The elements of the effectual prayer of elijah
1 Kings 18:30-40 ~ Ted phillips
August 19, 2018
The elements of the effectual prayer of elijah
This morning we’re going to continue our study in the book of first Kings. The study we have begun on Elijah, and if you think about this, these events here on Mount caramel happened 2000 years ago. We might be apt to think, what relevance does it have to us today? And yet, you think about it, man has not changed. Our hearts are the same and more importantly, our God has not changed. I want you turn with me to the book of first Kings chapter 18 and will be looking once again at this event on Mount caramel.
As we saw in the previous study, under the leadership of King Ahab, the people of Israel had been limping along spiritually, while loosely holding onto some of the traditions of their worship of Yahweh. They have been caught up in idolatry. They had supplanted the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with the false god of Baal. So, on Mount caramel Elijah confronts the people of Israel. He confronts them with their rebellion and with their sin. And in an effort to turn them against Baal, and to bring them back to the Lord, he suggests a challenge between Jehovah God and Baal. The challenge was, that whichever one could rain down fire from heaven, and consume an ox that was laid on the altar that is the one who would prove himself to be God.
As we noted last time, on God's part, this really was a demonstration of His mercy. The people of Israel in their rebellion had no right to presume upon God in this way. But God being faithful to His covenant revealed Himself to the people that He alone was the one true God. But before He did that, the prophets of Baal were given a first chance to call upon their god, to beseech him, to show himself, to send fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice. And of course, as we’re told the prophets of Baal carried on for six hours. They mutilated themselves, they jumped up and down around the altar, and even on the altar. But what became painfully clear at the end of that time, is the god in whom they had fixed their hope, we are told he did not make himself known, he did not answer, and he did not pay attention to them. the appearance of all of their religious enthusiasm and fervor was useless. It was really nothing more than a production. It was a show that worked up the people's emotions, but in the end, it left them, helpless and hopeless. That's what man-made religion is. In the end, all it has to offer is really a false sense of security that leads people to despair. And sadly to say, this was Israel. This was the picture of Israel in the day of Elijah on Mount caramel there. They had replaced the word of God with the superficial religion, and they had invested much in the worship of Baal. And when he turned out to be impotent, when he turned out to be nothing more than a lie, Israel was brought to the place where God wanted them to be. He brought them to the end of themselves. He made them low, and He did this in order that He might show to them His glory. In order that He might show them that He alone was God, and that He was there God, and they were His people.
So, with this as our background, I want us to read. Follow along as I read verses 30 through 40. And, keeping in mind here the prophets of bail have already failed.
“Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. and he repaired the altar of the Lord which had been torn down. And Elijah took 12 stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “fill four pictures with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. And he said, “do it a second time,” and they did a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. And the water flowed around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water. Then it came about at the time of offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all of these things at Thy word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that Thou, O Lord, art God, and that Thou hast turned their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and the stone, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.” Then Elijah said to them, “seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.”
In order to keep the word of the Lord that had been given to Israel, Elijah repaired the altar. As we have seen here, he did so with unhewn stones. 12 of them representing the tribes of Israel. He took great care to arrange the wood, and to prepare the oxen, and he laid it upon the wood. All of this was in keeping with the law that God had given to Israel. And then, to dispel any possibility of trickery, and to make it humanly impossible for the sacrifice to be consumed by fire, Elijah then has the altar and the ox covered in water. Not one time, but three times. And then of course in verse 38, we’re told that Elijah cries out to the Lord. He says
“Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and the stone, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”
When you think about this, in complete contrast to the false god Baal, the Lord God of Israel's voice was heard. He answered and He paid attention to His servant Elijah. I think it's interesting how this fire is described in verse 38 leaves no room to discredit what was called the Fire of the Lord. Instead of doing what normal fires do, they burn from the bottom up, the fire that came from the Lord burned from the top down. The Fire that came from the Lord burned and consumed the offering first, and then it consumed the wood on which that offering sat, and then the stones, and the dust, and the water. The Lord God did what man's god could not do. When you think about this, what a site this must have been. The people of Israel witnessed this miraculous act, and acknowledged that the Lord Yahweh is indeed God. What a gracious act this was from a loving God to His people. To reveal Himself in such an unmistakable way. And, to the people who were undeserving because of their rebellion. But faithfulness, and what grace, the Lord exhibited. At the same time, what a sense of dread the prophets of Baal must've felt. They experienced firsthand that our God is a consuming fire. As significant and amazing as this miracle was that day on Mount Carmel, I think what is perhaps even more remarkable, is that the Almighty God, the God who dwells in the High and Holy Place, would condescend to a mere man, and act according to his entreaty. This extraordinary manifestation of the one true God was the result of prayer. It was a result of prayer. God did what Elijah pleaded with, and requested Him to do. In Scripture, Elijah is held up as a man of prayer. He's held up as an example in fact of the man whose prayer accomplishes much.
