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The Story of the Prophet Elijah – The Man Who Was Taken to Heaven by a Chariot of Fire(M4A_128K) · truthunedited

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Speaker 1: Imagine a man so powerful that his words could shut
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the heavens for three years, a prophet who called down
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fire from above and outran royal chariots. Picture someone who
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raised the dead, defeated four hundred and fifty false prophets alone,
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and never tasted death because God took him alive in
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a whirlwind of fire. This is Elijah, the mysterious Tishbite
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who appeared from nowhere and vanished into eternity. His story
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reads like an epic adventure, supernatural provision by ravens, epic
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showdowns on mountain tops, divine whispers in caves, and a
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finale that defies all earthly logic. From drought to deluge,
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from despair to divine encounter, from earthly ministry to heavenly chariot,
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witnessed the most extraordinary prophetic journey ever recorded. To day,
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we uncover the complete saga of the man who walked
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with God so closely that Heaven itself opened to receive him.
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In the ancient world, genealogies and family backgrounds mattered more
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than almost anything else. When some one important appeared on
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the scene. People wanted to know who their father was,
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what tribe they came from and how they had earned
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their position. But Elijah shatters this pattern completely. The Bible
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introduces him in First Kings seventeen one with the simplest
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of descriptions, and Elijah, the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead,
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said to Ahab, that's it. No mention of his father's name,
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no royal blood line, no prestigious training under famous prophets.
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He simply called the Tishbite, a man from a small,
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obscure place called Tishby in the rugged region of Gilead
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east of the Jordan River. This was frontier country, a
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place where tough, independent people lived, far from the luxury
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and corruption of the royal courts. While other prophets like
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Isaiah had access to kings and moved in sophisticated circles,
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Elijah comes from the wilderness, carrying nothing but the raw
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power of God's authority. His sudden appearance in scripture is
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like watching a bolt of lightning strike from a clear sky.
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One moment he's not there, and the next moment he's
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standing in the presence of kings, speaking with the voice
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of the Almighty. This mysterious entrance tells us something profound
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about how God works, he often chooses the unexpected, the overlooked,
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the ones who come from nowhere to accomplish his greatest purposes.
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Picture the scene in King Ahab's palace. Marble floors, golden decorations,
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guards standing at attention, advisers whispering political strategies. This was
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the center of power in Israel, where the king, who
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had led the nation deeper into idle worship than ever before,
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held court. Ahab wasn't just politically corrupt, he was spiritually bankrupt.
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Under his rule, altars to foreign gods had been built
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throughout it Israel, and the worship of the True God
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had been pushed aside to make room for the pagan
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practices that pleased his Phoenician wife Jezebel. Into this scene
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of royal power and spiritual darkness, walks a wild looking
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prophet from the mountains. No appointment, no protocol, no diplomatic niceties.
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Elijah marches straight up to the most powerful man in
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the kingdom and delivers a message that would echo through history.
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As recorded in First King seventeen one, he declared, with
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absolute confidence, as the Lord God of Israel lives before
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whom I stand, there shall not be due nor reign
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these years except at my word. Think about the incredible
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boldness of this moment. This wasn't a request or a warning.
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It was a pronouncement of divine judgment. Elijah was telling
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the king that the heavens themselves would be shut up,
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that no reign would fall on Israel until this mountain
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prophet decided otherwise. The drought that would bring the entire
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nation to its knees had just been announced by a
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man who had appeared from nowhere, and then as suddenly
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as he had come, Elijah was gone, leaving the king
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to face the reality that the God he had rejected
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was still very much in control. After delivering such a
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shocking message to King Ahab, Elijah's life was immediately in danger.
