This sermon on 1 Kings 19 was given at Kew Baptist Church, London.
Elijah slumped against the gate of Jezreel. It had been a while since he had had a chance to catch his breath. The confrontation on Carmel was quickly followed by personally executing 450 prophets of Baal. Then he had to climb back to the top of that mountain again to persistently pray for rain. After which, he completed a 17-mile journey from Carmel to the King’s palace at Jezreel running before Ahab’s chariot. Elijah knew he was tired, yet he still seemed to be running on the adrenaline from all that had happened. O what wonderful things God had done! Putting the prophets of Baal to open shame, demonstrating that he was the only true God by sending fire from heaven. Elijah had marvelled when all who had assembled on the slopes of Mount Carmel fell down and worshipped the LORD. Not only that, but they had participated in the execution of their once precious prophets of Baal. O surely God had now turned the hearts of the nation back to him! And the rain! How could he forget the rain? For it had come again and ended three and a half years of suffering. After many years of darkness, the future of Israel looked bright again! And of course, the clearest sign of this hope for the future was in the change seen in King Ahab himself. He had been on the mountain, witnessed all that the LORD had done. He had been present at the execution of the prophets and had taken part in the celebration feast! Every stride Elijah had taken on that journey to Jezreel he had been conscious that the King was following him, that they were travelling together. The prophet to Israel and King of Israel brought together again. It seemed like God was at last putting all things right. That he was restoring the nation. Elijah had been through tough times the last few years, but as he sat at the gates of Jezreel, he had great expectations for the future. Right now, the King was inside the Palace, telling Queen Jezebel that her prophets had lost and been put to death, that her god Baal had failed her. Surely Ahab was about to demand that she turn to the LORD as both he and the people had done. That Baalism be removed from the kingdom, that his alters and high places be torn down. That Israel would turn back to God just as the nation of Judah had recently done. Looking up, Elijah seen a royal messenger approach. Perhaps this was an invitation into the palace, to appear before the King and advise him what to do next. Elijah stood up and got ready to greet this messenger and hear his message.
Building on what we learnt last week, those are the kind of thoughts I imagine went through Elijah’s head as he waited by the gates of Jezreel. Of course, what happens next is the exact opposite of what Elijah expected. The messenger brought a message not of welcome, but of warning. Yes, Elijah may have just ran 17 miles. But his journey is only beginning. For he will have to travel another 300 miles during our passage today. This unexpected journey that he makes in 1 King 19 can be broken up into three sections: first we see him Wallowing in the Wilderness (19:1-8); then Complaining in a Cave (19:9-14); before finally again Returning to the Road (19:15-21). Up front, I want to say that while this is a journey Elijah does not expect, it is a trip all servants of God should prepare for. We may not have to flee for our lives, or trek 300 miles to a mountain. However, the same frustrations Elijah faced will almost certainly confront us. We too may feel like we, or perhaps even God, has failed. And so, in preparation, we too need to learn the lessons Elijah is taught in our passage.
1. Wallowing in the Wilderness (19:1-8) – When we are weak, God strengthens us
It has been said that 1 Kings 19 is one of the most important, and yet misinterpreted, chapters in the whole of the Old Testament. The confusion over the chapter is similar to that regarding the Titanic. We all know what happened, on 14 April 1912 the great ship struck an iceberg and sunk to the bottom of the sea. That is clear. What is not clear however is the main cause of the catastrophe: was it travelling too fast, did it fail to heed warnings or take a wrong turn, was it the Northern Irish builders who tried to cut costs by using low quality materials, was it because there weren’t enough lifeboats? There is a long list of potential causes for the disaster. And over a century later, we are perhaps shocked that experts still argue about which was the most significant. But this is nothing compared to 1 Kings 19. Like the Titanic, it is clear Elijah sinks into despair, hits rock bottom. But after almost 3000 years, experts still debate what actually happened.