We should marvel at this miracle that was accomplished through his petition that day on Mount Carmel. And yet, what is true is that each and every answer to the prayers of God's people, each and every answer is a miracle. If you think about it, each one, no matter how big or how small the answer seems to be, each answer is a divine act of God's will, and a manifestation of His infinite wisdom and power. That is what the answer to every prayer is. As we are able to look back over the course of history, really from creation forward, the Lord has acted in wonderful and extraordinary ways. He has done this countless times. Specifically, He has acted in ways to bring about His eternal purposes in relation to His redemptive plan. In doing so, he has overcome the most powerful men this world has ever known. He has overcome their will, He has overcome their many desires, He has thwarted and He has changed their plans, and their dictates, to be in conformity to His purposes. And a thing that is genuinely remarkable, is that he has done so most often in response to the prayers of His people. This is the method that the Lord in His infinite wisdom has used to accomplish His purposes. Over history He has utilized His people, and today He incorporates the church into His eternal work, through intercessory prayer above all else. There are numerous examples of this in Scripture. One example is that of Nehemiah. I’ll take a couple minutes to share this with you, Nehemiah if you remember, was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. In chapter 1 he's praying on behalf of the root remnant of Israel who were in Judah. If you remember the walls of Jerusalem had been torn down. They had been destroyed, leaving the people there defenseless. And King Artaxerxes had himself years earlier stopped the construction of the walls of Jerusalem. He was the one then, who could make it possible for the reconstruction to begin. So Nehemiah says praise to the Lord in verse 10 of chapter 1, he says:
“They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by your great power and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I beseech You, make Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.”
That is, before King Artaxerxes. So as we know Nehemiah goes before the king, and he asked permission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And furthermore, he asked for letters that would be given to the governors of the different provinces there, that they would allow him to pass. And he also asked for a letter from Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, in order to acquire timber to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, to rebuild the gates. And we find here, the Lord's response, the Lord's answer to Nehemiah’s prayers, as
“the king granted them to me.”
Why? Notice what he says here
“because the good hand of my God was on me.”
From a human perspective, Artaxerxes was the one who stood between the walls of Jerusalem being built, and not being built. He stood in the way of the safety of God's people, but in response to Nehemiah's prayer, the Lord took hold of the heart of Artaxerxes, and like water in His hand, He turned it where He desired. He preserved His chosen people by turning the desires of the king's heart in accordance with His eternal objectives.
So like Elijah, Nehemiah's prayer accomplished much. The Lord responded as He did in order to carry out His work in the Israelite people. This is true today as well. This is true in the church as well. As we know, the apostle Paul was used in a very significant and strategic way by the Lord to carry out the Gospel to the Gentile nations. I want you to notice what Paul says in Second Corinthians chapter 1, verses eight through 11. He says:
“For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,”
So the question is, how will He do this? And then if you notice at the end of verse 11, He says:
“You also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.”
Paul was well aware of the necessity of the prayers of the saints with respect to his ministry. With respect to what God called him to do the Lord delivered Paul on many occasions, in order that the power of the gospel would prevail in lives of many. And He did this once again, through the prayers of His people. And as a result, the Roman Empire was never the same. This cannot be overstated enough. This is a very consequential thing for you and I to realize. The people of God are to be a people of prayer. The people of God are to be a people of prayer, a praying people. The Lord responds, and He acts according to the prayers of His people. And that is both a great privilege on our part, and responsibility. Now having said this, I am not suggesting that our prayers determine God's plans or His actions. God is sovereign, but in His sovereignty, He has determined to enter us into the working out of His eternal designs. I think the prayer of Elijah gives us much insight into this. I would remind you again of what James says about Elijah's prayer. That it was effective, and then he gives us the reason for this, we are told he was a righteous man. That is the key. That's the essential element of prayer that accomplishes much. So, what does it look like? what is it about the prayer of a righteous man that makes it effective? The passage that we have before us here in Exodus 18 I think gives us some insight into that question.
