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The Story of the Prophet Elijah – The Man Who Was Taken to Heaven by a Chariot of Fire · truthunedited

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Imagine a man so powerful that his words could shut
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the heavens for three years. A prophet who called down
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: fire from above and outran royal chariots. Picture someone who
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: raised the dead, defeated 450 false prophets alone, and never
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: tasted death because God took him alive in a whirlwind
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: of fire. This is Elijah, the mysterious Tishbite who appeared
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: from nowhere and vanished into eternity. His story reads like
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: an epic adventure. Supernatural provision by ravens, epic showdowns on mountaintops,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: divine whispers in caves, and a finale that defies all
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: earthly logic. From drought to deluge, from despair to divine encounter,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: from earthly ministry to heavenly chariot, witness the most extraordinary
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: prophetic journey ever recorded. Today we uncover the complete saga
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: of the man who walked with God so closely that
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: heaven itself opened to receive him. In the ancient world,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: genealogies and family backgrounds mattered more than almost anything else.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: When someone important appeared on the scene, people wanted to
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: know who their father was, what tribe they came from,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: and how they had earned their position. But Elijah shatters
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: this pattern completely. The Bible introduces him in 1 Kings 17.1
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: with the simplest of descriptions. and Elijah the Tishbite, of
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab. That's it, no
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: mention of his father's name, no royal bloodline, no prestigious
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: training under famous prophets. He's simply called the Tishbite, a
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: man from a small obscure place called Tishbe, in the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: rugged region of Gilead, east of the Jordan River. This
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: was frontier country. a place where tough, independent people lived
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: far from the luxury and corruption of the royal courts.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: While other prophets like Isaiah had access to kings and
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: moved in sophisticated circles, Elijah comes from the wilderness, carrying
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: nothing but the raw power of God's authority. His sudden
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: appearance in Scripture is like watching a bolt of lightning
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: strike from a clear sky. One moment he's not there.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: And the next moment, he's standing in the presence of kings,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: speaking with the voice of the Almighty. This mysterious entrance
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: tells us something profound about how God works. He often
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: chooses the unexpected, the overlooked, the ones who come from
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: nowhere to accomplish his greatest purposes. Picture the scene in
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: King Ahab's palace. Marble floors, golden decorations, guards standing at attention,
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  Speaker 1: advisors whispering political strategies. This was the center of power
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: in Israel, where the king who had led the nation
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: deeper into idol worship than ever before held court. Ahab
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: wasn't just politically corrupt, he was spiritually bankrupt. Under his rule,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: altars to foreign gods had been built throughout Israel, and
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: the worship of the true God had been pushed aside
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: to make room for the pagan practices that pleased his
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Phoenician wife, Jezebel. into this scene of royal power and
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: spiritual darkness walks a wild-looking prophet from the mountains. No appointment,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: no protocol, no diplomatic niceties. Elijah marches straight up to
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the most powerful man in the kingdom and delivers a
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: message that would echo through history. As recorded in 1
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Kings 17.1, he declared with absolute confidence, As the Lord
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Think about the incredible boldness of this moment. This wasn't
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: a request or a warning. It was a pronouncement of
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: divine judgment. Elijah was telling the king that the heavens
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: themselves would be shut up. that no rain would fall
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: on Israel until this mountain prophet decided otherwise. The drought
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: that would bring the entire nation to its knees had
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: just been announced by a man who had appeared from nowhere.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: And then, as suddenly as he had come, Elijah was gone.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: leaving the king to face the reality that the god
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: he had rejected was still very much in control. After
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: delivering such a shocking message to King Ahab, Elijah's life
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: was immediately in danger. The king would not sit quietly
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: while his kingdom suffered under a divine curse, and he
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: would certainly send soldiers to find and kill the prophet responsible.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: But God had already prepared a perfect hiding place, far
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: from the reach of angry kings and their armies. The
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: word of the Lord came to Elijah with precise instructions,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: as we read in 1 Kings 17 2-4. Get away
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  Speaker 1: from here and turn eastward. and hide by the brook Cherith,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: the ravens to feed you there. This wasn't just any
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: wilderness hideout. This was God's personally chosen retreat center. The
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: brook Cherith was a small stream that flowed into the
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Jordan River, probably tucked away in a rocky gorge, where
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  Speaker 1: no one would think to look for a fugitive prophet. Here,
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  Speaker 1: surrounded by wild country and far from civilization, Elijah would
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  Speaker 1: experience one of the most extraordinary provisions in biblical history.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Every morning, just as the sun was rising, he would
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: hear the distinctive cawing and flapping of wings. Black ravens
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: would descend from the sky, each one carrying bread in
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  Speaker 1: one claw and meat in the other. And every evening,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: as the day was ending, the same remarkable scene would
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  Speaker 1: repeat itself. These weren't trained circus animals or tame pets.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: These were wild ravens, birds known throughout the ancient world
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  Speaker 1: for being thieves and scavengers, stealing food from wherever they
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: could find it. Yet God had commanded them to become
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: faithful servants, bringing the prophet fresh meals twice a day
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: with the reliability of the finest royal kitchen. While the
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: rest of Israel began to feel the effects of the
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: drought he had proclaimed, Elijah sat by fresh running water,
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  Speaker 1: eating food delivered by birds, completely safe in God's wilderness hotel.
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  Speaker 1: Months passed, and the drought that Elijah had proclaimed began
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: to take its toll on everything, including his own hiding place.
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  Speaker 1: Even the dependable brook Cherith started to shrink as the
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  Speaker 1: relentless dry weather continued. Eventually, The stream that had provided
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: his water for so long dried up completely, leaving only
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: a rocky creek bed where fresh water had once flowed.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: At this critical moment, God gave his prophet new instructions
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: that must have seemed both shocking and dangerous. As recorded
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: in 1 Kings 17.8.9, Then the word of the Lord
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: came to him, saying, Arise, go to Zarephath. which belongs
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: widow there to provide for you. This command was surprising
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  Speaker 1: on multiple levels. First, Zarephath wasn't in Israel. It was
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: in Sidon, the heart of Phoenician territory and the homeland
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: of Queen Jezebel herself. God was sending his prophet into
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: enemy territory, to the very region where Baal worship was
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: strongest and and where Jezebel's influence was supreme. Second, he
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: was sending the great prophet Elijah to depend on a widow.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: In that culture, one of the most powerless and vulnerable
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  Speaker 1: people in society. When Elijah arrived at the gates of Zarephath,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: he found exactly what he expected to find, a woman
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  Speaker 1: in desperate circumstances. She was outside the city walls, bent over,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: and gathering small sticks from the ground to make a fire.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Her clothes were worn and patched. Her face showed the
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: strain of constant worry, and everything about her appearance spoke
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: of poverty and hardship. This was the person God had
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: chosen to provide for his prophet. When Elijah called out
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: to her, first asking for water and then for bread,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: her response revealed just how desperate her situation had become.
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  Speaker 1: This wasn't polite refusal or false modesty. This woman was
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: literally at the end of her rope. preparing for what
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: she believed would be her final meal on earth. The
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: widow's words to this strange prophet from Israel were heartbreaking
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  Speaker 1: in their honesty and desperation. As recorded in 1 Kings 17.12,
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  Speaker 1: she told him, As the Lord your God lives, I
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  Speaker 1: do not have bread, only a handful of flour in
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  Speaker 1: a bin, and a little oil in a jar. And see,
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  Speaker 1: I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may
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  Speaker 1: go in and prepare it for myself and my son,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: that we may eat it, and die. She wasn't exaggerating
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: or being dramatic. She was describing the literal reality of
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: her situation. She had reached the bottom of her flour
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: bin and found only enough for one small cake. Her
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: oil jar, which should have held enough oil for cooking
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  Speaker 1: and lamp fuel, contained just a few drops. She was
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  Speaker 1: gathering these sticks to build one last fire, bake one
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  Speaker 1: final piece of bread, share it with her son, and
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  Speaker 1: then wait for starvation to take them both. But Elijah
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  Speaker 1: had come bearing a message from God that would transform
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: her desperate situation into a testimony of divine provision. His
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  Speaker 1: request must have sounded absolutely crazy to her ears. As
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  Speaker 1: the first Kings 17.13-14 records, he said, Do not fear,
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  Speaker 1: go and do as you have said, but make me
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  Speaker 1: a small cake from it first, and bring it to me,
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  Speaker 1: and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: thus says the trusting in a promise from a God
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  Speaker 1: she had never served. It was an impossible request that
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  Speaker 1: demanded incredible faith, but something, in Elijah's words, some authority
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  Speaker 1: in his voice, convinced her to take the greatest leap
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  Speaker 1: of faith of her life. She went into her house,
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  Speaker 1: took her precious last ingredients, and made bread for the
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  Speaker 1: prophet first, just as he had asked. And then the
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: miracle began to unfold. The next morning, when she went
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  Speaker 1: to her flour bin expecting to find it empty, there
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  Speaker 1: was flour. When she checked her oil jar, there was
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  Speaker 1: oil day after day, week after week, month after month.