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The king would not sit quietly while his kingdom suffered
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under a divine curse, and he would certainly send soldiers
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to find and kill the prophet responsible. But God had
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already prepared a perfect hiding place, far from the reach
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of angry kings and their armies. The word of the
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Lord came to Elijah with precise instructions, as we read
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in First Kings seventeen two to four. Get away from here,
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and turn eastward and hide by the brook Cherith, which
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flows into the Jordan, And it will be that you
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shall drink from the brooks, and I have commanded the
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ravens to feed you there. This wasn't just any wilderness hideout.
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This was God's personally chosen retreat center. The brook Cherith
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was a small stream that flowed into the Jordan River,
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probably tucked away in a rocky gorge where no one
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would think to look for a fugitive profit. Here, surrounded
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by wild country and far from civilization, Elijah would experience
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one of the most extraordinary provisions in biblical history. Every morning,
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just as the sun was rising, he would hear the
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distinctive cawing and flapping of wings. Black ravens would descend
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from the sky, each one carrying bread in one claw
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and meat in the other. And every evening, as the
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day was ending, the same remarkable scene would repeat itself.
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These weren't trained circus animals or tame pets. These were
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wild ravens, birds known throughout the ancient world for being
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thieves and scavengers, stealing food food from wherever they could
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find it. Yet God had commanded them to become faithful servants,
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bringing the profit fresh meals twice a day with the
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reliability of the finest royal kitchen. While the rest of
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Israel began to feel the effects of the drought he
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had proclaimed, Elijah sat by fresh running water, eating food
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delivered by birds, completely safe in God's wilderness hotel. Months passed,
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and the drought that Elijah had proclaimed began to take
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its toll on everything, including his own hiding place. Even
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the dependable brook Cherith started to shrink as the relentless
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dry weather continued. Eventually, the stream that had provided his
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water for so long dried up completely, leaving only a
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rocky creek bed where fresh water had once flowed. At
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this critical moment, God gave his profit new instructions that
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must have seemed both shocking and dangerous, as recorded in
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First Kings seventeen eighty nine. Then the word of the
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Lord came to him, saying, Arise, go to Zarafath, which
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belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See I have commanded
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a widow there to provide for you. This command was
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surprising on multiple levels. First, Zarafath wasn't in Israel, It
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was in Sidon, the heart of Phoenician territory and the
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homeland of Queen Jezebel herself. God was sending his profit
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into enemy territory, to the very region where Baal worship
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was strongest and where Jezebel's influence was supreme. Second, he
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was sending the great prophet Elijah to depend on a
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widow in that culture, one of the most powerless and
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vulnerable people in society. When Elijah arrived at the gates
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of Zarafath, he found exactly what he expected to find,
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a woman in desperate circumstances. She was outside the city walls,
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bent over and gathering small sticks from the ground to
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make of her first asking for water and then for bread.
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Her response revealed just how desperate her situation had become.
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This wasn't polite refusal or false modesty. This woman was
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literally at the end of her rope, preparing for what
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she believed would be her final meal on earth. The
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widow's words to this strange prophet from Israel were heart
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breaking in their honesty and desperation. As recorded in First
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King seventeen twelve, she told him, as the Lord, your
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God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful
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of flour in a bin and a little oil in
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a jar. And see, I am gathering a couple of
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sticks that I may go in and prepare it for
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myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.
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She wasn't exaggerating or being dramatic. She was describing the
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literal reality of her situation. She had reached the bottom
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of her flower bin and found only enough for one
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small cache. Her oil jar, which should have held enough
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oil for cooking and lamp fuel, contained just a few drops.
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She was gathering these sticks to build one last fire,
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bake one final piece of bread, share it with her son,
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and then wait for starvation to take them both. But
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Elijah had come bearing a message from God that growing
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thin from hunger, became healthy and strong again. For the
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first time since her husband's death. She wasn't consumed with
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worry about survival. She had seen miracles happen in her
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own kitchen every single day, and her faith in this
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powerful God was growing stronger. But then, without any warning,
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disaster struck their happy home like a thunderbolt from a
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clear sky. Her son became ill. At first, it seemed
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like it might be just another childhood's sickness. Maybe he
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had eaten something that didn't agree with him, or perhaps
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he had caught a cold. But instead of getting better,
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he grew worse. His fever climbed higher, his breathing became labored,
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and no matter what his mother did to care for him,
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his condition continued to deteriorate. Finally, the thing that every
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parent dreads most happened. Her boys stopped breathing entirely. There
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was no heart beat, no movement, no spark of life
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left in his small body. The child was dead. Can
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you imagine the shock and devastating grief that overwhelmed this woman.