For the remainder of of our time. I want to draw out a number of observations about Elijah's prayer on Mount Carmel that answer this question. The first thing I want to point out is that Elijah had a burning zeal for the glory of God. Elijah had a burning zeal for the glory of God. I think this stands above all else. In fact, everything else about his prayer really flows from this one critical element. And we see this in the petition that he makes to the Lord on Mount Carmel. If you look with me again versus 36 and 37, it says:
“At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back again.”
See Elijah could not bear to think how the God of Abraham had been defiled and insulted. His altar had been torn down, many of his prophets had been put to death, and the people who were called by His name had lifted up a false God, a man-made God, at that. And they had set him alongside the worship of the one true God. I think what stands out here about Elijah's prayer, and this is crucial for us to see, its chief end was that God would be vindicated that day on Mount Carmel. that He would make His power known, and it was. That was the overriding desire of the prophet’s heart and he cries out to the Lord that He would bring this about.
Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God.
Oh that that would be the foremost desire of our hearts today. That the Lord would make known, that the Lord would be known in our midst as Almighty God. I would suggest to you that there is not a greater desire that any of God's people could have above this one simple longing. That the glory of God's power be made known amongst us. The Lord Jesus Himself gives us an example of this. It’s the very same example. In John chapter 12 and verse 27, with the indignity of the cross before Him, the Lord prays to the father. He says:
“Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.”
This was the controlling desire of the Lord's heart that the Father might be lifted up, that His name might be set above all others. And as we know, this desire of the Lord's was one that He repeated time and time again, and not only that, but He endured the cross in order to lift up the name of the Father. His words were not simply spiritual rhetoric, He made the ultimate and a costly sacrifice in order that God's name might be lifted up. I think above all else this one single element of Elijah's prayer stands above all others in making him a righteous man, a man whose prayers were effective. I think what we are to learn from this is that only when we are able to look beyond our own personal interests, and in prayer plead for the glory of God to be known, that is when we reach the place where He will not deny us. He will not deny the requests that we make before Him.
In light of this, I think we must also come to see that our petitions before the throne of grace are so often so small, so small. I think one of the reasons for this is that we focus too much on ourselves and not enough on the Lord. To say it another way, we focus too much on the temporal and not enough on the eternal. In other words, our sense of what is important is often so, so misguided. I want you to think about this. How could there be anything more important than the revelation of God's glory. How could there be anything more important than God, showing Himself to be God. But what is also true about Elijah's prayer, praying for the demonstration of the power of God's glory, Elijah could not have prayed for anything better in respect to the needs of the people who are on Mount Carmel. That is what they needed to see. It was God making know His glory, making known the glory of His power. That is what affected the changes that was needed in their hearts. In fact, that is the only thing that can bring about sanctifying change in the hearts of men. And again I would say, oh that we might have that that same desire. To see the power of God, to see the power of His glory in our midst.
Along the same lines, I want you to notice what else Elijah mentions in his request to the Lord. He gives a further indication of his zeal, the glory of the Lord, in verse 36 Elijah prays:
“O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel
and then notice what he says
and that I am your servant and I have done all these things at Your word.”
Elijah humbles himself before the Lord, and he identifies himself as the servant of the Lord. But notice how he states this, he says
“Let it be known… that I am your servant, and I have done all these things at Your word”
For one thing, he was saying that he himself, and all that he had been doing these last three years, had absolutely nothing to do with Baal. Nothing whatsoever, but perhaps even more to the point here, Elijah does not want in any way to divert attention away from the fact that this is a work of God and not man. I think Elijah knew the tendency of the human heart. That men are prone to attach and to attribute the work of God, oftentimes to mere men. He wants to distance himself from any credit in this, and so he prays to the Lord that He will make this fact known to the people there on Mount Carmel. that Elijah is the servant. That Elijah is nothing. He's only the instrument that the Lord God is the one who was at work. This is the desire of a righteous man, and therefore it is his request before the Lord. I think it is reminiscent of another man who was in a similar position to Elijah. You recall the words of John the Baptist. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ when he said, he must increase but I must decrease. Elijah had a burning desire for the glory of God, and he prayed accordingly, and the Lord answered.
The second thing that I want to point out about the prayer of a righteous man, is Elijah also had a burning desire for the Word of God. He had a burning desire for the Word of God. I mentioned this at the very beginning of our study many months ago, but it applies here as well. and it bears repeating. Again looking at Elijah's prayer in verse 37, he pleads with the Lord:
“Answered me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God,”
and then he says,
“and that you have turned their heart back again.”
