Gooding, David: 3 - Elijah at Carmel

And a very good evening to you. This is the third of our studies on the first and second books of Kings in the Old Testament. It is not antiquarianism that takes us back to the first millennium BC to consider the famous building that Solomon built in Jerusalem at the time. It is because there is a decided connection between the function of the building that he built and our present situation in this modern advanced age as believers. What Solomon did, among the many things for which he is renowned, was to build the house of God at Jerusalem. Hitherto, among the Israelites, there had been no permanent stone-built house of God in Jerusalem, the one that Solomon built was the first. But as we have considered that house, we have at least been reminded of a similar terms that are used in the Christian epistle by Paul, first epistle to Timothy, chapter three. And he writes to Timothy at Ephesus, from verse one. Fourteen onwards of one Timothy chapter three. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly, but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how people ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. There you will see the term the House of God. And as we advance in our study of the ancient House of God that Solomon built, we shall find an immediate correspondence in addition. That house was marked by the presence of two massive pillars, each of them carrying a most ornate capital on its top. As far as we know, they were freestanding pillars and hugely significant, such that each one of them was given a name in Hebrew. Uh, so then Paul, talking to the Christian people in Ephesus, says that he writes that they might know how people ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. We can see at least, uh, in vocabulary a similarity between the New Testament situation and the one that we read of in First Kings. Now, so far in our studies, we have found, we have concentrated indeed on the provision that God made for his people Israel after the death of David. David was the great conqueror who had brought the nation together as distinct from being just twelve tribes, had conquered Jerusalem and set it up as the capital city. David was eventually, uh, uh, dying. His people tried to keep him alive, but it was no use. He passed away. A lot of people couldn't imagine living without King David there. We've asked ourselves, therefore, what provision did God make, having raised up King David? What provision did God make after his death for the maintenance of his people in good, fit, spiritual condition? And if need be, if they strayed, what provision God had made for their recovery? And we find the answer in this very house of God that Solomon built. Perhaps we can look at a picture of it here, eh, on the screen. We are not absolutely certain of the exact shape of it. Uh, this is just one of the, uh, reconstructions that have been made by some of the experts, do you see? This was the house of God that Solomon built in the early, uh, uh, first millennium BC. There were the pillars, they were freestanding pillars with their capitals. This was the doorway in. This was the house of God where God deigned to presence himself and to place his name there. In our last study, we noticed an interesting but peculiar thing about this particular house of God. That is, there was only one of them. It contrasts, of course, vividly with the habit of other nations, like Greece, for instance, where you might find in many a city a temple to Zeus, the chief god, or a temple to Apollo, or even to Aphrodite, uh, do you see? Many such in many cities. But with Israel, there was only one house of God. That was in Jerusalem. They had eventually, in the course of history, many synagogues in different villages and towns, and indeed in different countries. In Babylon, where there were a, a number, a quite a large, uh, collection of Jews, or in Egypt, for instance, as around about the place, eh, and in different parts of Palestine, there were synagogues, just like there's a synagogue here in Belfast to this present day. But in Judaism, there was only one temple, one house of God. It was so in the time of our Lord. There was only one house that was in Jerusalem. Our Lord preached in the synagogue of Nazareth, but that wasn't a temple. To get to the temple, you had to go up to Jerusalem. This was, therefore, the house of God, so to speak, i- in our Lord's time. We noticed in our last study, therefore, this very important feature about this house. There was only one house. House. And we drew the parallels between that and our Lord's provision for Christian people to this present day. To use New Testament language, you can talk about the church, or you can put it in the plural, and you can talk about churches all over the country, all over the world. And that is very proper, to use the plural of the term church for these places. But other terms that are used, you cannot put in the plural. For instance, the New Testament talks of the body of Christ. And all believers are members of his body. But would be bordering dangerously near heresy to talk about the bodies of Christ. Obviously. Similarly with the house of God. You will never read in the New Testament of the houses of God, simply and solely of the house of God. For even today, there is only one house of God. And we're coming on now to a period of history when Israel went astray. Let's read what happened after Solomon's son, Rehoboam, came to the throne. Ten of the tribes eventually revolted against, uh, Solomon's son, chose themselves another leader as king, a man called, uh, Jeroboam, and he took ten of the tribes and established another, uh, uh, uh, country, empire, royal rule. Notice what is