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She had risked everything to help God's profit, had watched
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miraculous provision unfold in her home every day, had learned
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to trust in the power of the God of Israel,
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and now her only child, her precious son, who was
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all she had left in the world, lay cold and
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lifeless in her arms. In her overwhelming anguish and confusion,
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she turned to Elijah with words that revealed the torment
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raging in her heart. As Rear accorded in First King
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seventeen eighteen, she cried out, what have I to do
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with you, O Man of God? Have you come to
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me to bring my sin to remembrance and to kill
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my son. In her grief, she wondered if having such
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a holy man in her house had somehow brought divine
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judgment upon her family. Perhaps God had looked at her
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life and found some hidden sin that deserved punishment. The
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very person who had brought such incredible blessing was now
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being blamed for bringing the ultimate curse. When Elijah heard
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the widow's anguished accusation, his heart must have shattered. This
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woman had shown him such kindness when she had nothing
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to give. She had trusted God's promise when it seemed impossible.
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She had opened her home and shared her table with
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him for months. She had become like family to him,
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And now she was looking at him through tears of grief,
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wondering if his presence had somehow caused her so UN's death.
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But instead of defending himself or getting angry, Elijah responded
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with immediate action and gentle authority. As recorded in First
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King seventeen nineteen, he said to her, simply give me
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your son. There was no argument, no long explanation, no
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attempt to convince her that this wasn't his fault. He
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just asked for her to trust him one more time
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with the most precious thing in her world. She placed
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her dead child in the Prophet's arms, and he carried
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the lifeless little body up the narrow stairs to the
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upper room, where he had been staying there alone with
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the child who had brought such joy to this little household.
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Elijah laid him gently on his own bed. And then
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this mighty prophet, who had shut up the heavens and
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commanded ravens, did something that shows us the deepest part
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of his heart. He fell to his knees beside the
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bed and poured out his soul to God with raw,
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unfiltered emotion. This wasn't a careful, theologically correct prayer. This
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was the desperate cry of a man whose faith was
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being stretched to its absolute limits. First King seventeen twenty
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records his honest, anguished words, O, Lord, my God, have
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you also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I
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lodge by killing her son? He wasn't pretending to understand
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God's ways or trying to sound spiritual. He was asking
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the hard questions that we all think when terrible things
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happen to good people. Why would a loving God allow
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such suffering to come to someone who had shown such faith.
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Why would he take the child of a woman who
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had risked everything to help his profit. These were the
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questions that came from a heart that was breaking right
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along with the grieving mother downstairs. What Elijah did next
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had never been attempted in all of human history. No
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one had ever tried to bring someone back from death before.
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There were no precedents, no instruction manuals, no examples to follow.
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But this prophet believed in a God whose power extended
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over every part of creation, including the realm of death itself.
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He stretched himself out on the dead child, covering the
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small cold body with his own warm flesh, and began
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to cry out to Heaven with everything in him. Three
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times he did this, each time pleading with God, as
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recorded in First Kings seventeen twenty one. O Lord, my God,
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I pray let this child's soul come back to him.
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This was completely uncharted territory. Death had always been final,
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the one boundary that no human power could cross. But
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Elijah was appealing to the God who had created life
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in the first place, asking him to do what seemed impossible.
