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ANNOUNCING ELIJAH’S RETURN (1 OF 4)

by Marion Clark

Scripture: Luke 1:5-25
This content is part of a series.


Announcing Elijah’s Return (1 of 4)
Series: Advent
Marion Clark
Luke 1:5-25


Introduction

Halfway through the books of the Bible that present the story of the kings of Israel, a prophet suddenly appears – Elijah the Tishbite. He announces to the wicked king Ahab, “As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word” (1 Kings 17:1). And then he goes into hiding. He doesn’t appear in public for three years, when again he appears before Ahab, this time with a challenge. (By the way, there has been no rain.) He challenges Ahab to gather the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah, and to meet him at Mt. Carmel. There he and those prophets will go on public trial to see whose god is the true God—Baal, the ancient god of the Canaanites, or Yahweh, the God who formed the nation Israel.

The test went like this. The prophets would offer a sacrifice to Baal and Elijah to Yahweh. As Elijah said, “The God who answers by fire, he is God.” After spending almost a full day praying, ritualistic dancing, even cutting themselves, they failed to produce a spark. When Elijah’s turn came, he had the audacity of drenching his sacrifice with water. Then, here is what happened:

And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench (1 Kings 18:36-38).

Now that’s power! Elijah also prayed and produced a heavy rain storm. That is not all that Elijah did. While in hiding, he lived with a widow and her son. He saw that h ...

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