At first glance, the cause of the prophet’s plight seems clear. In 19:2, Jezebel’s messenger comes and delivers a death threat. This seems to be the iceberg upon which Elijah sinks. For the author records in 19:3, ‘Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life…’. Based on this verse then, fear seems to be the cause of Elijah’s condition. We often hear this: fearless before King Ahab in 1 Kings 18, he is frightened off by Queen Jezebel in 1 Kings 19. However, this simple solution doesn’t match all the circumstances of the chapter. Firstly, Elijah travels far beyond the borders of Israel. By the time he reaches Beersheba, he is deep in the land of Judah and long past any point of danger. If Elijah is just running from Jezebel, he goes massively over the top. Not only that, but is it not strange that he leaves his servant behind? Instead of seeking safety in numbers, he isolates himself. And when is alone, far from fearing death, Elijah actually wants to die. He asks God to do exactly what Jezebel threatened: take away his life. Therefore, while 19:3 seems to mention fear, it doesn’t fit with Elijah’s actions. I say ‘seems to mention’ fear, for fear may not actually be mentioned. In many of the earliest manuscripts, the Hebrew term ‘he was afraid’ is instead ‘he saw’, with a very minor difference in their spelling. That is why the King James and Revised versions, along with many modern scholars, translate the verse ‘When Elijah saw that, he arose…’. Further, while there is an English idiom ‘running for your life’, implying a fearful flight caused by a desire to save oneself, there is no such sense in Hebrew. The phrase ‘ran/went for his life’ is much more neutral, implying simply that by leaving his life was no longer at risk. If we are looking for the cause of Elijah’s despair, 19:3 is ambiguous at best.
The confusion around the cause of Elijah’s condition is unsurprising. If you have ever talked to somebody who has been cast into despair, or if you yourself have passed through such a period, you know the causes are often complex. We will consider some clues we get to the real cause later, but first I want us to notice that God does not confront or correct his prophet at this point. He does so later, but for now God strengthens him. Friends see here how patient God is with his prophet. He is like a patient parent, who instead of immediately disciplining their sleepy, hungry child for having a complete meltdown in public, instead takes them home, gives them food and rest, before then talking to them about their tantrum. Elijah is burnout: spiritually, emotionally and physically. He has thrown in the towel, wandered out into the wilderness and is waiting, wanting to die. And so God comes not to confront him, but to care for him. Not to deliver words of correction, but food, water and rest. O God knows how to care for his servants. He is more than wise enough to know what we need and when we need it. He is more than patient enough to bear with us in our weakness.
Our passage not only teaches us about God’s caring patience, but also about our common problem. Elijah is not the only servant of God who ends up in this condition. Moses too, once Israel starts complaining, will come to God and cry, ‘I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once…."’ (Numbers 11:14–15) Even Paul once cried out ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’ (2 Corinthians 2:16). As Isaiah explained ‘Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted…’ (40:30). Friends, if some of the strongest soldiers in God’s army have felt weak, should we be surprised if we feel the same? When, like Elijah, we cry out ‘it is enough’, or like Moses, find that ‘the burden is too heavy for me’. We see we are not the first to feel this way. In fact, if you went through the Bible, except for Christ, you will see nobody is strong enough to carry out the calling God gives them. A life spent serving God is a life spent swimming out of our depth, living beyond our limits, outside our comfort zone. We are all too weak to complete the journey God is taking us on. We all need to be strengthened by him.
This journey God was taking Elijah on was too great for him to go in his own strength. That is what the angel explains in 19:7, ‘Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.’ In 1 Kings 17, God sustained him in drought. In 1 Kings 19, God sustained him in despair. The strength God provides is more than sufficient for Elijah, for ‘he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights...’ (19:8) Brothers and sisters, our Father is more than able to strengthen us for the road ahead. We do not need to live a life of despair, overwhelmed by our weaknesses, we can live a life of dependence, drawing strength from him. If we are to complete our journey, we must realise as Paul did in 2 Corinthians 3:5, that ‘...our sufficiency is from God…’ We too must hear those words God spoke to him in 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." And we too can respond as Paul did, ‘I am content with weaknesses…for when I am weak, then I am strong.’ (12:10) When we are weak, God strengthens us. It is only then that we will mount up with wings like eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31).