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  Speaker 1: No matter how much she used, there was always more.
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  Speaker 1: 1 Kings 17.15-16 describes the ongoing miracle. So she went
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  Speaker 1: away and did according to the word of Elijah. and
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  Speaker 1: she and he and her household ate for many days.
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  Speaker 1: The bin of flour was not used up, nor did
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  Speaker 1: the jar of oil run dry, according to the word
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord, which he spoke by Elijah. For the
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  Speaker 1: first time in years this poor widow went to sleep
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  Speaker 1: each night without worrying about where tomorrow's food would come from.
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  Speaker 1: Life in the little house at Zarephath settled into a
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  Speaker 1: rhythm of peace and plenty that the widow had never
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  Speaker 1: experienced before. Each day brought enough food, and she began
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  Speaker 1: to learn what it meant to trust in the God
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  Speaker 1: of Israel, who provided through his prophet. Her son, who
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  Speaker 1: had been growing thin from hunger, became healthy and strong again.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: For the first time since her husband's death, she wasn't
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: consumed with worry about survival. She had seen miracles happen
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: in her own kitchen every single day, and her faith
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: in this powerful god was growing stronger. But then, without
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: any warning, disaster struck their happy home like. A thunderbolt
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: from a clear sky, her son became ill. At first,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: it seemed like it might be just another childhood sickness—
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Maybe he had eaten something that didn't agree with him,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: or perhaps he had caught a cold. But instead of
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: getting better, he grew worse. His fever climbed higher. His
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  Speaker 1: breathing became labored, and no matter what his mother did
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: to care for him, his condition continued to deteriorate. Finally,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: the thing that every parent dreads most happened. Her boy
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: stopped breathing entirely. There was no heartbeat, no movement, no...
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: spark of life left in his small body. The child
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: was dead. Can you imagine the shock and devastating grief
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: that overwhelmed this woman? She had risked everything to help
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  Speaker 1: God's prophet, had watched miraculous provision unfold in her home
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  Speaker 1: every day, had learned to trust in the power of
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: the God of Israel, and now her only child, her
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: precious son, who was all she had left in the world,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: lay cold and lifeless in her arms. In her overwhelming
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: anguish and confusion, she turned to Elijah with words that
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: revealed the torment raging in her heart. As recorded in
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  Speaker 1: 1 Kings 17.18, she cried out, What have I to
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: do with you, O man of God? Have you come
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  Speaker 1: to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: kill my son? In her grief, She wondered if having
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: such a holy man in her house had somehow brought
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: divine judgment upon her family. Perhaps God had looked at
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: her life and found some hidden sin that deserved punishment.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: The very person who had brought such incredible blessing was
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: now being blamed for bringing the ultimate curse. When Elijah
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: heard the widow's anguished accusation, his heart must have shattered.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: This woman had shown him such kindness when she had,
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  Speaker 1: nothing to give. She had trusted God's promise when it
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: seemed impossible. She had opened her home and shared her
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: table with him for months. She had become like family
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  Speaker 1: to him, and now she was looking at him through
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: tears of grief, wondering if his presence had somehow caused
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: her son's death. But instead of defending himself or getting angry,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Elijah responded with immediate action and gentle authority. As recorded
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: in 1 Kings 17.19, he said to her simply, Give
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: me your son. There was no argument, no long explanation,
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  Speaker 1: no attempt to convince her that this wasn't his fault.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: He just asked for her to trust him one more
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: time with the most precious thing in her world. She
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: placed her dead child in the prophet's arms, and he
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: carried the lifeless little body up the narrow stairs to
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: the upper room where he had been staying. There, alone
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: with the child who had brought such joy to this
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  Speaker 1: little household, Elijah laid, him gently on his own bed,
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  Speaker 1: and then this mighty prophet, who had shut up the
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: heavens and commanded ravens, did something that shows us the
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: deepest part of his heart. He fell to his knees
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: beside the bed and poured out his soul to God
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: with raw, unfiltered emotion. This wasn't a careful, theologically correct prayer.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: This was the desperate cry of a man whose faith
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: was being stretched to its absolute limits. 1 Kings 17.20
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  Speaker 1: records his honest, anguished words. O Lord my God, have
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: you also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: lodge by killing her son? He wasn't pretending to understand
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: God's ways or trying to sound spiritual. He was asking
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: the hard questions that we all think when terrible things
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: happen to good people. Why would a loving God allow
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: such suffering to come to someone who had shown such faith?
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Why would he take the child of a woman who
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: had risked everything to help his prophet? These were the
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: questions that came from a heart that was breaking right
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: along with the grieving mother downstairs. What Elijah did next
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: had never been attempted in all of human history. No
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: one had ever tried to bring someone back from death before.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: There were no precedents, no instruction manuals, no examples to follow,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: but this prophet believed in a God whose power extended
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: over every part of creation, including the realm of death itself.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: He stretched himself out on the dead child, covering the small,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: cold body with his own warm flesh, and began to
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: cry out to heaven with everything in him. Three times
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: he did this, each time pleading with God as recorded
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: in 1 Kings 17.21. O Lord, my God, I pray,
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  Speaker 1: let this child's soul come back to him. This was
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: completely uncharted territory. Death had always been final, the one
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: boundary that no human power could cross. But Elijah was
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: appealing to the God who had created life in the
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: first place, asking him to do what seemed impossible. And
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: in that small upper room in Zarephath, God heard the
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: desperate prayer of his faithful servant. The miracle that followed
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: would change everything we understand about the power of the Almighty.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: 1 Kings 17.22 describes it with beautiful simplicity. Then the
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Lord heard the voice of Elijah saying, and the soul
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: of the child came back to him, and he revived.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: One moment the boy was cold, still, and lifeless, and
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: the next moment his chest began to rise and fall
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: with the rhythm of breathing. Color flooded back into his
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: pale cheeks. His eyes fluttered open. He sat up, completely
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: alive and healthy, as if he had simply been taking
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: a long nap. Death itself had been defeated. The God
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: of Israel... had reached across the boundary between life and
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: death and brought this child back to his mother. Elijah
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: picked up the living, breathing boy in his arms and
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: carried him down the stairs with a heart full of
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: overwhelming joy. The words he spoke to the widow, recorded
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: in 1 Kings 17.23, were among the most beautiful ever uttered, See,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: your son lives. The woman's response shows that how completely
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: this miracle transformed her understanding of who Elijah was and
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: who his God was. As recorded in verse 24, she declared,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Now by this I know that you are a man
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: of God, and that the word of the Lord in
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Your mouth is the truth, the first resurrection in human history,
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  Speaker 1: had just taken place in a humble house in Zarephath,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: performed by a mysterious prophet from the wilderness, proving that
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: the God of Israel had power over life and death itself.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Three and a half long years had passed since Elijah
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: first stood before King Ahab and declared that no rain
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: would fall on Israel. The land was now completely destroyed
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: by the worst drought anyone could remember. What had once
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: been green fields and flowing rivers was now nothing but
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: cracked earth and empty riverbeds. Animals were dying everywhere you looked,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: and people were starving in the streets of every city.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Even the royal palace was feeling the terrible effects of
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: the famine that had gripped the entire kingdom. The suffering
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: was so severe that King Ahab himself was desperately searching
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: for any patch of grass or drop of water to
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: keep his horses and mules alive. It was during this
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: darkest moment in Israel's history that God spoke to his
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: prophet with a command that would change everything. As we
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: read in 1 Kings 18.1, And it came to pass
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: after many days that the word of the Lord came
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, present yourself
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: The time for hiding was over. The mysterious prophet from Tishbe,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: who had vanished three years earlier, was about to step
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: back onto the stage of history and confront the king
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: who had been hunting him ever since. This wouldn't be
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: a quiet meeting in some private room. Elijah was preparing
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: to challenge the entire religious system that Ahab and his
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: evil wife Jezebel had forced upon Israel. the stage was
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: being set for the most dramatic showdown between the true
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: God and false gods that the world had ever witnessed.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: After years of living by dried-up brooks and staying in
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: foreign lands, God's prophet was ready to return home and
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: prove once and for all who really ruled over the
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: nation of Israel. While Elijah was preparing to emerge from hiding,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: King Ahab was facing a crisis that was getting worse
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: every day. The royal stables were nearly empty because most
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: of the horses and mules had already died from lack
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: of food and water. In desperation, the king decided to
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: personally join the search for any remaining sources of water
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: or grass in his dying kingdom. He divided the land
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: with his most trusted palace administrator, a man named Obadiah,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: so they could cover more ground in their urgent hunt
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: for anything that might keep the remaining animals alive. But
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Obadiah was living an incredibly dangerous, double life that King
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Ahab knew absolutely nothing about, as 1 Kings 18.3.4 reveals
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the shocking truth, and Ahab had called Obadiah who was
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: in charge of his house. Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: for so it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: the Lord, that Obadiah had taken 100 prophets and hidden them,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: 50 to a cave, and had fed them with bread
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: and water. This palace official had been secretly protecting God's
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: prophets right under the nose of the murderous Queen Jezebel herself.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: While she was systematically hunting down and killing every prophet
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: of the Lord, she could find throughout Israel Obadiah was
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: risking his own life by hiding them in caves and
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: keeping them alive with his own food and water. If
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Jezebel had ever discovered what he was doing, Obadiah would
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: have been tortured and executed immediately. As he traveled across
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: the barren landscape searching for grass, Obadiah suddenly saw a
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: lone figure walking toward him through the heat. When the
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: man got close enough to recognize Jezebel, Obadiah could hardly
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: believe what he was seeing. The words of 1 Kings 18.7
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: capture his shock. Now as Obadiah was on his way,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: suddenly Elijah met him, and he recognized him and fell
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: on his face and said, Is that you, my lord Elijah?