said in one Kings chapter twelve, if you have a text, and verse thirty one. And he, that is Jeroboam, made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people which were not of the sons of Levi. He not only therefore built other houses... instead of the one house, but look where he built them. He built them on high places. Now, it was a common thing for people in that country, as in many, to build temples on high places. They were thought to be specially inhabited by spirit beings. For instance, if you want to get some idea of the ancient world, it's a good thing to go to Japan and notice the habits of people that profess the religion of Shintoism. That is the worship of the spirits. And a high place, a a a a an a, you know, sizably or small hillock with nice trees on. If you were a developer, you would have to be very careful where you developed houses round there, because that would be a place where the Japanese feel that it would be the home of spirits and must be respected. There was reason behind God's prohibition of building another house of God or even temples on high places. Because very easily it would lead to syncretism, that is, to regarding Jehovah, the one true God, as simply one more spirit being. The The churches churches to- today in Myanmar find this a difficulty. That too is a land that was marked by spiritism. You'll see. How did, uh, Solomon co- uh, sorry, Rea Burn come to do this? Well, as we saw in our last lecture, the fault was really Solomon's. When Solomon got older, he fell in love with foreign ladies from all over the place. The Book of Kings lists some of them. And to please them, he built houses to their gods all around Jerusalem and elsewhere. In spite of the implied insult that that was to the God whom he professed to worship, namely the one true God, Jehovah. And to build those several temples to these foreign deities, he had to, uh, uh, load the people with onerous tasks, more than he should have done. So when Solomon died, the people came to his son, Rehoboam, and they said to him, look, your father made our burden too heavy. Make your burden lighter, and we will serve you. So Rehoboam took counsel with the old men and then with the younger men. Alas, he followed the counsel of the younger men, and he replied to the complainants, he said, make my yoke lighter, I wouldn't dream of it. My fathers, uh, uh, uh, the, uh, whipped you with whips, I will whip you with scorpions, that is with leather straps and with iron embedded in it. My little finger will be thicker than my father's loins. Foolish man, of course. We contrasted as Christians what he said about making his yoke harder, with the words of our blessed Lord, recorded in Matthew eleven. Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. Christ is the king of the easy yoke. It is a yoke. When we become Christians, we're no longer free to do as we like. We do take his kingly rule upon us, but his yoke is easy and his burden light. When Solomon's son Rehoboam made that threatening response to the ten tribes, they said, goodbye Rehoboam. We have no longer any interest in David. And they split off and chose themselves another king. Indeed, the context tells us that God himself. himself, uh, deliberately removed ten of the tribes from Solomon's son and gave them to Jeroboam. He is not to be faulted for what he did in that respect, but he is to be faulted on what he did subsequently. He was given to rule over ten tribes, but this apparently is what he said to himself, uh, do you see, um, when he came to the throne. This is one Kings chapter twelve verse twenty six. If the people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they shall kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah. Rehoboam therefore, or Jeroboam therefore, frightened, lest he lose the loyalty of the people. Kings, you know, have that fear. How do you keep the loyalty of the people? And sometimes elders in Christian churches have the same fear. How do you keep the loyalty of the people? I remember at one stage how a good man came to me, and he was quite a famous preacher. And in our discussion, he confessed that he had sort of run out of material. I'm not telling you his name, so this is not names out, uh, tales out of school, but sometimes preachers do run out of material, and when they do that, uh, they have engagements to fulfill. Sometimes they look up an old hack or some kind of elderly chap and, um, see what they can get, you see. So he asked, um, outright, he said, now, now, what would you suggest? What kind of a Bible book I, uh, could I, mm, perhaps, um, take up? I said, have you ever done First Corinthians? No, he said, but I couldn't do that. I said, why on earth not? He said it would break my ministry. I thought I understood why he said it. Because First Corinthians talks about the way we run the churches, doesn't it? There have become so many different views on how Christian churches ought to be run. That he is a bad, a bold man and a bold woman who would dare, in some circles, to preach from First Corinthians. Pity, isn't it? Because the fear is that you'd lose the people. They wouldn't put up with it. So Jeroboam, he did various things, you'll see. Verse twenty eight, whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold, and he said unto the people, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. There are two things wrong with that, at least. One is that it was secondhand notions. Earlier on, far earlier on, when the people were, uh, camped outside or below Mount Sinai, and Moses was gone up to talk to God and was up there forty days and forty nights, and the people got restive, uh, and they talked about making a captain and going back to Egypt. Uh, and Aaron, poor man, he