And as we see here, it was the work of the Lord that the hearts of His people have been turned back. No one can do this but God Himself. Man is only the messenger. But not only was this the work of the Lord, it was His expressed will. This was His expressed will. We find this in the book of first Samuel in chapter 12. Notice what is said in verses 20 through 21. Samuel says to the people of Israel, he says:
“Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. You must not turn aside, for then you would go after the futile things which cannot profit or deliver, because they are futile.”
Then Samuel gives them the ultimate reason for why they should not fear. For why they should not turn aside. In verse 22, he says:
“For the Lord will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.”
Although they did not deserve it, God did not cast Israel aside, He did not cast His people aside. He refrained from doing this for the very glory of His name, and because He had inclined His heart towards those whom He had made to be His people. In First Kings chapter 6 and verse 13 the Lord Himself speaks and He states:
“I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.”
See Elijah took God at His word. He trusted the promise that He had made concerning Israel. Elijah's prayer on Mount Carmel was for the Lord to fulfill what He had already said that He would do. And David, I would bring to your attention, David was also a man who took God at His word, and he prayed in the very same way. In Second Samuel chapter 7 verse 25 he says:
“Now therefore, O Lord God, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house, confirm it forever, and do as You have spoken,”
See the prayer of these two men was simply that God would be faithful to His word. That He would act according to His word, that He would act according to His revealed will. That he was simply do as He said he would do. Neither Elijah nor David reminded the Lord of what He had promised because they thought He was perhaps forgetful. Not even close. By asking the Lord to do what He had already spoken, it was a demonstration of their complete trust in Him. Complete trust in His faithfulness and in the power of His word. I think it was an affirmation of their desire above all else, that His word would be fulfilled. That it would be worked out and made known. That is prayer that is effective. It is prayer that lays hold of the word of God by faith and it pleads with Him to do as he has said he would do. That is the prayer of a righteous man, through which the Lord accomplishes much. The implication that we must see here is that we are to be a praying people. But in order for our prayers to accomplish much, we also need to be a people of God's word. In His word, God has revealed to us His glory, He has revealed to us His eternal purposes, He has revealed to us His very will. In other words, we’re given the very substance of effective prayer. The very thing that God Himself delights in.
One last thing I want to point out about the prayer of a righteous man this morning, is that it is the result of consistent obedience. It is the result of consistent obedience. Once again, I want you look with me at verse 36. As Elijah entreats the Lord he wants the Lord to make known to Israel that Elijah was His servant, and that all that he had done was at the Lord's word. Two things marked Elijah's obedience. The first was that he was engaged in active service to the Lord. As we have seen over the course of the last two chapters, Elijah was not caught up in doing his own thing for the past three years. Just as he wanted the Lord to make known to the people of Israel, he was a servant of God. And, he was an active servant to his master. That leads us to the second thing that marked Elijah's obedience. He was not just an active servant of the Lord, doing things for the Lord, he was doing those things which the Lord had appointed and assigned to him. That's a big difference. It’s a very big difference. He says
“I am Your servant, and I have done all these things at Your word.”
Elijah did not pick and choose the ways in which he was to serve the Lord. That's not how it works. That's not what servants do. Obedient servants do what the master tells them, and directs them to do. Biblical servanthood is doing the things that God's word directs us to do and as a result, Elijah was bearing fruit and being used as an instrument for God's purposes. It is in this context then, in this context of obedience, that Elijah offers up his petitions to the Lord. I think that's what we need to understand here. This is where the prayer of a righteous man is made. It's in the relationship of obedience to the one who is our master. In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 22 God's people are given a very special invitation, and that is to draw near to Him in prayer. And it says that we are to do so in full assurance of faith. This is a very privileged invitation to be sure, but there's a requirement and there's a stipulation to this confident access that we are so graciously given. He goes on to say that we are to draw near with a sincere heart, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. In light of that, how often do you and I presume upon the Lord, and come to Him with an impure heart. We come to Him as servants of self rather than servants of the Lord. We’re approaching when the Word of God has not been our portion. First John chapter 3 in verse 22, it says:
“And whatever we ask we receive from Him,”
Notice the caveat here,
“Because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.”