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: The most wanted man in all of Israel was standing
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: right there in front of him. When King Ahab finally
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: came face to face with the prophet, who had brought
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: three years of misery upon his kingdom, the king's fury
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: erupted immediately. He didn't waste any time with polite greetings
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: or diplomatic conversation. The moment he laid eyes on Elijah,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: his anger exploded in an accusation that revealed exactly how
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: he viewed the entire situation. As recorded in 1 Kings 18.17,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: to him, Is that you, O troubler of Israel? The
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: king was blaming the prophet for all the death and
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: destruction that had ravaged the land, as if Elijah was
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: some kind of natural disaster who had appeared out of
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: nowhere to cause suffering for no good reason. But Elijah
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: didn't back down for even a second. His response cut
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: straight through the king's accusations and went right to the
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: heart of what was really happening in Israel. The prophet's words,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: found in 1 Kings 18.18, were fearless and absolutely direct.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the Lord and have followed the Baals. Elijah made it
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: crystal clear that this drought wasn't some random punishment from
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: an angry God. It was divine judgment for the systematic
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: idol worship that had taken over the nation under Ahab's
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: weak leadership and Jezebel's evil influence. Then the prophet issued
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: a challenge that would change the course of Israel's history forever.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: His command, recorded in 1 Kings 18-19, was bold beyond imagination.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Mount Carmel, the 450 prophets of Baal, and the 400
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table. This wasn't
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: a polite request or a diplomatic suggestion. This was a
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: direct command from God's prophet to the king of Israel.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Elijah was calling for the greatest spiritual showdown in human history,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: a contest between himself alone and nearly 900 false prophets
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: to be held on Mount Carmel where every person in
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Israel could witness the results with their own eyes. Mount
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Carmel became the arena for the most important contest in
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Israel's entire history. People traveled from every corner of the
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: kingdom to witness this unprecedented event. One lonely prophet of
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the Lord standing against 450 well-fed prophets of Baal with
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: the spiritual future of the entire nation hanging in the balance.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: As the massive crowd gathered on the mountainside, Elijah stood
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: before them and presented the challenge in terms so simple
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: that everyone could understand exactly what was at stake. His words,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: recorded in 1 Kings 18.21, cut right to the heart
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: of Israel's spiritual confusion. And Elijah came to all the
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: people and said,' How long will you falter between two opinions?'
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: follow him. But the people answered him not a word.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: The nation had been trying to serve both the true
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: God and the false God Baal at the same time,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: but Elijah was forcing them to make a choice once
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: and for all. Then he laid out the rules of
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: the contest with perfect clarity, making sure there could be
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: no confusion about how the winner would be determined. His proposal,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: found in 1 Kings 18.23.24, established the parameters that would
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: settle the question forever. Therefore let them give us two bulls,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: no fire under it, and I will prepare the other bull,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: and lay it on the wood, but put no fire
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: under it. Then you call on the name of your gods,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: and I will call on the name of the LORD.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: and the God who answers by fire, He is God.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Two altars would be built side by side, two identical
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: sacrifices would be prepared exactly the same way, but no
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: human fire would be used by either side. The contest
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: would be decided by whichever God had the power to
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: send fire from heaven to consume the offering prepared for Him.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: It was a test that left absolutely no room for tricks, deception,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: or human manipulation. Either God would show up, in supernatural power,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: that everyone could see, or he wouldn't. The prophets of
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Baal stepped forward first, confident in their numbers and their
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: years of experience serving in Jezebel's court. They had every
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: possible advantage they could ask for in this contest. There
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: were 450 of them. Against just one man, they got
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: to choose the best bull for their sacrifice. and they
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: had the entire morning and afternoon to prove their God's power.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Before Elijah would even get his turn, they built their
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: altar carefully, arranged their sacrifice according to all their religious traditions,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: and began calling on Baal with complete confidence that he
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: would respond. The scene is described in 1 Kings 18.26.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: So they took the bull which was given them, and
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: from morning even till noon, saying, O Baal, hear us.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: But there was no voice. No one answered. Then they
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: leaped about the altar which they had made. Hour after
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: hour they shouted Baal's name and danced wildly around their altar,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: pleading with their god to send fire and prove his power.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: But nothing happened at all. The sky remained perfectly empty.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: The altar stayed completely cold, and their carefully prepared sacrifice
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: just sat there like any ordinary piece of meat you
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: might find in a marketplace. As the day dragged on
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: and their desperation grew more obvious, with every passing hour,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Elijah began to mock their increasingly frantic efforts. His cutting sarcasm,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: recorded in 1 Kings 18.27, was designed to point out
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: the obvious problem with their God. And so it was
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: for he is a God. Either he is meditating, or
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: he is busy, or he is on a journey, or
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened. The prophet
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: was highlighting the ridiculous situation they were in. If Baal
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: was really a powerful god like they claimed, why wasn't
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: he responding to his own prophets when they needed him most?