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And in that small upper room in zaz Aarafath, God
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heard the desperate prayer of his faithful servant. The miracle
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that followed would change everything we understand about the power
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of the Almighty. First King seventeen twenty two describes it
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with beautiful simplicity. Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah,
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and the soul of the child came back to him,
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and he revived. One moment, the boy was cold, still
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and lifeless, and the next moment his chest began to
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rise and fall with the rhythm of breathing. Color flooded
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back into his pale cheeks, his eyes fluttered open. He
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sat up completely alive and healthy, as if he had
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simply been taking a long nap. Death itself had been defeated.
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The God of Israel had reached across the boundary between
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life and death and brought this child back to his mother.
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Elijah picked up the living, breathing boy in his arms
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and carried him down the stairs with a heart full
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of overwhelming joy. The words he spoke to the widow,
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recorded in First King seventeen twenty three, were among the
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most beautiful ever uttered. See your son lives. The woman's
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response shows how completely this miracle transformed her understanding of
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who Elijah was and who his God was. As recorded
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in verse twenty four, she declared, Now by this I
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know that you are a man of God, and that
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the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.
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The first resurrection in human history had just taken place
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in a humble house in Zaraphath, performed by a mysterious
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prophet from the wilderness, proving that the God of Israel
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had power over life and death itself. Three and a
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half long years had passed since Elijah first stood before
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King Ahab and declared that no reign would fall on Israel,
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and was now completely destroyed by the worst drought any
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one could remember. What had once been green fields and
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flowing rivers was now nothing but cracked earth and empty
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river beds. Animals were dying everywhere you looked, and people
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were starving in the streets of every city. Even the
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royal palace was feeling the terrible effects of the famine
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that had gripped the entire kingdom. The suffering was so
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severe that King Ahab himself was desperately searching for any
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patch of grass or drop of water. Of the Lord
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came to Elijah in the third year saying, go present
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yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.
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The time for hiding was over. The mysterious profet from Tishbe,
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who had vanished three years earlier, was about to step
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back on to the stage of history and confront the
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king who had been hunting him ever since. This wouldn't
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be a quiet meeting in some private room. Elijah was
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preparing to challenge the entire religious system that Ahab and
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his evil wife Jezebel had forced upon Israel. The stage
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was being set for the most dramatic showdown between the
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true God and false Gods that the world had ever witnessed.
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After years of living by dried up brooks and staying
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in foreign lands, God's profit was ready to return home
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and prove once and for all who really ruled over
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the nation of Israel. While Elijah was preparing to emerge
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from hiding, King Ahab was facing a crisis that was
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getting worse every day. The royal stables were nearly empty
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because most of the horses and mules had already died
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from lack of food and water. In desperation, the king
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decided to personally join the search for any remaining sources
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of water or grass in his dying kingdom, he divided
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the land with his most trusted palace administrator, who had
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brought three years of misery upon his kingdom. The king's
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fury erupted immediately. He didn't waste any time with polite
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greetings or diplomatic conversation. The moment he laid eyes on Elijah,
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his anger exploded in an accusation that revealed exactly how
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he viewed the entire situation, as recorded in First Kings
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eighteen seventeen. Then it happened when Nahab saw Elijah that
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Ahab said to him, is that you o troubler of Israel.
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The king was blaming the prophet for all the death
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and destruction that had ravaged the land, as if Elijah
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was some kind of natural disaster who had appeared out
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of nowhere to cause suffering for no good reason. But
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Elijah didn't back down for even a second. His response
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cut straight through the king's accusations and went right to
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the heart of what was really happening in Israel. The
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prophet's words, found in First Kings eighteen eighteen, were fearless
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and absolutely direct. I have not troubled Israel. But you
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and your father's house have in that you have forsaken
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the commandments of the Lord and have followed the bales.
