the glory of God.
The glory of God is absolutely, positively, shiningly displayed in this passage. I would suggest that little cake next to Elijah's head is a demonstration of the glory of God. I would suggest that the prophet got to eat that cake and roll over onto his other side and sleep some more is a display of the glory of God. I would suggest that God's bidding him, no, God's commanding him to go to Horeb is a display of the glory of God. that God's allowing himself, in verse 9, to pour out his heart to God, is a display of the glory of God.
I would submit that what we find in terms of the theophany, in terms of this wind and fire and earthquake, is a display of the glory of God. But as well, this still small voice that Elijah's supposed to listen to, that Elijah's supposed to respond to, and Elijah's supposed to operate according to. I suggest that the plan and purpose of Yahweh through these three historical figures vis-a-vis Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha is a display of the glory of God. And that verse 18 reality, that I have 7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal nor kissed him, is a display of the glory of God.
You see, the backdrop of Elijah's despondency is the showcase for the glory of God. And then the revelation, I'm sorry, excuse me, in terms of that statement in verse 18, I just wanna finish with a quote from Davis again. What he says, yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him. Davis says, it is the Old Testament equivalent of Jesus, I will build my church.
Isn't it? Elijah, I have 7,000 that haven't bowed, that aren't going to bow. Some interpret the tense as a future. It's a future tense.
I'm going to have 7,000. In the midst of this sort of exercise of justice and judgment to purge the northern kingdom of the Baalism, there's going to be, alongside of that, this remnant that will not bow the knee to Baal. Whether it's a past, a present, or a future, the idea or the point is that God has 7,000. But he says, it is the Old Testament equivalent of Jesus's, I will build my church.
Grace will have a remnant. The God of grace insists on it. Yahweh, so the text teaches, will always have a people, even an Israelite people, to worship him upon the earth. He has decided that He will have a true people, and He will have them and keep them, and there is nothing any Jezebel can do about it.
It is the infectious assurance, the defiant certainty, the holy dogmatism of this text that keeps some of us on our feet. And if you are not a believer here tonight, the tendency in your heart is to bow the knee to Baal. It is to kiss Baal. Now you say, well, I don't know anything about the ancient Near Eastern deities, so I don't know a whole host of things about Baal.
Well, the Baal that was worshipped back then is the same sort of guy, or the same sort of God that is worshipped today. A God who brings you whatever you want. A God who delivers the goods insofar as you use the right formulas. The God who is akin to a holy horseshoe or a four-leaf clover.
The God that's just there for you to do your bidding. It's the God that most people manufacture in their minds. That's who Baal is. And if you are not a worshipper of the true and the living God, then I would encourage you to believe the gospel, to look unto Jesus, to turn from this useless idol, Baal, to the true and living God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith in Him, bow to Him, kiss Him rather than Baal, rather than any competitor of our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is graciously given by God, and those who believe will know it. Those who believe will taste and see that the Lord is good. Well, let us close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for your word, and thank you for this snapshot that we get of Elijah, first in Beersheba and then in Horeb. God, we thank you for the way that you dealt with the prophet. We thank you for the way that you deal with us. Certainly, it is the case that we are better than we deserve, and we give all glory to you on that account.
Help us to be mindful of depressed people around us. Help us to be mindful of our own melancholic spirits. Help us to use the strategies afforded to us by the Word of God, and help us to be those who aren't like that man who sings songs to heavy hearts. Like that man who takes away a garment in cold weather, pours vinegar on soda, but give us a kindness and a love and a compassion as we deal with one another who suffers through these things.
Go with us now, we pray, and help us to glorify you in this coming week. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.