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: The false prophets became even more desperate and frantic in
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: their efforts, as described in verse 28, So they cried
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: aloud and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. They
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: were actually... cutting their own flesh with sharp knives, believing
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: that their physical suffering and flowing blood might somehow get
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: their god's attention and move him to action. After watching
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: the prophets of Baal fail miserably for an entire day,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: it was finally Elijah's turn to demonstrate the power of
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: his god. But instead of rushing immediately into his own
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: dramatic demonstration, The prophet did something that showed his complete
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: confidence in God's ability to work under any conditions. He
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: began by carefully repairing an old altar that had been
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: torn down during the years when Baal worship had taken
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: over Israel. As 1 Kings 18.30 tells us, Then Elijah
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: said to all the people, Come near to me. So
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: all the people came near to him, and he repaired
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: the altar of the Lord that was broken down. This
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: wasn't just any random pile of stones. This was an
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: altar that had once been used to worship the true God,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: but had been destroyed during Israel's slide into idolatry under
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Ahab's weak leadership. Every single action that Elijah took was
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: deliberate and filled with deep meaning that the people of
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Israel would understand. As described in 1 Kings 18.31.32, And
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: of the Lord had come, saying, Israel shall be your name.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Then with the stones he built an altar in the
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: name of the Lord, and he made a trench around
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: the altar large enough to hold two seas of seed.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: The twelve stones weren't chosen randomly. They represented all 12
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: tribes of Israel, reminding everyone watching that this contest wasn't
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: just about choosing between different gods, but about remembering who
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: they really were as God's chosen people. The trench that
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: he dug around the altar seemed like an odd detail,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: but it would become very important very soon. Everything was
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: done according to proper procedure and with great care, as
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: verse 33 describes. And he put the wood in order,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: and said, Fill four water pots with water, and pour
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: it on the burnt, sacrifice, and on the wood. What
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Elijah commanded next seemed to make absolutely no sense from
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: any human perspective. He was about to make his own
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: task incredibly more difficult by soaking everything with water. What
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: happened next seemed completely insane to anyone watching who understood
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: how fire works. Instead of trying to make it easier
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: for fire to catch and spread, Elijah began giving commands
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: that would make any normal fire absolutely impossible to start.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: He wasn't content with just a light sprinkling of water.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: He ordered a thorough soaking that would saturate every part
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: of his altar and sacrifice. The detailed account in 1
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: Kings 18.33-34 shows just how extreme this was. And he
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: and laid it on the wood and said, Fill four
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: water pots with water and pour it on the burnt
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: sacrifice and on the wood. Then he said, Do it
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: a second time, and they did it a second time.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: And he said, Do it a third time, and they
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: did it a third time. Three separate times they poured
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: large containers full of water over every part of the sacrifice.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: Meet the wood and the stones of the altar itself.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Everything was completely drenched. But Elijah wasn't finished making his
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: task impossible yet. Verse 35 tells us what happened to
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: all that water. So the water ran all around the altar,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: and he also filled the trench with water. The entire
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: altar was now sitting in the middle of what looked
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: like a small lake with the trench that Elijah had dug,
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: serving like a moat around a castle filled to the
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: brim with water. From any logical human standpoint, What the
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: prophet had just done made fire completely impossible. No earthly
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: flame could ever burn through all that water to reach
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: the soaking wet sacrifice underneath. But that was exactly the
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: point Elijah was trying to make. He was setting up
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: conditions that would make it absolutely impossible for anyone to
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: claim later that the fire had started naturally or that
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: some kind of human trick had been used. The water
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: eliminated every possible explanation except direct, supernatural intervention from God himself.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: The prophet had deliberately created the most challenging conditions possible
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: for his God to work under. And now he was
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: ready to call upon the name of the Lord with
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: complete confidence. With everything perfectly prepared and the entire nation
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: of Israel watching in complete silence, Elijah stepped forward. to
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: pray to his God. But this wasn't the frantic, shouting,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: wild dancing, and desperate begging that the prophets of Baal
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: had been doing all day long. This was the calm, confident,
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: respectful prayer of a man who knew his God personally,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: and had no doubt that he would respond. As recorded
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: in 1 Kings 18.36.37, And it came to pass, at
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah...
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: The prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: and Israel, let it be known this day that you
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: are God in Israel and I am your servant and
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: that I have done all these things at your word.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: know that you are the Lord God and that you
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: have turned their hearts back to you again. Notice that
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Elijah wasn't trying to prove how great or powerful he
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: was as a prophet. His entire prayer was focused on
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: showing the people of Israel who the real God was
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: and bringing their hearts back to Him. The prophet's prayer
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: was simple, direct, respectful, and filled with unshakable faith in
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: God's character and power. He wasn't begging God to send fire.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: He was asking God to reveal Himself to His people
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: in a way they would never forget. And then it
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: happened with a power and speed that took everyone's breath away.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: The response from heaven was immediate, overwhelming, and far beyond
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: anything anyone had ever imagined possible. As described in 1
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: Kings 18.38, then the fire of the Lord fell and
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: and the dust, and it licked up the water that
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: was in the trench. This wasn't just regular fire like
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: you would see in a fireplace or campfire. This was
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: the actual fire of God himself, falling from heaven like
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: a lightning bolt that didn't stop burning until it had
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: consumed everything in sight. It didn't just light the sacrifice
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: like a normal fire would. It completely consumed and devoured everything.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: The meat was burned up instantly. The wood was consumed
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: in seconds. The very stones of the altar were eaten
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: up by the flames. Even the dust around the altar
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: was licked up and destroyed by the supernatural fire. And
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: most amazing of all, the water that had filled the
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: trench and soaked everything, all that water that should have
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: put out any earthly fire... was completely evaporated by the
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: incredible heat of God's flames. When all the people saw
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: this absolutely incredible display of divine power, their response was immediate, complete,
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: and unanimous. As verse 39 tells us, Now when all
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: the people saw it, they fell on their faces and
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: they said, The Lord, He is God, the Lord is...
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: He is God. After witnessing God's incredible fire consume everything
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: on Mount Carmel, the people of Israel were completely transformed.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: Their unanimous declaration that the Lord, He is God, wasn't
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: just words. It was a complete change of heart that
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: demanded immediate action. The victory had been so overwhelming and
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: undeniable that there was no room left for doubt, confusion,
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: or compromise. Elijah knew this was the crucial moment to
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: finish what God had started and remove the poisonous influence
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: that had corrupted Israel for years. The prophet couldn't allow
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: the false prophets to simply walk away from their humiliating
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: defeat and continue leading the nation astray after such a
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: clear demonstration of their complete powerlessness. His command to the people,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: recorded in the first, Kings 1840, was direct, decisive, and
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: filled with divine authority. And Elijah said to them, Seize
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: the prophets of Baal. Do not let one of them escape.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: the brook Kishon and executed them there. This wasn't personal revenge.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Human anger was or political maneuvering on Elijah's part. This
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: was divine judgment being, carried out according to God's law
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: and righteous standards. These false prophets had done far more
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: than simply fail to call down fire from their God.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: They had systematically led an entire nation into idol worship
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: and spiritual darkness for years, corrupting the hearts and minds
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: of God's chosen people. They had enjoyed positions of privilege
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: and power, eating at Queen Jezebel's royal table while the
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: true prophets of God were being hunted down, tortured, and
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: murdered throughout the land. They had taught lies about God,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: promoted immoral practices in the name of religion, and turned
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: the hearts of fathers and mothers away from the truth
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: that could save their children. Now in the aftermath of
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: their complete and public failure to demonstrate any real power
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: from their God, Divine justice was finally being served in
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: full view of the entire nation. The Brook Kishon, which
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: flows at the base of Mount Carmel toward the Mediterranean Sea,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: became the place where Israel's false religious system met its
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: decisive end. Every single one of the 450 prophets of
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: Baal was executed there by the same people who had
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: been deceived by their lies for so long. the people
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: who had been confused and spiritually divided between two opposing
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: opinions just hours before were now completely united in carrying
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: out God's righteous judgment against those who had deceived them
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: and led their families into spiritual bondage. With the false
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: prophets eliminated and God's supreme power clearly demonstrated before the
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: entire nation, It was time for the devastating drought to
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: end just as dramatically as it had begun three and
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: a half years earlier. Elijah turned his attention away from
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: the defeated false prophets and focused on the promise that
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: God had made at the very beginning of this chapter.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: Rain was finally coming to the parched and dying land
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: of Israel. But first, the prophet had some urgent advice
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: for King Ahab. whose entire worldview and spiritual perspective had
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: been completely transformed by the incredible events he had witnessed
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: on Mount Carmel that day. As recorded in 1 Kings 18.41,
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: Then Elijah said to Ahab, Go, up, eat and drink,
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: for there is the sound of abundance of rain. The
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: prophet's spiritual ears could already hear what was coming from heaven.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: even though the physical sky above them was still perfectly