That’s a description of Elijah isn’t it? It’s a very good description of the prophet Elijah. As I was working my way through this passage these last few days, one of the things I could not help think, is how we in this body need to see a demonstration of the glory of God's power. We need that in our very midst, in the lives of one another. We need to see a demonstration of the glory of God's power. That is how God changes men's hearts, as we have just seen. And our hearts need to undergo change. I hope none of you would argue with that. Day by day growing in God's grace. In order for that to happen, it means that you and I need to be men and women who follow after the example of such ones as Elijah. Men and women who are faithfully committed to the Word of God, but who are also committed to prayer. People whose hearts and whose wills and whose actions are aligned with the very heart and mind of God. People whose prayers then the Lord makes effective for His glory. James tells us that we are not only to be hearers of the Word, but that we are also to be doers. And so this morning, I want to ask you to examine yourselves. We have heard what the Lord has for us to hear this morning. I trust that we need to examine ourselves in light of this example that we are given of a righteous man whose praying is effective. How does my life compare? How does your life compare to that of Elijah? There can be no doubt in our minds, none whatsoever, that the Lord wants to accomplish much in our midst. He wants to accomplish much in your life in and through your life. But again, that starts with a commitment to prayer. It starts with the commitment to come before Him on our knees. Humbly, pleading with Him, pleading with Him to reveal Himself to us, to make His power known, the very glory of His power. Let's close our time in prayer.
As we saw in the previous study, under the leadership of King Ahab, the people of Israel had been limping along spiritually, while loosely holding onto some of the traditions of their worship of Yahweh. They have been caught up in idolatry. They had supplanted the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with the false god of Baal. So, on Mount caramel Elijah confronts the people of Israel. He confronts them with their rebellion and with their sin. And in an effort to turn them against Baal, and to bring them back to the Lord, he suggests a challenge between Jehovah God and Baal. The challenge was, that whichever one could rain down fire from heaven, and consume an ox that was laid on the altar that is the one who would prove himself to be God.
As we noted last time, on God's part, this really was a demonstration of His mercy. The people of Israel in their rebellion had no right to presume upon God in this way. But God being faithful to His covenant revealed Himself to the people that He alone was the one true God. But before He did that, the prophets of Baal were given a first chance to call upon their god, to beseech him, to show himself, to send fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice. And of course, as we’re told the prophets of Baal carried on for six hours. They mutilated themselves, they jumped up and down around the altar, and even on the altar. But what became painfully clear at the end of that time, is the god in whom they had fixed their hope, we are told he did not make himself known, he did not answer, and he did not pay attention to them. the appearance of all of their religious enthusiasm and fervor was useless. It was really nothing more than a production. It was a show that worked up the people's emotions, but in the end, it left them, helpless and hopeless. That's what man-made religion is. In the end, all it has to offer is really a false sense of security that leads people to despair. And sadly to say, this was Israel. This was the picture of Israel in the day of Elijah on Mount caramel there. They had replaced the word of God with the superficial religion, and they had invested much in the worship of Baal. And when he turned out to be impotent, when he turned out to be nothing more than a lie, Israel was brought to the place where God wanted them to be. He brought them to the end of themselves. He made them low, and He did this in order that He might show to them His glory. In order that He might show them that He alone was God, and that He was there God, and they were His people.
So, with this as our background, I want us to read. Follow along as I read verses 30 through 40. And, keeping in mind here the prophets of bail have already failed.
“Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. and he repaired the altar of the Lord which had been torn down. And Elijah took 12 stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “fill four pictures with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. And he said, “do it a second time,” and they did a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. And the water flowed around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water. Then it came about at the time of offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all of these things at Thy word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that Thou, O Lord, art God, and that Thou hast turned their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and the stone, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.” Then Elijah said to them, “seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.”
