Favorite Snapshots from the Bible

Showdown on the Mountain

I Kings 18

Welcome to today’s meeting of the AOE. No, it’s not the American Order of Elks, or the Association Of Evangelicals, or even a meeting of Amalgamated Over Eaters. No, today, we are all gathered here as a member of the Ahab, Obadiah, Elijah club. Everyone here is a member, each of us will be able to find ourselves in today’s Snapshot from the Bible. Which character most resembles you?

Let’s look at the picture, shall we? Turn to I Kings, chapter 18. First Kings comes just before … you guessed it, II Kings! And just after II Samuel. It is toward the beginning of the Bible, about 1/5 of the way through your Bible. (Pg 248 in sanctuary Bibles)

Let me read for you the story, and then we will see if we can find your face in the picture…

First, a little background. Ahab was the most wicked King that Israel ever knew. Chapter 16, verse 33 tells us that Ahab was worse than any of the kings before him, and under his leadership the people had turned away from worshiping and loving the Lord to worshiping the false gods of the surrounding cultures. Ahab had even married a woman named Jezebel, who was from one of those ungodly tribes, and he began to worship her gods. Jezebel used her position to have the temples of the Lord destroyed, the prophets of God killed, and temples built to Baal and Ashera. Baal was the God of the weather. He was seen as the one who brought rain. Lightning was believed to be his spears, and thunder was his voice. That is why it was so interesting that Elijah came to the king, in chapter 17, and declared that because the people had turned their back on the Lord God, there would be no rain or even dew until he gave the word. He turned and walked out of the king’s palace, and it did not rain for three and a half years. What had once been a land flowing with milk and honey was now a desolate parched wasteland, where livestock couldn’t find a place to graze.

Now let’s pick up the story in I Kings 18…

Isn’t that a great story? Man, this has always been one of my favorites. Elijah did all he could to taunt the prophets of Baal. He gave them home court advantage, if you will. He had the duel on Mount Carmel, a place where the false gods had a temple, but the alter to the Lord had been destroyed. He challenged them to call down fire from heaven, and remember, that is what they claimed their God did all the time. He let them go first. Then he taunted them with jeers and teasings. Then he built his alter, and covered it with 12 pots of water, thoroughly soaking it all. And then he said his simple prayer of faith. And God answered it! Man, I just love it!

So did you see it? Did you see any resemblance between these three main characters and your own life? Let’s take a look at each one individually.

AHAB

First we have Ahab. Ahab has all kinds of familiar traits. First, he was selfish, and had his priorities all out of whack. In the first few verses, we see that after 3 and one half years of famine and drought, he is worried about his horses, mules and livestock. Wait a minute! This guy is supposed to be the king of Israel, and his people are dying from famine and thirst, and he is worried about his livestock? Well, you see, in those days, the power and wealth and majesty of a king were determined by the quantity and quality of the livestock he held. His eyes were only on himself, his possession, and his personal well-being. He did not care for anyone or anything else.

We also see that Ahab allowed the wicked around him to influence him to reject God. When we are first introduced to Ahab, back in chapter 16, verse 29, in that introductory paragraph we read this sentence, from verse 16:31, “And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that he took as his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sdonians, and he went and served Baal and worshiped him.”

You see, up until Ahab’s time, the evil kings of Israel, his forbears, had tried to blend the religions of Israel with those of the surrounding people, which was a terrible sin in the eyes of God. But for Ahab, that was seen as a trivial thing. “So what if they had tried to worship the Lord God and Baal?” He was going to take Jezebel as his wife. Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal. Do you see the name “Baal” as part of his name? That is because he was the high priest of Baal, which made Jezebel the princes of Baal. Her name meant, “My father Baal is exalted.” Ahab made the rejection of the Lord complete by not even blending the two religions; he turned completely to Baal, and served and worshiped him. Hey, it was great. Baal and Ashera were pretty fun gods to serve, at least as the world thinks. Ashera was the goddess of fertility, and ritualistic sex and prostitution was part of the religious practice. It was a culture steeped in self-indulgence and self-gratification. Baal worship included self-mutilation and child sacrifices. And as terrible as that sounds, people are drawn to religious practices that make them feel like they are doing something to earn their god’s favor. By denying themselves, or doing some act of penance, they can get to God’s good side.

One more thing about Ahab. In verse 18:17, we see that Ahab blamed everybody else for his problems. He was not going to take responsibility for the disaster that his kingdom had become. When Elijah presents himself to Ahab, the king yells out, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” It’s always everybody else’s fault with people like Ahab, isn’t it? We see it today, as well. As our culture slips further and further into the abyss of self indulgence and anything goes, it’s the Christians who get the heat when they stand firm for the principles of God. Think about it – this week we saw headlines of human embryos now being created with the specific purpose of being destroyed so that stem cells can be harvested. Do you know what that means? Eventually there could easily be “fetus farms,” where children are conceived in a test tube, allowed to grow just enough to be harvested for their valuable tissues, then discarded. But when Christians cry “foul!” we are seen as the problem - intolerant, unsophisticated, and dangerous! You may rightly ask how the world got so screwed up – and the answer is the same now as it was then – when people trade the Truth of God for a lie, for their own selfish gain, then we reap the awful consequences.