2. Complaining in a Cave (19:9-14) – When we feel discouraged, God speaks to us
And so, Elijah arrives at Mount Horeb. Situated in the far south of the Sinai desert, from it Elijah could look back over the nations of Israel and Judah from which he had come. And yet, we find him not standing surveying creation, but sitting stewing in a cave. It is here at Horeb, when Elijah is discouraged, that God speaks: ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ (19:9). It’s a strange question to ask, given that the journey to Horeb seems to be what God intended when he strengthened Elijah. Elijah could well have answered, ‘I don’t know. Why did you bring me here?’ But he doesn’t, instead God’s question proves to be the prompt Elijah needs to pour out his heart. Again, we see God’s seemingly relentless patience with his prophet. Even once Elijah is brought to Horeb, God does not confront him. Instead, he gently draws out the despair by speaking to him. He listens as Elijah unloads his burdens, brings his complaint. Again, God is like that wise parent, who knows exactly what is wrong with their teenager, but allows them to share how they feel in their own time, on their own terms. Here we see another part of prayer. Last week the Prophet of Prayer taught us how to persist in petitions. This week, however, Elijah has no requests, he simply shares his heart. Based on the prayers in Psalms, it is clear that this forms a significant part of a healthy prayer life. Coming to God and telling him how we feel, what we face, how we are faring. God is not only the King who rules over creation, he is the Father who loves his children. He wants us to cast all our anxieties on him, because he cares for us. That is what Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:7. Similarly, the Psalmist urges ‘Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.’ (Psalm 62:8) When Elijah feels discouraged, God speaks. However, he doesn’t just tell Elijah what to do, he listens to what Elijah has to say.
Elijah’s complaint in the cave points us to the cause of his condition. Rather that fear, I believe we see here that it is failure which has overcome this prophet. Twice Elijah brings the same complaint to God, ‘I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.’ (19:10,14) Elijah explains that his despair is a result of being jealous for God. It is a righteous reaction to the rebellion of Israel: they have forsaken God and killed the prophets, so much so he is the last one left and they are now coming after him. However, alongside this failure of the nation, there is also an element of personal failure. In 19:4, why does Elijah say he has had enough? Why does he ask God to take away his life? Not because the nation is no better than its fathers. But because ‘I am no better than my fathers.’ Elijah not only feels that the people have been unfaithful; he feels like he is a failure. Like the prophets who went before him, he failed to turn Israel back. The trigger for this seems to be the events leading him to leave Jezreel. When Jezebel’s messenger comes in 19:3, Elijah seems not to be overcome with a sense of fear, but of failure. As I tried to articulate earlier, up to then, the prophet had great expectations. Following the success of Mount Carmel, Elijah thought the future of Israel was secure. However, in one swift statement, Jezebel squashes all of his hopes. O he may have brought Ahab on board for a moment, but in those famous words of Thatcher, Elijah found that his iron lady was not for turning. It was Jezebel who had secured Baal worship in Israel, and she would not have it diminished. It was Jezebel who had sought the persecution of God’s prophets, and she would not slacken now. Far from things getting better in Israel, Elijah seen that they were only going to get worse. With Ahab seemingly ambivalent, and Jezebel more zealous than ever, under their rule the nation would not be returning to the LORD. Elijah had done his best, God had worked wonders, and yet it had not been enough. Elijah felt he had just joined the long line of prophets who had failed.
As with all disappointment, Elijah’s was caused by unrealised expectations. He was expecting a different end to his story, anticipating another outcome. Perhaps he assumed that if Baal was shown to be false, and the LORD to be true, the nation would turn back. You would think that would make sense. However, Elijah presents evidence that is about as conclusive as can be: fire falling, the rain returning! And yet this evidence has no impact, in fact it only makes matters worse! If we place these events in our own lives, it is as if the whole community surrounding us here assembled this afternoon in Richmond Park. There they witnessed us call fire down from heaven, or immediately end the current pandemic by prayer, as Elijah did the drought. And next Sunday, we turn up to find the same small number of us gathered in this room. Would that surprise you? Such is the spiritual state caused by sin. Education is not enough. Evidence is not enough. If people are spiritually blind, it doesn’t matter what spectacular sights take place before their eyes. Paul explains this in Romans 10. After he declares, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved’ (10:13), he calls us to go share this news. You know the passage: ‘how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?’ (10:14–15) But if you read on, you will see Paul measures Israel against those criteria. He points out that prophets like Moses and Isaiah were sent and preached to them, that Israel understood what they said, and yet, this made no difference. In the end God simply found himself holding his hands out all day to a disobedient and contrary people (10:21). Friends, like Elijah, we can be very jealous for the LORD, and yet things may only get worse. O we should pray for a different end to our story. We should seek something more like the day of Pentecost, than Mount Carmel. For fire to fall from heaven with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit and 3000 be swept into the church. But, if our story ends like Elijah, Moses and Isaiah’s, we ought not to feel like failures. Our responsibility to sow, the Lord’s to grow. Our responsibility to share the gospel, the Lord’s to save. Sometimes God works wonders and dramatically turns nations back to him. But far more often, his army advances slowly, almost silently. Some suggest this is what is meant in 19:11-13. That God doesn’t usually work through wonders like wind, earthquakes and even fire. That the usual agent for change is the whisper of the word of God, the quiet saving work of the Holy Spirit.