was a little bit weak-kneed, high priest though he was, uh, and he, uh, he got the tremors. And he said, okay, well, uh, bring your earrings to me, do you see? And uh, so they brought their earrings. And he put them in a furnace and melted them down and made a golden calf. And said, these are thy gods that brought you out of Egypt. Oh, dear, dear, dear me. It wasn't, therefore, very new or startlingly original. For Jeroboam to follow the same trick. But worse still, it was sheer idolatry. To interpose faith in those idols instead of faith in the one true God. Well, he did some other things as well, do you see? Uh, he not only made houses of the high place, verse thirty two, and Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, but at a different time. Do you see? So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he went up, says verse thirty three, unto the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart. Bother scripture. Never mind what God's word has said. You've got to keep the loyalty of the people. And that he proposed to do by organizing different feasts. So that, uh, verse thirty three of chapter thirteen tells us, that after this thing, Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again from among all the people priests of the high places. Whosoever would, he consecrated him that there might, that they, there might be priests of the high places. So making priests for which he had no biblical authority or divine authority whatsoever. Sorry and sad thing, isn't it? So soon after David and Solomon. From Jeroboam's sin that he did, Israel never recovered. They remained separate with their different houses. Eventually they went over to the worship of Baal, as we shall presently see, until the Assyrians came and took them all away to Assyria. They never recovered. Jenna Burn had a son. Um, do you see, uh, let's have a, a, a slide now with the, um... Oh, there we are. That, that is the good si- the slide that we need. You see on the left hand side the house plans, God's plans for the house of the Lord. There are five sets of them, or six sets of them. The first set is the house itself. There was to be only one house, though many side rooms. And then in the middle of the sets of plans for the house of the Lord, you get a few verses that are nothing other than a special plea for obedience. You will say. But look at this side. This is actual history. So soon after Solomon, though there was meant to be only one house, Jeroboam sets up other houses. That made a change, didn't it? He had a son called Nadab. But then a certain Basha, uh, assassinated him, and therefore destroyed the dynasty of Jeroboam. But in fact, uh, uh, in spite of the fact that God allowed him to destroy Jeroboam's dynasty, carried on in Jeroboam's sin. There was no repentance nor reform under Baasha. Now we're going to look further into the history. And we're coming down to the inside of the house of the Lord. And we're going to notice in the third set, it's a very long set of instructions for the eternal internal decorations and furniture inside the house of the Lord. But first of all, we'll take its chief installation. In the most holy place, in the house of God, which Solomon had built, there stood the Ark of God. Inside were the tables of the law that ran, as we know, thou shall have no other god but me. So that was the house of the Lord... down in Jerusalem. Watch now what happens among the ten tribes. The house of God at Jerusalem was still meant to be for all ten tribes. It didn't become the exclusive property of the two tribes. It was still open to all te- uh, twelve tribes, the house of the Lord, as God originally intended. But there arose a king called Ahab, and he married a foreign girl, and she was called Jezebel, and she was a follower of the, the god Baal. So, if you please, Ahab built a whole temple to Baal. And they virtually closed down the house, uh, any worship of the one true God. Josie. Look at it. Thou shall have no other God but me. In the plans. Ahab. But I have a wonderful story to tell you. That God isn't hard up for ideas. And every now and again, in spite of extremes of perversity, God instigates a revival. Let's have a look. We're going to consider the very famous story of the first big revival led by Elijah on Mount Carmel. And the issue at stake in the revival, most revivals, even present ones, have one particular issue at stake, you'll see, in the middle of the revival. And this one was no exception. The basic thing at stake in the middle of the revival was who is the true God? Baal or Jehovah? How would you tell, anyway? If you met somebody down your street around a corner who was a worshipper of Baal. How would you show that your God is, is the true God and theirs isn't a true God? And should you bother about it anyway? Well, the bi- revival was led by Elijah. So let me tell you a thing or two about Elijah. He was a northerner, as far as we are aware. And whether he ever went down to Jerusalem, to the house of God in Jerusalem, like he ought to have done as an Israelite, we're not told. We're not told that he ever visited the place. Do you see? That doesn't mean that he didn't know about it. I repeat, in our Lord's time, there was only one house of God, it was at Jerusalem. Even the Jews who lived up i- i- i- in Galilee knew what the Jerusalem temple stood for and how it was, and so forth and so on. So Elijah would have known about it and known its chief features. Let's have a slide that could look at the, um, inside of the place. Uh, uh, you can come up afterwards with your cup of tea and, uh, look at it more closely so it's in focus. But I hope the impression is got that if you come in the main door here, then on all sides round, floor included, it