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: clear and cloudless after years of drought. While King Ahab
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: went up the mountain to celebrate the end of the
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: long famine with food and drink, probably still trying to
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: process everything he had seen, Elijah had much more important
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: and urgent work to do. His next actions, carefully described
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: in 1 Kings 1842, revealed the incredible intensity and focus
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: of his prayer life. So Ahab went up to eat
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: and drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: Then he bowed down on the ground and put his
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: face between his knees. This wasn't a casual, comfortable prayer
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: offered while standing upright or sitting in a chair. This
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: was intense, focused, desperate intercession offered in complete physical humility
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: before the throne of God. The prophet positioned himself in
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: the lowest possible posture of submission and dependence, bowing down
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: to the ground with his face buried between his knees
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: in a way that showed his total reliance on the
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: Lord's power and faithfulness. He sent his faithful servant to
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: look toward the Mediterranean Sea while he continued praying with
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: incredible persistence and unwavering faith in God's promise. Seven different
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: times the servant made the journey to the lookout point,
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: and six times he returned with the disappointing report that
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: there was absolutely nothing to see in the sky. But
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: Elijah refused to give up or lose faith, continuing to
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: pray with the same intensity because he knew with absolute
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: certainty that God's promise would be fulfilled exactly as he
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: had said. Finally, the breakthrough came. as recorded in 1
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: Kings 18.44. Then it came to pass the seventh time
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: that he said, There is a cloud as small as
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: a man's hand rising out of the sea. So he said,
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: Go up, say to Ahab, prepare your chariot and go
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: down before the rain stops you. That tiny cloud, no
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: bigger than a human hand when seen from a distance,
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: was the beginning of the massive storm system that would
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: end three and a half years of devastating drought and
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: bring life back to the land of Israel. What started
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: as a cloud, the size of a man's hand, quickly
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: transformed into something far beyond anyone's expectations. The storm that
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: Elijah had been praying for developed with supernatural speed and intensity,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: turning the clear sky into a dramatic display of God's
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: power over nature. As described in 1 Kings 18.45, Now
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: it happened in the meantime that the sky became black
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain,
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: so Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. King Ahab
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: climbed into his royal chariot and began racing through the
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: downpour toward his palace in Jezreel, probably eager to escape
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: the storm, and tell Queen Jezebel about the incredible events
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: he had witnessed on Mount Carmel, the rain that was
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: now soaking the parched land. was the same rain that
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: Elijah had shut up with his words three and a
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: half years earlier, and its return marked the complete vindication
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: of God's prophet and the total defeat of Baal worship
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: in Israel. But something absolutely extraordinary was about to happen
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: to Elijah that would demonstrate once again that the same
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: God who could send fire from heaven and rain from
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: the sky was could also empower his servants in ways
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: that defied all natural laws and human understanding. As described
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: in 1 Kings 18.46, Then the hand of the Lord
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: came upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins and
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. This
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: wasn't simply a case of a man running faster than
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: his normal human ability would allow. This was divine power,
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: enabling the prophet to accomplish something that should have been
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: physically impossible. The phrase, the hand of the Lord came
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: upon Elijah, indicates that this was a supernatural empowerment that
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: gave him strength, endurance, and speed that were far beyond
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: any human capability. Picture this absolutely incredible scene. King Ahab
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: racing through the storm in his royal chariot, pulled by
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: the fastest and strongest horses in all of Israel. while
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: a prophet on foot not only manages to keep up
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: with them, but actually runs ahead. Of the entire royal
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: procession through the mud, rain, and difficult terrain, this miraculous
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: display of God's power served several important purposes that went
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: far beyond simply getting Elijah to Jezreel quickly. It showed
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: King Ahab in the most dramatic way possible that the
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: same God who had sent fire from heaven could also
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: give his servants superhuman abilities when they needed them. It
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: demonstrated to anyone who witnessed this supernatural race that Elijah
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: wasn't just another religious teacher or wise man. He was
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: a genuine prophet operating under the direct anointing and empowerment
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: of the living God. When King Ahab finally arrived at
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: his palace in Jezreel, soaking wet from the storm but
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: probably still amazed by everything he had witnessed, he immediately
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: sought out Queen Jezebel to tell her everything that had
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: happened on Mount Carmel. He described the contest between Elijah
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: and the prophets of Baal, the dramatic fire from heaven
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: that had consumed the sacrifice, the restoration of rain after
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: three and a half years of drought, and most importantly,
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: for Jezebel's purposes, the complete execution of all 450 prophets
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: of Baal at the Brook Kishon. Queen Jezebel's reaction to
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: this news was swift, furious, and absolutely deadly serious. This
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: evil and ruthless woman had built her entire power base
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: on promoting Baal worship throughout Israel, establishing temples and altars
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: to foreign gods, and systematically destroying the worship of the
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: true God wherever she found it. Now her entire religious
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: system had been completely demolished in a single day by
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: one prophet, and all of her carefully chosen and well-trained
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: religious leaders had been executed like common criminals. She wasn't
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: about to let the man who had destroyed everything she
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: had worked for simply walk away and continue his ministry.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: Her response, recorded in 1 Kings 19.2, was a direct
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: death threat delivered with all the authority and resources of
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: the royal throne behind it. Then Jezebel sent a messenger
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me,
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: and more also, if I do not make your life
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: as the life of one of them by tomorrow about
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: this time. She was making a solemn oath by her
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: gods that within exactly twenty-four hours Elijah would be dead,
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: just like every one of her prophets who had been executed.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: At the Brook Kishon, this wasn't an empty threat made
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: in anger by a woman who had no power to
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: back up her words. This was a calculated promise of murder,
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: from the most powerful and ruthless person in Israel besides
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: King Ahab himself. Jezebel had already proven beyond any doubt
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: her willingness and ability to hunt down and kill God's prophets,
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: as we learned earlier when the faithful palace administrator Obadiah
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: had been forced to hide a hundred of them in
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: caves to keep them alive during her murderous campaign. She
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: had the financial resources, the political authority, the trained assassins,
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: and the murderous determination to carry out her threat against Elijah,
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: just as she had carried out similar threats against so
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: many other servants of God. When Elijah received Jezebel's death
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: threat through her messenger, something completely unexpected and shocking happened
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: to this mighty prophet, who had just experienced the greatest
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: victory in Israel's history. Instead of standing firm in the
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: supernatural power of God that he had so recently witnessed
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: and experienced firsthand, overwhelming fear completely took control of his
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: heart and mind. The same man who had fearlessly confronted
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: King Ahab in his own palace, who had boldly challenged
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: 450 false prophets in front of the entire nation... and
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: who had just called down fire from heaven, was suddenly
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: terrified by the murderous threats of one evil woman. As
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: Bird Kings 19.3 tells us, with heartbreaking honesty, And when
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: he saw that, he arose and ran for his life,
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: his servant there. Elijah didn't just quietly slip out of
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: town under cover of darkness. He ran for his life
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: like a desperate fugitive, fleeing from certain death at the
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: hands of relentless pursuers. He abandoned his ministry in Israel
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: and traveled all the way to Beersheba, which was located
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: at the southern border of the kingdom of Judah, as
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: far away from Queen Jezebel's murderous reach as as he
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: could possibly get while still remaining in territory. Controlled by
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: people who worshipped the true God, the fact that he
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: left his faithful servant there in Beersheba, rather than taking
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: him along for companionship and help, shows that Elijah wanted
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: to be completely alone with his overwhelming fear, discouragement and despair.
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: But even reaching the safety of Beersheba wasn't enough to
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: make the terrified prophet feel secure from Jezebel's murderous intentions
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: and far-reaching power. As verse 4 continues, with even more
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: shocking details, But he himself went a day's journey into
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree.
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: And he prayed that he might die, and said, It
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: is enough. Now, Lord, take my life, for I, I'm
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: no better. than my father's. The great prophet who had
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: just experienced the most spectacular supernatural victory in Israel's entire
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: history was now so completely overwhelmed with despair, discouragement, and
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: hopelessness that he actually wanted to die rather than continue living.
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: He had traveled from the mountaintop of triumph to the
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: deepest valley of despair in just a matter of hours,
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: and the emotional whiplash had left him completely broken. Alone
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: in the harsh wilderness and genuinely wanting to die rather
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: than face, another day of fear and discouragement, Elijah lay
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: down under the meager shade of a broom tree and
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: fell into an exhausted sleep, probably hoping in his heart
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: that he would never wake up again. and have to
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: deal with his overwhelming circumstances. But God had completely different
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: plans for his discouraged and desperate prophet. Instead of allowing
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: Elijah to give up on life and die alone in
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: the desert like he wanted, the Lord sent supernatural help
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: in the form of an angel with a very practical
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: and urgent mission to care for his servant's immediate physical needs.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: As described in 1 Kings 19-5, as he lay and
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: and said to him, Arise and eat. When Elijah opened
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: his eyes and looked around in confusion, wondering where he
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: was and what was happening, he discovered that the angel
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: had prepared a complete meal for him in the middle
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: of the wilderness where no food should have existed. Verse
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: 6 tells us exactly what this supernatural provision looked like.