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Elijah made it crystal clear that this draft wasn't some
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random punishment from an angry God. It was divine judgment
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for the systematic idol worship that had taken over the
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nation under Ahab's weak leadership and Jezebel's evil influence. Then
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the prophet issued a challenge that would change the course
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of Israel's history forever. His command, recorded in First Kings
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eighteen nineteen, was bold, beyond imagination. Now, therefore, send and
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gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel the four
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hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred
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prophets of a sharer who eat at Jezebel's table. This
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wasn't a polite request or a diplomatic suggestion. This was
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a direct command from God's profit to the King of Israel.
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Elijah was calling for the greatest spiritual showdown in human history,
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a contest between himself alone and nearly nine hundred false prophets,
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to be held on Mount Carmel, where every person in
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Israel could witness the results with their own eyes. Mount
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Carmel became the arena for the most important contest in
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Israel's entire history. People traveled from every corner of the
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kingdom to witness this unprecedented event. One lonely prophet of
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the Lord standing against four hundred and fifty well fed
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prophets of Baal, with the spiritual future of the entire
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nation hanging in the balance. As the massive crowd gathered
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on the mountain side, Elijah stood before them and presented
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the challenge in terms so simple that everyone could understand
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exactly what was at stake. His words, recorded in First
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Kings eighteen twenty one, cut right to the heart of
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Israel's spiritual cans fusion. And Elijah came to all the
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people and said, how long will you falter between two opinions?
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If the Lord is God, follow him, but if bail
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follow him? But the people answered him not a word.
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The nation had been trying to serve both the true
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God and the false God bal at the same time,
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but Elijah was forcing them to make a choice once
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and for all. Then he laid out the rules of
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the contest with perfect clarity, making sure there could be
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no confusion about how the winner would be determined. His proposal,
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found in First Kings eighteen twenty three twenty four, established
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the parameters that would settle the question forever. Therefore, let
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them give us two bulls, and let them choose one
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bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it
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on the wood, but put no fire under it. And
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I will prepare the other bull and lay it on
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the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you
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call on the of your gods, and I will call
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on the name of the Lord. And the God who
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answers by fire, he is God. Two altars would be
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built side by side, Two identical sacrifices would be prepared
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exactly the same way, but no human fire would be
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used by either side. The contest would be decided by
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whichever God had the power to send fire from heaven
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to consume the offering prepared for him. It was a
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test that left absolutely no room for tricks, deception, or
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human manipulation. Either God would show up in supernatural power
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that everyone could see, or he wouldn't. The prophets of
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bail stepped forward first, confident in their numbers and their
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years of experience serving in Jezebel's court. They had every
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possible advantage they could ask for in this contest. There
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were four hundred and fifty of them against just one man.
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They got to choose the best bull for their sacrifice,
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and they had the entire morning and afternoon to prove
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their God's power before Elijah would even get his turn.
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They built their altar, carefully arranged their sacrifice according to
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all their religious traditions, and began calling on Bihle with
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complete confidence that he would respond. The scene is described
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in First Kings eighteen twenty six. So they took the
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bull which was given them, and they prepared it and
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called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying,
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oh Bal hear us, but there was no voice. No
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one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they
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had made. Hour after hour, they shouted Bale's name and
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danced wildly around their altar, pleading with their god to
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send fire and prove his power. But nothing happened at all.
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The sky remained perfectly empty, the altar stayed completely cold,
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and their carefully prepared sacrifice just sat there like any
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ordinary piece of meat you might find in a marketplace,
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as the day dragged on, and their desperation grew more
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obvious with every passing hour. Elijah began to mock their
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increasingly frantic efforts. His cutting sarcasm, recorded in First Kings
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eighteen twenty seven, was designed to point out the obvious
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problem with their god. And so it was at noon
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that Elijah mocked them and said, cry aloud, for he
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is a god. Either he is meditating, or he is busy,
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or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is
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sleeping and must be awakened. The prophet was highlighting the
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ridiculous situation they were in. If Bile was really a
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powerful god, like they claimed, why wasn't he responding to
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his own prophets when they needed him most. The false
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prophets became even more desperate and frantic in their efforts,
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as described in verse twenty eight. So they cried aloud
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and cut themselves as was their custom, with knives and lances,
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until the blood gushed out on them. They were actually
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cutting their own flesh with sharp knives, believing that their
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physical suffering and flowing blood might somehow get their God's
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attention and move him to action. After watching the prophets
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of bail fail miserably for an entire day. It was
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finally Elijah's turn to demonstrate the power of his God.