In order to keep the word of the Lord that had been given to Israel, Elijah repaired the altar. As we have seen here, he did so with unhewn stones. 12 of them representing the tribes of Israel. He took great care to arrange the wood, and to prepare the oxen, and he laid it upon the wood. All of this was in keeping with the law that God had given to Israel. And then, to dispel any possibility of trickery, and to make it humanly impossible for the sacrifice to be consumed by fire, Elijah then has the altar and the ox covered in water. Not one time, but three times. And then of course in verse 38, we’re told that Elijah cries out to the Lord. He says
“Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and the stone, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”
When you think about this, in complete contrast to the false god Baal, the Lord God of Israel's voice was heard. He answered and He paid attention to His servant Elijah. I think it's interesting how this fire is described in verse 38 leaves no room to discredit what was called the Fire of the Lord. Instead of doing what normal fires do, they burn from the bottom up, the fire that came from the Lord burned from the top down. The Fire that came from the Lord burned and consumed the offering first, and then it consumed the wood on which that offering sat, and then the stones, and the dust, and the water. The Lord God did what man's god could not do. When you think about this, what a site this must have been. The people of Israel witnessed this miraculous act, and acknowledged that the Lord Yahweh is indeed God. What a gracious act this was from a loving God to His people. To reveal Himself in such an unmistakable way. And, to the people who were undeserving because of their rebellion. But faithfulness, and what grace, the Lord exhibited. At the same time, what a sense of dread the prophets of Baal must've felt. They experienced firsthand that our God is a consuming fire. As significant and amazing as this miracle was that day on Mount Carmel, I think what is perhaps even more remarkable, is that the Almighty God, the God who dwells in the High and Holy Place, would condescend to a mere man, and act according to his entreaty. This extraordinary manifestation of the one true God was the result of prayer. It was a result of prayer. God did what Elijah pleaded with, and requested Him to do. In Scripture, Elijah is held up as a man of prayer. He's held up as an example in fact of the man whose prayer accomplishes much.
We should marvel at this miracle that was accomplished through his petition that day on Mount Carmel. And yet, what is true is that each and every answer to the prayers of God's people, each and every answer is a miracle. If you think about it, each one, no matter how big or how small the answer seems to be, each answer is a divine act of God's will, and a manifestation of His infinite wisdom and power. That is what the answer to every prayer is. As we are able to look back over the course of history, really from creation forward, the Lord has acted in wonderful and extraordinary ways. He has done this countless times. Specifically, He has acted in ways to bring about His eternal purposes in relation to His redemptive plan. In doing so, he has overcome the most powerful men this world has ever known. He has overcome their will, He has overcome their many desires, He has thwarted and He has changed their plans, and their dictates, to be in conformity to His purposes. And a thing that is genuinely remarkable, is that he has done so most often in response to the prayers of His people. This is the method that the Lord in His infinite wisdom has used to accomplish His purposes. Over history He has utilized His people, and today He incorporates the church into His eternal work, through intercessory prayer above all else. There are numerous examples of this in Scripture. One example is that of Nehemiah. I’ll take a couple minutes to share this with you, Nehemiah if you remember, was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. In chapter 1 he's praying on behalf of the root remnant of Israel who were in Judah. If you remember the walls of Jerusalem had been torn down. They had been destroyed, leaving the people there defenseless. And King Artaxerxes had himself years earlier stopped the construction of the walls of Jerusalem. He was the one then, who could make it possible for the reconstruction to begin. So Nehemiah says praise to the Lord in verse 10 of chapter 1, he says:
“They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by your great power and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I beseech You, make Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.”
That is, before King Artaxerxes. So as we know Nehemiah goes before the king, and he asked permission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And furthermore, he asked for letters that would be given to the governors of the different provinces there, that they would allow him to pass. And he also asked for a letter from Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, in order to acquire timber to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, to rebuild the gates. And we find here, the Lord's response, the Lord's answer to Nehemiah’s prayers, as
“the king granted them to me.”
Why? Notice what he says here
“because the good hand of my God was on me.”
From a human perspective, Artaxerxes was the one who stood between the walls of Jerusalem being built, and not being built. He stood in the way of the safety of God's people, but in response to Nehemiah's prayer, the Lord took hold of the heart of Artaxerxes, and like water in His hand, He turned it where He desired. He preserved His chosen people by turning the desires of the king's heart in accordance with His eternal objectives.
So like Elijah, Nehemiah's prayer accomplished much. The Lord responded as He did in order to carry out His work in the Israelite people. This is true today as well. This is true in the church as well. As we know, the apostle Paul was used in a very significant and strategic way by the Lord to carry out the Gospel to the Gentile nations. I want you to notice what Paul says in Second Corinthians chapter 1, verses eight through 11. He says:
“For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,”
So the question is, how will He do this? And then if you notice at the end of verse 11, He says:
“You also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.”