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: Then he looked, and there by his head was a
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: cake baked on coals and a jar of water. So
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: he ate and drank and lay down again. This wasn't
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: just any ordinary food that might be found in the desert.
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: This was supernatural provision that God himself had prepared specifically
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: for his hungry and thirsty servant in the middle of
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: absolutely nowhere. The cake was freshly baked and still warm
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: from the coals, as if it had just come out
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: of an oven, and there was clean, fresh, cool water
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: to drink in a place where no natural source of
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: water existed for many miles in any direction. After gratefully
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: eating and drinking this unexpected meal, Elijah lay down again
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: under the broom tree, still completely overwhelmed by his circumstances
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: and probably still wishing that he could just die and
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: be done with all the fear, pressure, and responsibility that
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: seemed to define his life as God's prophet. But the
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: angel wasn't finished caring for the discouraged man of God.
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: as recorded in 1 Kings 19.7, and the angel of
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: the Lord came back the second time and touched him
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: great for you. The angel knew something that Elijah didn't
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: know yet. God was preparing to send him on a
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: very long and difficult journey that would require supernatural strength
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: and endurance that could only come from heaven, sustained and
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: strengthened by the supernatural food. that the angel had provided twice,
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: Elijah began a journey that would take him hundreds of
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: miles through some of the most difficult and dangerous terrain
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: in the entire Middle East. As 1 Kings 19.8 describes
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: this incredible trek, So he arose and ate and drank,
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: and he went in the strength of that food forty
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: days and forty nights, as far as Horeb, the mountain
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: of God. Two meals provided by God's angel gave Elijah
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: enough supernatural strength and endurance to travel for forty complete
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: days and nights, without eating anything else again, covering an
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: enormous distance through deserts, mountains, and wilderness areas that would
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: normally require frequent stops for food, water, and rest. His
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: destination wasn't chosen randomly. Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai,
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: was the same sacred mountain where Moses had received the
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: Ten Commandments from God centuries earlier, where the burning bush
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: had first called Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt, and
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: where God had revealed His glory to the nation of
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: Israel in thunder, lightning, and supernatural fire. This was the
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: mountain of God, the place where heaven and earth had
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: touched in some of the most significant moments in Israel's history.
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: and God was leading his discouraged prophet there for a
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: very specific purpose. When Elijah finally arrived at Mount Horeb
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: after his 40-day supernatural journey, he was still carrying the
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: same heavy burden of discouragement, fear, and spiritual confusion that
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: had driven him to flee from Queen Jezebel's death threats
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: in the first place. As 1 Kings 19.9 tells us,
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: And there he went into a cave, and spent the
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: night in that place. And behold, the word of the
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: Lord came to him, and he said to him, What
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: are you doing here, Elijah? The exhausted prophet had found
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: a cave somewhere in the mountainside and was hiding there
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: like a fugitive from justice, even though he was now
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: hundreds of miles away from Queen Jezebel's reach and completely
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: safe from any human threat. God's question to him wasn't asked.
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: because the Lord didn't already know exactly why Elijah was
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: there and what had driven him to this place. It
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: was carefully designed to help the prophet examine his own heart, motivations,
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: and spiritual condition. Elijah's response, recorded in verse 10, revealed
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: the incredible depth of his discouragement his sense of complete isolation,
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: and his feeling that he was fighting a losing battle
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: against overwhelming odds. So he said, I have been very
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars,
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: and killed your prophets with the sword. I am the
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: only one left, and they seek my life to take
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: it away. God's response to Elijah's heartbroken complaint was completely
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: unlike anything the discouraged prophet had ever experienced before in
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: all his years of ministry. Instead of giving him a
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: lecture about having more faith, reminding him of the recent
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: spectacular victory on Mount Carmel, or telling him to stop
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: feeling sorry for himself, the Lord decided to reveal himself
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: to his struggling servant in a way that was both
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: surprising and profound. As recorded in 1 Kings 19.11, Then
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: he said, Go out and stand on the mountain before
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: the rocks in pieces before the Lord. But the Lord
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: was not in the wind. Elijah obediently left his cave
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: and stood outside on the mountainside. where he watched in
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: amazement a supernatural wind with absolutely incredible power rip through
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: the mountains around him, literally breaking apart solid rock formations,
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: like they were made of fragile clay or dry leaves.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: The force of this wind was beyond anything that occurs
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: in normal weather patterns— This was divine power tearing through
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: the physical world with unstoppable force. But despite the overwhelming
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: drama and power of this display, God wasn't speaking to
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: his prophet through this impressive demonstration of supernatural strength. The
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: incredible revelation continued as described in verse 12. And after
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: the earthquake. The ground beneath Elijah's feet began to shake
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: and tremble violently as the entire mountain moved with supernatural
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: force that could probably be felt for miles in every direction.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: Rocks tumbled, the earth split open, and the very foundations
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: of the mountain shook with divine power that demonstrated God's
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: absolute control over every part of his creation. But once again,
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: Despite this dramatic and terrifying display of supernatural might, the
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: Lord wasn't communicating with his prophet through this earthquake. The
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: third supernatural event was even more dramatic and personally meaningful
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: for Elijah. And after the earthquake a fire, but the
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: Lord was not in the fire. Supernatural fire. perhaps very
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: similar to the fire that Elijah had just recently seen
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: consume the sacrifice on Mount Carmel, appeared before him with
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: power and intensity that reminded him of God's recent victory
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: over the prophets of Baal. But, surprisingly, even this fire
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: that was so connected to his recent ministry experience wasn't
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: the way God chose to speak to him in this moment.
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: Then came something completely unexpected, quiet and profound, described in
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: the rest of verse 12. And after the fire, a
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: still small voice. Other Bible translations describe this as a
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: gentle whisper. a soft murmuring sound, or the sound of
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: a low whisper. After all the dramatic displays of overwhelming power,
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: the wind that broke solid rocks, the earthquake that shook
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: the entire mountain, and the supernatural fire that blazed before
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: his eyes, God chose to speak to his hurting prophet
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: in the quietest, most gentle, most tender way possible. After
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: God's gentle whisper had completely restored Elijah's perspective, and renewed
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: his sense of purpose at Mount Horeb, the Lord gave
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: his prophet new assignments that would shape the future of
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: Israel for generations to come. God wasn't just concerned with
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: helping Elijah through his personal struggles and moments of discouragement.
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: He had a much bigger plan that involved raising up
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: new leaders who would continue his work long after this
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: faithful prophet was gone from the earth. The divine instructions
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: that came to Elijah were both specific and incredibly far-reaching
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: in their implications for the future. As recorded in 1
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: Kings 19.15-16, Then the Lord said to him, Go, return
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel.
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah, you
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: shall anoint as prophet in your place. These weren't random
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: choices made without careful consideration. Each man that God selected
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: would play a crucial and specific role in his divine
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: plan for Israel's future, and together they would accomplish things
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: that no single person could achieve alone. Uziel would become
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: the king of Syria and would be used by God
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: as an instrument of judgment for to bring consequences upon
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: Israel for their continued rebellion and unfaithfulness to their covenant
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: with the Lord. Jehu would become king of Israel and
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: would completely destroy the house of Ahab, fulfilling God's perfect
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: justice against the royal family that had led the entire
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: nation into the darkness of Baal worship and systematic persecution
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: of God's prophets. And Elisha would take Elijah's place as
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: God's primary prophet in Israel, receiving a double portion of
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: his predecessor's spirit and performing even more miracles than the
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: great prophet who had called down fire from heaven. But
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: God also gave Elijah tremendously encouraging news that directly addressed
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: his deep feeling of being completely alone in his service
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: to the Lord. As verse 18 reveals with wonderful comfort,
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: Elijah wasn't the only faithful person left in the entire nation.
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: There were actually 7,000 people scattered throughout Israel who had
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: remained true to God throughout all the years of intense
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: persecution and overwhelming pressure to abandon their faith and worship
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: the false god Baal instead. This news must have been
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: incredibly encouraging and refreshing to a prophet who had felt
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: completely isolated and alone in his stand for truth and righteousness.