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But instead of rushing immediately into his own dramatic demonstration,
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the prophet did something that showed his complete Elijah said
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to all the people, come near to me. So all
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the people came near to him, and he repaired the
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altar of the Lord that was broken down. This wasn't
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just any random pile of stones. This was an altar
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that had once been used to worship the True God,
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but had been destroyed during Israel's slide into idolatry under
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Ahab's weak leadership. Every single action that Elijah took was
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deliberate and filled with deep meaning that the people of
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Israel would understand, as described in First Kings eighteen thirty
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one thirty two. And Elijah took twelve stones according to
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the number of the tribes of the Sons of Jacob,
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to whom the word of the Lord had come saying,
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Israel shall be your name. Then with the stones he
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built an altar in the name of the Lord. And
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he made a trench around the altar large enough to
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hold two seas of seed. The twelve stones weren't chosen randomly.
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They represented all twelve tribes of Israel, reminding every one
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watching that this contest wasn't just about choosing between different gods,
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but about remembering who they really were as gods chosen people.
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The trench that he dug around the altar seemed like
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an odd detail, but it would become very important very soon.
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Everything was done according to proper procedure and with great care,
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as Verse thirty three described vibes, And he put the
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wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid
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it on the wood, and said, fill four water pots
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with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and
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on the wood. What Elijah commanded next seemed to make
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absolutely no sense from any human perspective. He was about
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to make his own task incredibly more difficult by soaking
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everything with water. What happened next seemed completely insane to
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anyone watching who understood how fire works. Instead of trying
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to make it easier for fire to catch and spread,
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Elijah began giving commands that would make any normal fire
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absolutely impossible to start. He wasn't content with just a
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light sprinkling of water. He ordered a thorough soaking that
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would saturate every part of his altar and sacrifice. The
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detailed account in First Kings eighteen thirty three to thirty
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four shows just how extreme this was. And he put
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the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and
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laid it on the wood, and said, fill four water
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pots with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice
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and on the wood. Then he said do it a
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second time, and they did it a second time. And
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he said do it a third time, and they did
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it a third time. Three separate times, they poured large
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containers full of water over every part of the sacrifice
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that meet the wood and the stones of the altar itself.
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Everything was completely drenched. But Elijah wasn't finished, making his
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task impossible. And now he was ready to call upon
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the name of the Lord with complete confidence. With everything
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perfectly prepared and the entire nation of Israel watching in
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complete silence, Elijah stepped forward to pray to his God.
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But this wasn't the frantic shouting, wild dancing, and desperate
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begging that the profits of Bale had been doing all
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day long. This was the calm, confident and respectful prayer
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of a man who knew his God personally. And had
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no doubt that he would respond, as recorded in First
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Kings eighteen thirty six thirty seven. And it came to
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pass at the time of the offering of the evening Sacrifice,
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that Elijah the Prophet came near and said, Lord God
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of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this
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day that you are God in Israel, and I am
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your servant, and that I have done all these things
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at your word. Hear me, O, Lord, hear me, that
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this people may know that you are the Lord God,
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and that you have turned their hearts back to you. Again,
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Notice that Elijah wasn't trying to prove how great or
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powerful he was as a prophet. His entire prayer was
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focused on showing the people of Israel who the real
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God was and bringing their hearts back to him. The
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prophet's prayer was simple, direct, respectful, and filled with unshakable
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faith in God's car and power. He wasn't begging God
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to send fire. He was asking God to reveal himself
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to his people in a way they would never forget.