Paul was well aware of the necessity of the prayers of the saints with respect to his ministry. With respect to what God called him to do the Lord delivered Paul on many occasions, in order that the power of the gospel would prevail in lives of many. And He did this once again, through the prayers of His people. And as a result, the Roman Empire was never the same. This cannot be overstated enough. This is a very consequential thing for you and I to realize. The people of God are to be a people of prayer. The people of God are to be a people of prayer, a praying people. The Lord responds, and He acts according to the prayers of His people. And that is both a great privilege on our part, and responsibility. Now having said this, I am not suggesting that our prayers determine God's plans or His actions. God is sovereign, but in His sovereignty, He has determined to enter us into the working out of His eternal designs. I think the prayer of Elijah gives us much insight into this. I would remind you again of what James says about Elijah's prayer. That it was effective, and then he gives us the reason for this, we are told he was a righteous man. That is the key. That's the essential element of prayer that accomplishes much. So, what does it look like? what is it about the prayer of a righteous man that makes it effective? The passage that we have before us here in Exodus 18 I think gives us some insight into that question.
For the remainder of of our time. I want to draw out a number of observations about Elijah's prayer on Mount Carmel that answer this question. The first thing I want to point out is that Elijah had a burning zeal for the glory of God. Elijah had a burning zeal for the glory of God. I think this stands above all else. In fact, everything else about his prayer really flows from this one critical element. And we see this in the petition that he makes to the Lord on Mount Carmel. If you look with me again versus 36 and 37, it says:
“At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back again.”
See Elijah could not bear to think how the God of Abraham had been defiled and insulted. His altar had been torn down, many of his prophets had been put to death, and the people who were called by His name had lifted up a false God, a man-made God, at that. And they had set him alongside the worship of the one true God. I think what stands out here about Elijah's prayer, and this is crucial for us to see, its chief end was that God would be vindicated that day on Mount Carmel. that He would make His power known, and it was. That was the overriding desire of the prophet’s heart and he cries out to the Lord that He would bring this about.
Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God.
Oh that that would be the foremost desire of our hearts today. That the Lord would make known, that the Lord would be known in our midst as Almighty God. I would suggest to you that there is not a greater desire that any of God's people could have above this one simple longing. That the glory of God's power be made known amongst us. The Lord Jesus Himself gives us an example of this. It’s the very same example. In John chapter 12 and verse 27, with the indignity of the cross before Him, the Lord prays to the father. He says:
“Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.”
This was the controlling desire of the Lord's heart that the Father might be lifted up, that His name might be set above all others. And as we know, this desire of the Lord's was one that He repeated time and time again, and not only that, but He endured the cross in order to lift up the name of the Father. His words were not simply spiritual rhetoric, He made the ultimate and a costly sacrifice in order that God's name might be lifted up. I think above all else this one single element of Elijah's prayer stands above all others in making him a righteous man, a man whose prayers were effective. I think what we are to learn from this is that only when we are able to look beyond our own personal interests, and in prayer plead for the glory of God to be known, that is when we reach the place where He will not deny us. He will not deny the requests that we make before Him.
In light of this, I think we must also come to see that our petitions before the throne of grace are so often so small, so small. I think one of the reasons for this is that we focus too much on ourselves and not enough on the Lord. To say it another way, we focus too much on the temporal and not enough on the eternal. In other words, our sense of what is important is often so, so misguided. I want you to think about this. How could there be anything more important than the revelation of God's glory. How could there be anything more important than God, showing Himself to be God. But what is also true about Elijah's prayer, praying for the demonstration of the power of God's glory, Elijah could not have prayed for anything better in respect to the needs of the people who are on Mount Carmel. That is what they needed to see. It was God making know His glory, making known the glory of His power. That is what affected the changes that was needed in their hearts. In fact, that is the only thing that can bring about sanctifying change in the hearts of men. And again I would say, oh that we might have that that same desire. To see the power of God, to see the power of His glory in our midst.
Along the same lines, I want you to notice what else Elijah mentions in his request to the Lord. He gives a further indication of his zeal, the glory of the Lord, in verse 36 Elijah prays:
“O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel
and then notice what he says
and that I am your servant and I have done all these things at Your word.”
Elijah humbles himself before the Lord, and he identifies himself as the servant of the Lord. But notice how he states this, he says
“Let it be known… that I am your servant, and I have done all these things at Your word”
For one thing, he was saying that he himself, and all that he had been doing these last three years, had absolutely nothing to do with Baal. Nothing whatsoever, but perhaps even more to the point here, Elijah does not want in any way to divert attention away from the fact that this is a work of God and not man. I think Elijah knew the tendency of the human heart. That men are prone to attach and to attribute the work of God, oftentimes to mere men. He wants to distance himself from any credit in this, and so he prays to the Lord that He will make this fact known to the people there on Mount Carmel. that Elijah is the servant. That Elijah is nothing. He's only the instrument that the Lord God is the one who was at work. This is the desire of a righteous man, and therefore it is his request before the Lord. I think it is reminiscent of another man who was in a similar position to Elijah. You recall the words of John the Baptist. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ when he said, he must increase but I must decrease. Elijah had a burning desire for the glory of God, and he prayed accordingly, and the Lord answered.