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: Of the three men that God had specifically commanded him
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: to anoint for future ministry, Elijah began with the one
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: who would become his direct successor and spiritual heir, Elisha
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: the son of Shaphat, from the town of Abel Meholah
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: in the Jordan Valley. When the prophet finally found him
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: after his long journey, Elisha was doing exactly what you
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: would expect to find a successful farmer's son doing during
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: the busy planting season. He was working hard in the fields,
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: plowing the rich soil with twelve yoke of oxen, which
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: clearly showed that his family was quite wealthy and prosperous
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: by the standards of that agricultural society. As Bertha King's
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: 1919 describes this historic moment, when two of God's greatest
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: prophets first met, so he departed from there and found Elisha,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth.
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: Then Elisha passed by him and threw his mantle on him.
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: This wasn't just a casual greeting between strangers or a
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: polite introduction. Throwing his mantle, which was the distinctive cloak
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: that marked him as a prophet of God, over Elisha's
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: shoulders was a deeply symbolic act that clearly meant God
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: was calling this young farmer to leave his old life
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: behind and enter into prophetic ministry. Elisha immediately understood exactly
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: what was happening. and what this divine call would cost
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: him in terms of giving up his comfortable and prosperous
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: life as a farmer. His response, carefully recorded in verse 20,
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: showed both his genuine willingness to follow God's call and
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: his natural desire to properly close this important chapter of
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: his life with his family. And he left the oxen
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: and ran after Elijah, and said, Please let me kiss
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: And he said to him, Go back again, for what
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: have I done to you? Me, Elijah's response wasn't dismissive
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: or impatient. He was actually giving Elisha complete freedom to
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: carefully count the cost of discipleship and make his own
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: informed choice about following God's call without any pressure or manipulation.
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: What Elisha did next demonstrated the completeness and finality of
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: his commitment to his new calling from God. As verse
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: 21 tells us with remarkable detail, So, Elijah. turned back
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slaughtered them,
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: and boiled their flesh, using the oxen's equipment as fuel,
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant. This
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: wasn't just a farewell party or a casual celebration. This
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: was a deliberate and irreversible burning of bridges that made
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: it absolutely impossible for him to change his mind and
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: return to his comfortable old life as a successful farmer. Some.
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: time after Elisha had permanently joined Elijah as his devoted
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: servant and had begun learning the difficult lessons of prophetic ministry.
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: A terrible injustice occurred in the royal court that would
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: eventually bring God's final and complete judgment upon the house
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: of King Ahab. The entire tragic story began with something
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: as simple and seemingly innocent as as a king's personal desire,
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: for a piece of property that happened to be located
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: right next to his palace, but unfortunately wasn't for sale
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: at any price, as the first king's 21-1-2 carefully sets
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: up this situation that would have such far-reaching consequences. And
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: it came to pass, after these things, that Naboth the
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, next to
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. So Ahab spoke
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: to Naboth, saying, Give me your vineyard, that I may
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: next to my house. And for it I will give
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: you a vineyard better than it, or if it seems
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: good to you, I will give you its worth in money.
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: From a purely human perspective, this seemed like a completely
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: reasonable and fair request from the king. He wasn't trying
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: to steal the land or take it by force. but
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: was actually offering to pay full market value or even
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: trade a better piece of property for the vineyard that
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: he wanted to turn into a vegetable garden for his palace.
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: But Naboth's response to this seemingly generous offer, recorded in
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: verse 3, revealed why this request was absolutely impossible for
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: any faithful Israelite to accept. But Naboth said to Ahab,
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: my fathers to you. Under God's law, as given through Moses,
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: family land was supposed to remain within the family forever
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: as a permanent inheritance. It was part of their sacred
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: heritage from the Lord that couldn't be sold permanently to outsiders,
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: even to kings. Naboth wasn't being stubborn, disrespectful, or unreasonable.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: He was simply obeying God's clear commandments about keeping ancestral
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: land within the family line as the Lord had established.
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: King Ahab's reaction to this polite but firm refusal showed
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: his incredibly childish and selfish character that had never learned
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: to accept the word no from anyone. As verse 4
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: describes his pathetic response, so Ahab went into his house
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: sullen and displeased because of the word which Naboth the
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: Jezreelite had spoken to him for he had said, I
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: he lay down on his bed and turned away his
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: face and would eat no food. The most powerful king
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: in Israel was literally pouting and sulking like a spoiled
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: child who couldn't get his way, refusing to eat his
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: meals because he couldn't have something that simply didn't belong
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: to him and never would. When Queen Jezebel discovered why
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: her husband was lying in bed, sulking like a child
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: and refusing to eat his food, she took matters into
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: her own hands with the characteristic ruthlessness and complete lack
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: of moral conscience that had marked her. Entire reign as queen,
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: her response to Ahab's childish behavior, recorded in 1 Kings 21.7,
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: revealed both her contempt for his weakness... and her confidence
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: in her own ability to get whatever she wanted through
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: evil means. Then Jezebel, his wife, said to him, You
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: now exercise authority over Israel. Arise, eat food, and let
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: your heart be cheerful. I will give you the vineyard
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: of Naboth the Jezreelite. Jezebel's plan to obtain Naboth's vineyard
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: was both brilliantly evil and terrifyingly effective in its simplicity.
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: She wrote official letters in King Ahab's name, sealed them
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: with his royal seal to give them full legal authority,
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: in Naboth's city with instructions that were designed to make
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: cold-blooded murder look like proper legal justice. Her detailed instructions,
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: recorded in verses 9 to 10, showed just how far
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: she was willing to go to get what she wanted.
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: And she wrote in the letters saying, proclaim a fast,
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: and seat Naboth with high honor among the people, and
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: seat two men, scoundrels, before him to bear witness against him, saying,
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: You have blasphemed God and the king. Then take him
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: out and stone him, that he may die. The city leaders,
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: either out of fear of the queen or corruption in
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: their own hearts, obeyed these evil instructions exactly as written,
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: and innocent Naboth was brutally executed on completely false charges
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: of blasphemy against God and treason against the king. When
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: Jezebel triumphantly told Ahab that Naboth was dead and he
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: could now go and take possession of the vineyard he
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: had wanted so desperately, the king immediately rushed to claim
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: his blood-stained prize without showing any concern about how this
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: convenient death had occurred. But God saw everything that had
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: happened in this conspiracy of murder and theft, and he
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: sent Elijah with a message of divine judgment that would
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: shake the royal family to its very foundations. The word
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: of the Lord came to his faithful prophet with specific instructions,
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: as recorded in verses 17-19. Then the word of the
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: to meet Ahab king of Israel, who lives in Samaria.
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: There he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: has gone down to take possession of it. You shall
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: speak to him, saying, Thus says the Lord, Have you
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: murdered and also taken possession? And you shall speak to him, saying,
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: Thus says the Lord, In the place where dogs lick
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: When Elijah found Ahab greedily surveying his stolen vineyard, the
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: king's greeting revealed his guilty conscience and his awareness that
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: God's prophet would not approve of what had been done.
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: King Ahab's response to Elijah's terrible prophecy of judgment was
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: completely unexpected and unlike anything he had done before in
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: his long career of rebellion against God and systematic persecution
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: of his prophets. Instead of getting angry and making threats
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: as he had done so many times in the past,
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: instead of dismissing the prophet's words as meaningless or trying
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: to have him arrested for treason, something truly remarkable happened
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: to the wicked king's heart that surprised everyone who witnessed it.
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: As 1 Kings 21-27 describes his dramatic and unprecedented change
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: of behavior, so it was when Ahab heard those words that,
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: body and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about mourning.
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: This wasn't just a political show designed to manipulate public
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: opinion or an attempt to appear religious for the sake
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: of his reputation. This was genuine, heartfelt grief and repentance
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: for his sins. and the terrible consequences they had brought
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: upon his family. Ahab literally tore his expensive royal robes
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: into pieces, dressed himself in rough, uncomfortable sackcloth like a
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: mourner at a funeral, completely stopped eating food as a
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: sign of his deep sorrow, and walked around his palace
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: in visible anguish over what he had done. and what
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: was coming upon his house as a result. The king
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: who had led Israel deeper into idol worship and moral
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: corruption than any ruler before him was genuinely broken and
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: devastated over his sin and the divine judgment that was
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: coming upon everyone he loved. God saw Ahab's sincere change
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: of heart and genuine repentance. and his response shows us
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: something beautiful and encouraging about divine mercy, even in the
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: midst of necessary and righteous judgment. As recorded in verses 28-29,
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: See how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: calamity in his days. In the days of his son
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: I will bring the calamity on his house. God was
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: genuinely moved by Ahab's humble repentance and decided to delay
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: the complete judgment that had been pronounced against his family.