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And then it happened, with a power and speed that
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took everyone's breath away. The response from Heaven was immediate, overwhelming,
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and far beyond anything anyone had ever imagined possible, as
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described in First Kings eighteen thirty eight. Then the fire
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of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and
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the wood, and the stones and the dust, and it
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licked up the water that was in the trench. This
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wasn't just regular fire like you would see in a
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fireplace or camp fire. This was the actual fire of
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God himself, falling from heaven like a lightning bolt that
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didn't stop burning until it had consumed everything in sight.
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It didn't just light the sacrifice like a normal firewood.
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It completely consumed and devoured everything. The meat was burned
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up instantly, the wood was consumed in seconds. The very
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stones of the altar were eaten up by the flames.
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Even the dust around the altar was licked up and
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destroyed by the supernatural fire. And most amazing of all,
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the water that had filled the trench and soaked everything.
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All that water that should have put out any earthly
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fire was completely evaporated by the incredible heat of God's flames.
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When all the people saw this absolutely incredible display of
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divine power, their response was immediate, complete, and unanimous, as
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verse thirty nine tells us, now, when all the people
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saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said,
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the Lord he is God, The Lord he is God.
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After witnessing God's incredible fire consume everything on Mount Carmel,
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the people of Israel were completely transformed. Their unanimous declaration
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that the Lord he is God wasn't just words. It
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was a complete change of heart that demanded immediate action.
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The victory had been so overwhelming and undeniable that there
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was no room left for doubt, confusion, or compromise. Elijah
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knew this was the crucial moment to finish what God
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had started and remove the poisonous influence that had corrupted
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Israel for years. The prophet couldn't allow the false prophets
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to simply walk away from their humiliating defeat and continue
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leading the nation astray. After such a clear demonstration of
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their complete powerlessness, his command to the people recorded in
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the First Kings eighteen forty, was direct, decisive, and filled
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with divine authority. And Elijah said to them, seize the
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prophets of bail, do not let one of them escape.
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So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to
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the brook Kishion and executed them there. This wasn't personal revenge,
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human anger, or political maneuvering on Elijah's part. This was
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divine judgment being carried out according to God's law and
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righteous standards. These false prophets had done far more than
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simply fail to call down fire from their God. They
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had systematically led an entire nation into idle worship and
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spiritual darkness for years, corrupting the hearts and minds of
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God's chosen people. They had enjoyed positions of privilege and power,
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eating at Queen Jezebel's royal table while the true prophets
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of God were being hunted down, tortured, and murdered throughout
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the land. They had taught lies about God, promoted immoral
34:45
practices in the name of religion, and turned the hearts
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of fathers and mothers away from the truth that could
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save their children. Now, in the aftermath of their complete
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and public failure, false religious system met its decisive end.
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Every single one of the four hundred and fifty prophets
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of Baal was executed there by the same people who
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had been deceived by their lives for so long. The
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people who had been confused and spiritually divided between two
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opposing opinions just hours before, were now completely united in
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carrying out God's righteous judgment against those who had deceived
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them and led their families into spiritual bondage. With the
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false prophets eliminated and God's supreme power clearly demonstrated before
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the entire nation, it was time for the devastating drought
35:36
to end, just as dramatically as it had begun three
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and a half years earlier. Elijah turned his attention away
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from the defeated false prophets and focused on the promise
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that God had made at the very beginning of this chapter.
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Rain was finally coming to the parched and dying land
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of Israel. But first, the Prophet had some urgent advice
36:02
for King Ahab, whose entire worldview and spiritual perspective had
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been completely transformed by the incredible events he had witnessed
36:11
on Mount Carmel that day, as recorded in First Kings
36:15
eighteen forty one. Then Elijah said to Ahab, go up,
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eat and drink, for there is the sound of abundance
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of rain. The prophet's spiritual ears could already hear what
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was coming from heaven, even though the physical sky above
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them was still perfectly clear and cloudless after years of drought.
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While King Ahab went up the mountain to sell