That is true. But I don’t think it is what primarily meant. Instead, I think God mainly meant for Elijah to realise who he was really talking with. Just as God appears to Job in a whirlwind (40:6), here he appears after wind, earthquake and fire. He did this in Job to show Job that he was speaking to God almighty. He does it to Elijah to show that he is speaking to the God of Israel. I’m not sure if you noticed parts of this story are slightly familiar. That somebody has been on a similar journey before. For Mount Horeb is also known by the name of Mount Sinai. That place where God made his covenant with the nation of Israel. When Moses received the 10 commandments there, he spent forty days and forty nights fasting (Exodus 34:28), the same period that Elijah fasts on his journey. Not only that, but when God first appeared on Mount Sinai, in Exodus 19, he descended in fire with a great earthquake. Later, when God passes before Moses in Exodus 33, he is hidden in a cleft of a rock, something akin to a small cave. Though this journey, Elijah has retraced the steps of the nation. He returns to the source, the place where it all started. Elijah is like an employee who, having some concerns with how the business is currently being run, knocks on the owner’s office door. Elijah had complaints about how the covenant was working out, and so he comes to Sinai to speak to the one who made those promises. And on that mountain, God meets Elijah just as he had met his prophet Moses all those years before. He leaves Elijah in no doubt that he has knocked on the right door. For it is unquestionably the God of Sinai who steps down to speak to Elijah. He comes with wind, earthquake, and fire and says, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ (19:13). Isn’t it remarkable that God is again so patient with his prophet? Unlike with Job, God does not speak from the wind, earthquake or fire. He is not in any of those terrifying events. They only announced who had arrived. For when the God of Sinai comes to Elijah, it is ‘the sound of a low whisper’ (19:12). When God speaks to his discouraged servants, he doesn’t shout, he whispers. It is this whispering word of God that draws Elijah out to the mouth of the cave, and will soon draw him out of his deep despair. When we feel discouraged, God comes and speaks to us by his word. Softly, calmly, patiently. Drawing us out of our despair.
3. Returning to the Road (19:15-21) – When we go astray, God sends us
The second time God asks that gentle, drawing question, Elijah gives the exact same answer. It may be that the covenant God who has come down, but Elijah’s complaint is unchanged. Though he doesn’t actually ask a question of God, the sense of his statement is captured well by Paul in Romans 11. As we have seen, Paul, at the end of Romans 10, comes to the same conclusion that Elijah. God’s people appear unrepentant. Despite the ministries of men like Moses, Isaiah, Elijah, they do not return to their God. This leads Paul to ask that great question in 11:1, ‘I ask, then, has God rejected his people?’ I think that this is effectively what Elijah seems to say in 1 Kings 19, because Paul immediately passes on to repeat Elijah’s complaint: ‘Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.’ (11:2–3) God’s people have failed. God’s prophet feels like he has failed. Therefore, we find Elijah wondering whether God’s plan has failed. In the word of Paul, who strongly rejects such a suggestion in Romans 11:1, ‘by no means!’ Paul’s confidence that God has not failed, has not rejected his people, is based on what God says in 19:15-18. [READ?] Elijah is shown that God has a plan for the future. God doesn’t disagree with his prophet’s assessment of the people’s unfaithfulness. He agrees with Elijah’s diagnosis of the past. However, he arrives at a different prognosis for the future. For his plan still remains, his people will be a remnant.