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: The total destruction of Ahab's royal line would still happen
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: exactly as God had declared. His word never fails and
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: his justice will always be satisfied. But it would be
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: mercifully postponed until after Ahab's own death so that he
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have to personally witness the terrible consequences of his
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: actions being visited upon his children and grandchildren. This delay
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: demonstrated that even the most wicked and corrupt people can
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: find mercy and forgiveness with God when they truly humble themselves,
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: acknowledge their sins, and genuinely repent of their evil ways. However,
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: it's crucial to understand that this merciful postponement didn't cancel
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: or eliminate the judgment that had been pronounced. It only
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: delayed its execution. The time had finally come for something
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: that had never happened before in all. Of human history
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: since the creation of the world, God was preparing to
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: take one of his faithful prophets directly to heaven. Without
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: that person having to experience physical death first, Elijah seemed
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: to somehow know that his earthly ministry was rapidly coming
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: to an end, though the exact details of how God
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: would accomplish this unprecedented transition weren't completely clear to him yet.
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: What began as what appeared to be an ordinary journey
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: with his faithful servant and spiritual heir, Elisha, would become
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: the most extraordinary and miraculous departure ever recorded in all
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: of Scripture. As 2 Kings 2.1 sets the scene for
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: this historic day, and it came to pass, when the
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. This
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: wasn't a casual trip to visit friends or a normal
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: prophetic mission to deliver a message from God. This was
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: a divinely orchestrated farewell tour that would take them to
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: some of the most spiritually significant and historically important in
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: places in all of Israel's covenant relationship with the Lord.
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: Their first destination was the city of Bethel, and as
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: they walked along the road together, Elijah tested his beloved
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: servant's commitment and loyalty in a way that revealed how
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: much he genuinely cared about protecting him from whatever difficult
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: experience was coming. As verse 2 records this touching exchange,
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: Then Elijah said to Elisha, Stay here, please, for the
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: Lord has sent me on to Bethel. But Elisha said,
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel.
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: Elijah was lovingly giving Elisha an opportunity to avoid whatever
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: was coming and to stay in the safety and comfort
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: of familiar surroundings. But the younger prophet refused to be
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: separated from his master and mentor under any circumstances. When
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: they reached the city of Bethel, something very interesting happened
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: that showed how well-known Elijah's situation was among the other
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: prophets who served God throughout the land. As verse 3
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: tells us, Now the sons of the prophets who were
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him,
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: Do you know that the Lord will take away your
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: master from over you today? And he said, Yes, I know.
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: Keep silent. There were other trained prophets living in Bethel
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: who somehow knew through divine revelation that this was going
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: to be Elijah's last day on earth. But Elisha didn't
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: want to talk about it or dwell on the painful
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: reality of losing the man who had become like a
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: father to him. From the city of Jericho, Elijah and
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: Elisha continued their divinely appointed journey toward the Jordan River,
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: the same historic body of water that had been miraculously
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: parted for Joshua and the children of Israel when they
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 1: first entered the Promised Land, under God's mighty power. centuries earlier.
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: As they walked together toward this final destination, something quite
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: remarkable happened that showed just how many people throughout the
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: region were interested in witnessing whatever unprecedented event was about
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: to occur. As 2 Kings 2.7 tells us, and fifty
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: men of the sons of the prophets went and stood
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: facing them at a distance, while the two of them
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: stood by the Jordan. These weren't casual observers or curious
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: bystanders who had nothing better to do with their time.
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: These were serious, trained prophets who had somehow received divine
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: word that something completely unprecedented in human history was about
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: to happen, and they positioned themselves at a safe distance
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: where they could see everything clearly, without interfering with God's plan.
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: When Elijah and Elisha finally reached the bank of the
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: Jordan River... The older prophet performed one final miracle that
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: deliberately echoed some of the greatest and most memorable moments
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: in Israel's long history with their God. The dramatic scene
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: is carefully described in verse 8. Now Elijah took his mantle,
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: rolled it up, and struck the water. And it was
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: divided this way and that. so that the two of
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: them crossed over on dry ground. This was the exact
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: same river that God had miraculously stopped from flowing when
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: Joshua led the nation of Israel into the promised land
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: for the very first time. And it was also the
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: same river where Naaman the Syrian military commander had been
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: completely healed of his terrible leprosy by following the specific
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: instructions that Elisha had given him. Now the Jordan was
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: parting once again for God's profit, just as the Red
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: Sea had been divided by Moses during the dramatic exodus
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: from Egyptian slavery many generations before. The water, completely divided
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: and separated, creating a perfectly dry path through the riverbed
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: that allowed both men to walk across safely to the
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: other side, while the fifty prophets watched in absolute amazement
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: from their carefully chosen viewing, in point on the hillside.
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: This incredible miracle served as a powerful and dramatic sign
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: to everyone present that the same Almighty God who had
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: worked such wonders through Moses, Joshua, and the other great
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: leaders of Israel's past was still powerfully present with His
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: faithful prophets in their own generation. It also demonstrated beyond
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: any shadow of doubt that to all the witnesses that
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: Elijah was indeed a genuine man of God, whose entire
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: ministry had been marked by supernatural power and divine authority
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: from beginning to end. Once they had safely crossed the
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: Jordan River and were completely alone on the other side,
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: far away from the watching crowd of fifty prophets and
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: any other curious observers, Elijah turned to his faithful servant
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: and spiritual heir, with an offer that would change Elisha's
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: life forever and establish him as the new prophet of
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: God in Israel. The older prophet's words, recorded in 2
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: Kings 2.9, showed his deep love and genuine concern for
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: the young man who had served him so loyally and
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: faithfully for years. And so it was, when they had
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask, what may
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  Speaker 1: I do for you before I am taken away from you?
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 1: Elisha said, Please let a double portion of your spirit
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: be upon me. This wasn't a selfish request for twice
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: as much supernatural power as Elijah had possessed during his ministry.
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: It was actually a reference to the ancient inheritance law
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: that automatically gave the firstborn son a double portion of
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: his father's estate as his rightful inheritance. Elisha was essentially
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: asking to be recognized as as Elijah's spiritual firstborn and heir,
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: inheriting the prophetic ministry and divine anointing that was now
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: being passed down to the next generation. Elijah's response, found
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: in verse 10, showed both his human wisdom and the
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: clear limits of his personal authority in spiritual matters. So
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: he said, You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, If
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: you see me when I am taken from you, it
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: shall be so for you, but if not, it shall
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: not be so. The granting of this tremendously important request
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: would ultimately be up to God alone, not Elijah, but
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: there would be a clear and unmistakable sign. If Elisha
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: was able to actually witness his master's supernatural departure from
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: this earth, it would mean that God had favorably heard
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: and granted his request for the double portion of prophetic anointing.
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: What happened next was unlike anything that had ever occurred
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: in the entire history of the human race since Adam
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: and Eve were first created in the Garden of Eden.
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: As verse 11 describes this absolutely incredible and unprecedented scene,
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 1: suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: and separated the two of them. And Elijah went up
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: by a whirlwind into heaven. Without any warning, advance notice,
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: or time for preparation, supernatural horses pulling a magnificent chariot
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: made entirely of divine fire descended from heaven itself and
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: came directly between, the two prophets, separating them from each other.
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: This wasn't ordinary destructive fire that would burn and consume
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 1: everything it touched. This was the same kind of supernatural
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: divine fire that had dramatically consumed the sacrifice on. Mount Carmel,
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: holy fire that represented God's awesome presence. perfect holiness and
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: unlimited power the horses and chariots separated Elijah from Elisha
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: and then something happened that had never occurred before in
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: all of human history A living person was taken directly
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  Speaker 1: into the presence of God in heaven without having to
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: experience physical death first. If this incredible biblical story has
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: touched your heart and strengthened your faith, please hit that
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: subscribe button and ring the notification bell so you never
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: miss our latest biblical adventures. Share this video with your
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: family and friends. Everyone needs to hear these amazing stories
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: of God's power and love. And don't forget to leave
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: a comment telling us which part of Elijah's journey inspired
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 1: you the most. Your engagement helps us bring these powerful
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: biblical stories to even more people around the world. Until
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: next time, remember that the same God who worked miracles
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: through Elijah is still working miracles today. Keep faith, stay strong,
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: and we'll see you in the next biblical adventure.