is gold. Magnificent, of course. Some people have said it must be a fairy tale world to have gold, what, gold on the floor even, let alone on the walls. And they have said it's a fairy story. No, it isn't. Professor Millard of Liverpool, uh, has written on this matter and pointed out to us that the wealth spent on temples in those far off days was gigantic. Gold was quite plentiful. It, the history remarks that in Solomon's day, gold was so plentiful, if you saw a bit of silver on the ground, you, you kicked it down the drain and you didn't bother about picking it up, you see, because, uh, silver, I mean, nobody counted anything for that. Gold is, was plentiful. Anyway, this was all covered with gold. The floor was covered and the walls were covered. But you see, first of all, they were stone walls, and then they were lined with cedar wood, and the cedar wood was carved. You'll find all the details in chapter six. The cedar wood was carved. And there were carved on the cedar wood cherubim and palm trees and open flowers. Lovely, wasn't it? Do you see cherubim? There's another name for them in scripture, book of Ezekiel, for instance. Cherubim are the living creatures. They are expressive of life. When John saw the throne of God, book of the Revelation chapter six, he said the throne itself was upheld on the backs of cherubim. And he said, you know the cherubim, one was like a lion, and the other was like an eagle, and the other was like a man, and the other was like a lamb, I think, or an ox, rather. They were the living creatures. You know, I've often thought it, but I think it nowadays particularly more so. I wish I were a cherubim or a cherub, you know. God, life, all these four different forms of life, do you see? Hm. All at once. The times were when I was beautiful, well, at least my mother thought so, but that that time has long since gone by, you see, beauty, no, of course not. And times when I was strong and played rugby against the New Zealanders and things. Not now, ladies and gentlemen. I once had lovely hair. To be frank, I never flew like an eagle can. That's the one thing. Marvelous, isn't it, to be an eagle? Ooh. To be a lion, wow. Life. God's house was carved with emblems of life, life's beauty in the, in the palmettes and the cherubs with their different forms of life. And to add to it, in the most holy place, the throne of God was the ark, of course, and it had on it, uh, the slab of pure gold that people have called in English the mercy seat. And the mercy seat had two cherubs coming out of each end, and their wings overshadowed the mercy seat. But not content with that, in the house that Solomon built by God's d- uh, command, there were, in addition, two very large olive wood cherubs. And they stood behind the ark, presumably, and they stood with their wings outstretched. This wing touched the f- the wall that side, and this wing touched the edge of the fellow cherub's wing, you see. And the other cherub, you see, this is the house of the living God. Would that we remembered it. In those verses I quoted from one Timothy three. They run like this, that if I tarry long, that people might know how to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the... anybody can finish the sentence? Pardon? The living God. The living God, that's right. The church of the living God. It's not just a theory, a theological fact. He's a person and alive. Whereas idols are dead things. And all was covered with gold. Now, whether Elijah had ever been down, he wasn't a priest, so he wouldn't have been allowed inside anyway, but he would surely have heard of this magnificent display of the house of the living God. So when he is introduced in the first book of Kings, look what he says. This is chapter seventeen and verse one. And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the Sogenes of Gilead, said unto Ahab, as the Lord, the God of Israel liveth. Before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. Elijah was prepared. He stood before the living God. And, uh, in addition, in this holy place, this is the holy place, and after this the most holy, there was a little altar here. It was called the golden altar, and it was at as the priest at the hour of prayer should come and offer the praises and prayers of Israel. It was by such an altar that Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, was ministering, was it not, according to Luke chapter one, when the people were outside praying, and Zachariah was inside as the priest allotted at the time, at that day, to offer the incense and the prayers of Israel. And an angel appeared to him and said, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard. God grants you your prayer. What a tremendous thing this is. It's had to stand outside the veil, of course, but it addressed the priest that stood here, addressed God, who presents himself on the ark. The marvelous grace of God is this, that he invited his people to make their suggestions to the government. To the divine government. What a magnificent grace it is, isn't it? And we are invited likewise, are we not? My brothers, my sisters, to come and make our suggestions and our prayers before the government of the universe, the living God. There came eventually the big contest. In answer to uh uh uh uh Elijah's prayers, there was no rain for three years. The epistle by James reminds us of this. Elijah was a man of like passions as we are, and he prayed, and the heavens withheld their rain, and he prayed again, that is on Mount Carmel, and the deluge came. As an instrument in God's hand, therefore, Elijah prayed, and the rain was stayed, you'll see. And eventually, God indicated to him that the time had come for the great contest. And eventually, Elijah