OBADIAH

The second character in our snapshot from Scripture today is Obadiah. Now this is not the Obadiah who wrote the book of Obadiah. Obadiah was a pretty common name in Israel. It means “Servant of the Lord.” Let’s take a look at this guy for a moment. We read that he was in charge of Ahab’s house. We see that he was someone who feared the Lord greatly. But apparently he kept it to himself. You see, Jezebel had sought out and had executed all the people who were faithful to the God of Israel, but here was Obadiah, right in the King’s home, and he feared the Lord. Obviously, he kept his faith to himself.

It is good that he was able to serve in the kings house and still keep himself pure from the idle worship that surrounded him, but do not let it escape your notice, that Obadiah, while fearing the God of Elijah, was weakened in his service to God by his devotion to his worldly master. He should have said, “But King Ahab, what about the people? Can we work to preserve the beasts of your stables and ignore the infirmity of your subjects?”

Instead he is caught up in doing the work of the evil king. Seeking a human way out of a spiritual situation. Would he have faced the wrath of a Godless and evil master in even presuming to correct his vision? Yes, probably so! But so what? We are in the world, and we must function in the world, but we are not to be OF the world. When man’s goals and aspirations oppose Godly living and conscience, we must stand against them, or be dragged down with them.

Did Obadiah have some role to play? Certainly, his hiding of the 100 prophets of God was commendable, but he seems to take some pride in it, almost using it as an excuse for his decision to stay incognito in the palace.

And look a little closer at Obadiah in this snapshot. Do you see that worn, and aged-beyond-his-years look? That’s because Obadiah is living in fear. He’s afraid that Ahab will find out he’s a follower of the Lord. He’s afraid that Jezebel will discover his true identity and have him killed.

You see, when we try to fear God, and yet live in the world, and hide our faith so no one will know, we become fearful, paranoid people. It is a tough place to be. How badly Obadiah needed to hear the question Elijah would put to the people in verse 21:
“How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him!”

Warren Wiersbe had this to say about Obadiah,

Obadiah is a picture of the compromising believer, and his life is in direct contrast to that of Elijah. Elijah was serving the Lord publicly and without fear; Obadiah was serving Ahab and trying to serve the Lord secretly. Elijah was “outside the camp, Obadiah was inside the court. Elijah knew the will of God, Obadiah did not know what was going on. While Elijah was laboring to save the nation, Obadiah was out looking for grass to save the horses and mules. When Elijah confronted Obadiah, the frightened servant did not trust the prophet, and had to brag about his secret service to try and impress Elijah with his devotion.

He finishes up this scathing paragraph with this sentence: “Alas, we have too many Obadiahs and not enough Elijahs!”

ELIJAH

That third character in the picture is Elijah.

What more can be said about this man than what we have read here? In verse 18:15, and in 17:1, He describes himself as one who “stands before the Lord.” The Hebrew term used for that phrase means, “to serve, to be present before, to stay, to abide, to dwell, to endure.” Elijah was one who did not find his power by serving before an earthly king; he dwelt in the Lord God Almighty. He would not compromise; he would not back down from the truth. He called sin, “sin.” He challenged the people and the leaders of Israel to return to the Lord God. He would not be swayed by the culture around him, or keep his faith a secret out of fear of retribution or rejection. Elijah was one who stood before God, spoke the truth, and possessed amazing faith. He knew that 850 priests and two false gods were no match for one man and the Lord.

Jesus said, “If Abide in me, and My words abide in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it shall be done for you.” Elijah found his abiding place in the Lord, and when he called on the Lord to reveal His awesome power, God did it. Folks, the revelation of God is now complete in this book, and we need to be bold in taking the truth of this Word to a lost and dying world. In the midst of the twisted and parched land, He stood and cried out, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal, follow him.” There is no sitting on the fence, you either follow God, or you don’t.

In many respects, the world is desolate, a vast wasteland. What had once been a great kingdom has fallen into disgrace. There are those who think it a trivial thing to continue to walk in their sin. There are those who fear the Lord, yet do it secretly, their fear of God is overshadowed by their fear of being discovered. What we need are more people like Elijah, who will abide in the Lord, stand firm in their faith, and strongly call people back to Him.

Which of these pictures bares the most resemblance to your own life? Are you an Ahab, following the path of self-indulgence, turning your back on God’s principles, and blaming everyone else for your own destruction? If you find yourself there – good news: You can come to God right now, turn your back on the idols of this world, and follow Him, and stand before Him just like Elijah did.

Or are you an Obadiah, secretly trusting God, but with a faith that is carefully hidden, so no one will know that you follow Him? Are you in a position that constantly challenges your service to God by calling you to pursuits that you know are contrary to His will? Why do you stay in Ahab’s house? Why do you fear God, but serve the old man? Why do you obey the maniacal ravings of the sin nature, when God’s Word makes very clear that through Christ’s atoning sacrifice sin is no longer master over you?

May God grant the world more Elijahs. May He start with each of us.

Prayer.