These words describe the events that will run up to 2 Kings 10: the execution of Jezebel and slaughter of the remaining prophets of Baal. It only takes this long for God’s three agents of judgement, Hazael, Jehu and Elisha, to deliver the promised punishment, because God is not only patient with his prophet, but is patient with his people as well. As Peter explains in 2 Peter 3:9, God ‘is patient toward [us], not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.’ However, through a remarkable series of seemingly unpredictable events, including foreign armies and brutal assassinations, unaimed arrows and unexpected rebellions, God executes justice against all those who bowed to Baal. Just as the prophets were slain by the sword of Elijah, God ensures all Baal’s worshippers meet the same end. We may have unrealised expectations, but God never has unrealised plans. Thankfully God’s plan not only includes retribution, but also a remnant. There will be death for many, but for those faithful 7,000, they will receive deliverance. This would surely have been a comfort to Elijah, he was not alone, for there were 7,000 who even at that point had not bowed to Baal. What surely would have been even more comforting, was the news that he would not be the last prophet. He was to appoint Elisha to be prophet in his place (19:16). This appears to have been a particularly precious promise for Elijah. It is the last appointment in God’s list, but the first one Elijah’s makes. He immediately goes to find Elisha. We seen a few weeks ago Elijah’s isolation undoubtedly contributed to his condition: he had forgotten about faithful Obadiah and the 100 prophets hiding safely in a cave. He had placed the whole weight of God’s cause alone on his shoulders. No wonder he was weighed down! Our passage closes with Elijah back on the road again. God said ‘Go, return…’. He sent the prophet back to Israel. But not alone. For we read Elisha ‘went after Elijah and assisted him.’ (19:21) When we go astray, God sends us. He can set us back on the right road, with renewed confidence for the future and new companions for the journey.
Brothers and sisters, even if you feel yourself to be a failure, never allow yourself to believe God has failed. We may have unrealised expectations, but God has no unrealised plans. Even if you see few men and women turned to God through your own ministry, or from our ministry here as a people at Kew, Paul’s statement in Romans 11:5 still remains true: God has a remnant chosen by grace. The grace of God is not in vain. Jesus Christ did not die in vain. On the cross he bore the punishment for a people, those whom he purchased for his own possession. There is no returns or exchange policy for that purchase. Hell could not defeat him. Death could not hold him back. Do not think that his salvation plan will be spoiled by the refusal of people to repent in our own day. God’s train is still on the track. Whether he was determined death or deliverance for those who are around us. Even if the river runs dry and there is drought for a season, give thanks for the trickle you see, and do not doubt God will someday send the rain again. Like Elijah, we may be in heaven before God’s remnant is revealed. But until then, let us do all we can to share the good news so that many in our own day might, in God’s mercy, be led to call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. O they may not call even if we tell them. But then if we don’t tell them, how could they call on him of whom they have never heard?
That is how C H Spurgeon spent his life, spent himself. He seen many saved through his preaching. And yet, he was ever mindful that some people and periods will be far less fruitful. I want to close with the words of encouragement he once shared with Christians who were discouraged like Elijah. ‘If our gospel be true, it will yet come to the front, and God will work for us… If we do not see souls saved today or tomorrow, we will still work on. Ours is not the [unending] toil of…rolling uphill a stone which will rebound upon us, nor that of [seeking] to fill a bottomless vessel. Our work may no more quickly appear, than the islands the coral insects are building below the blue waves of the Southern sea; but the reef is rising, far down the foundation of the massive structure is laid, and its walls are climbing to the surface. We are labouring for eternity, and we count not our work by each day’s advance, as men measure theirs; it is God’s work, and must be measured by his standard. Be ye well assured that, when time, and things created, and all that oppose themselves to the Lord’s truth, shall be gone, every earnest sermon preached, and every [persistent] prayer offered, and every form of Christian service honestly rendered, shall remain embedded in [that] mighty structure which God from all eternity has resolved to raise to his own honour.’
Friends. When you are weak, God will strengthen you. Do not marvel if you feel overwhelmed, that has been true of all God’s servants. He has not allowed any who depend on him to faint or fail yet. When you are discouraged, God will speak to you. Look past the violent forces at work in this world, listen out for his voice. He comes whispering in His Word, open the Scriptures and hear him speak to you. Gently. Softly. Patiently. When you go astray, may he send you back. God’s plan, Christ’s cross, cannot fail. Even now, God is saving a remnant by grace. May each of us seek to spend our lives in his service. May we have renewed confidence for the future, may God provide new companions to assist us on our journey onwards. And may he get the praise and glory due to him for all he has done and will do.
ALEXANDER ARRELL