met Ahab, and Ahab Elijah. He was a brave man, was Elijah, to meet Ahab. Ahab could have had him executed there and then, humanly speaking. Elijah proposed a test. They were to gather the people to Mount Carmel. Then the priests of Baal were to be there. And the test was this, let them build their altar and call upon their God, Baal. And the God that answered by fire, let him be God. They were to call on Baal to send down fire from heaven. Elijah then would build an altar and call on Jehovah. And the same test applied. The God that answers by fire. Let him be God. So I, uh, Elijah challenged the people, how long hold you between two opinions? If Baal be God, go in hundred percent and worship him. But if Jehovah be God, worship him. So the priests of Baal pre- prepared their altar, you see, and built their altar, and put the sacrifice on, and called upon Baal. But I'll tell you something about Baal. He didn't exist, you know. Baal means lord, and represented one, the powers of agriculture. And then he was the storm god. As they thought. So go on, call on your god, says Elijah. So they call on him from morning, but nothing happened. So they got excited. And like teenagers today, they cut themselves with knives. To show their, uh, zeal. Nothing happened. Then Isa- uh, Elijah got sarcastic. I don't know whether you agree that sarcasm has times when it is perfectly okay, uh, or you say, no, that's not, perhaps you th- think it isn't Christian. Well, Elijah wasn't a Christian, really, not yet. Tuesday. He said, well, call a bit louder, you priests of Baal, call a bit louder. I mean to say, perhaps your, your God has gone off hunting somewhere. Um, and then he said a Hebrew word that means perhaps he's gone to the toilet. That was really sarcastic, wasn't it? But there was, now listen to the pathos. They called, oh Baal, hear us. There was neither voice, nor any that answered. Oh, it'd break your heart to think of this world, isn't it? They won't have the true God. They want to think that matter is the only reality. But it's impersonal. And men and women in their need call on matter. Oh, evolution help us. You might as well save your breath. There's no one to answer. No voice. If there are no God, we are alone in the universe, aren't we? Amidst incalculably strong forces, but utterly alone, and they're going to destroy us anyway. It'd move your heart, wouldn't it? Men that don't, men and women that don't know the living God. Where can they call in their times of extremity. No voice, nor any that answered. Elijah put up with it until about two o'clock or three o'clock in the afternoon, time of the evening sacrifice. He first ordered drums of water to be deluged over his altar and the sacrifice. And then he called upon God, the living God, to hear and turn his people's hearts back again. And the fire descended, burned up the altar and the wood and the everything else. Self-evidently from God. What does it say to us? Well, you will have your thoughts, as I do mine. I shall tell you now... where God has spoken to me. And that's at the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Tell me, has God accepted his sacrifice? Has God demonstrated the adequacy of that sacrifice? You say, yes, he has indeed. The third day, God raised him from the dead. This is where God speaks. What a message it has for Almighty God. It is not sentiment that has him saying, in spite of all your sins, I love you with a creator's heart, and my son, see him dying for you and giving his life for you. This is of me. I raised him the third day from the dead. Mm-hmm. There are other evidences for the truth of Christianity, aren't there? There's none more powerful than God's gift and God's response to the sacrifice of Christ. And... And Elijah commanded that they go down and slaughter the priests of Baal. Ahab went back to his palace in Samaria. Elijah sat on the mountain and put his head between his knees. For now it was a question of another prayer. He had prayed that there should not be rain for three years. Now the sacrifice had been offered, and the fire from heaven had come. Would the rain come? In answer to his prayer. He told his servant to go up and look, and there was nothing. Go look the seven, the sex, uh, the second times, he said. And eventually there came a tiny little bit of mist like a man's hand. And eventually the whole sky was dark. And the rain pelted. You say, so soon after, after the sacrifice. Mm. And now I open myself to all sorts of charges of fancifulness, um, and in particular in the realm of typology, do you see? But there you are. You're nobody if you don't have one or two vices, are you? You hold that God spoke at Calvary and raised our Lord from the dead. Do you hear of any rain coming Thereafter? thereafter? Will not rain, you say, but there happened to something on the day of Pentecost that swept three thousand folks clean into the kingdom of God. Lovely story, isn't it? But the ancient revival, let's have it back on the s- on the screen. The ancient revival under Elijah, the issue at stake, who is the true God, Baal or Jehovah? We shall ponder long, shall we not? What the test was, and how that ancient test can still speak to us in our modern world. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank thee for these stirring accounts of thine ancient servant Elijah. We bless thee for thy heart that prended and in thy mercy gave thy people opportunity to repent and to be restored. Help us in our day, Lord, that we might know thee ourselves as the living God, and prove thee in our labours for thee. So we thank thee for this occasion. We thank thee for the refreshments provided, and ask thy blessing on our concourse, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.