The second thing that I want to point out about the prayer of a righteous man, is Elijah also had a burning desire for the Word of God. He had a burning desire for the Word of God. I mentioned this at the very beginning of our study many months ago, but it applies here as well. and it bears repeating. Again looking at Elijah's prayer in verse 37, he pleads with the Lord:
“Answered me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God,”
and then he says,
“and that you have turned their heart back again.”
And as we see here, it was the work of the Lord that the hearts of His people have been turned back. No one can do this but God Himself. Man is only the messenger. But not only was this the work of the Lord, it was His expressed will. This was His expressed will. We find this in the book of first Samuel in chapter 12. Notice what is said in verses 20 through 21. Samuel says to the people of Israel, he says:
“Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. You must not turn aside, for then you would go after the futile things which cannot profit or deliver, because they are futile.”
Then Samuel gives them the ultimate reason for why they should not fear. For why they should not turn aside. In verse 22, he says:
“For the Lord will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.”
Although they did not deserve it, God did not cast Israel aside, He did not cast His people aside. He refrained from doing this for the very glory of His name, and because He had inclined His heart towards those whom He had made to be His people. In First Kings chapter 6 and verse 13 the Lord Himself speaks and He states:
“I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.”
See Elijah took God at His word. He trusted the promise that He had made concerning Israel. Elijah's prayer on Mount Carmel was for the Lord to fulfill what He had already said that He would do. And David, I would bring to your attention, David was also a man who took God at His word, and he prayed in the very same way. In Second Samuel chapter 7 verse 25 he says:
“Now therefore, O Lord God, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house, confirm it forever, and do as You have spoken,”
See the prayer of these two men was simply that God would be faithful to His word. That He would act according to His word, that He would act according to His revealed will. That he was simply do as He said he would do. Neither Elijah nor David reminded the Lord of what He had promised because they thought He was perhaps forgetful. Not even close. By asking the Lord to do what He had already spoken, it was a demonstration of their complete trust in Him. Complete trust in His faithfulness and in the power of His word. I think it was an affirmation of their desire above all else, that His word would be fulfilled. That it would be worked out and made known. That is prayer that is effective. It is prayer that lays hold of the word of God by faith and it pleads with Him to do as he has said he would do. That is the prayer of a righteous man, through which the Lord accomplishes much. The implication that we must see here is that we are to be a praying people. But in order for our prayers to accomplish much, we also need to be a people of God's word. In His word, God has revealed to us His glory, He has revealed to us His eternal purposes, He has revealed to us His very will. In other words, we’re given the very substance of effective prayer. The very thing that God Himself delights in.
One last thing I want to point out about the prayer of a righteous man this morning, is that it is the result of consistent obedience. It is the result of consistent obedience. Once again, I want you look with me at verse 36. As Elijah entreats the Lord he wants the Lord to make known to Israel that Elijah was His servant, and that all that he had done was at the Lord's word. Two things marked Elijah's obedience. The first was that he was engaged in active service to the Lord. As we have seen over the course of the last two chapters, Elijah was not caught up in doing his own thing for the past three years. Just as he wanted the Lord to make known to the people of Israel, he was a servant of God. And, he was an active servant to his master. That leads us to the second thing that marked Elijah's obedience. He was not just an active servant of the Lord, doing things for the Lord, he was doing those things which the Lord had appointed and assigned to him. That's a big difference. It’s a very big difference. He says
“I am Your servant, and I have done all these things at Your word.”
Elijah did not pick and choose the ways in which he was to serve the Lord. That's not how it works. That's not what servants do. Obedient servants do what the master tells them, and directs them to do. Biblical servanthood is doing the things that God's word directs us to do and as a result, Elijah was bearing fruit and being used as an instrument for God's purposes. It is in this context then, in this context of obedience, that Elijah offers up his petitions to the Lord. I think that's what we need to understand here. This is where the prayer of a righteous man is made. It's in the relationship of obedience to the one who is our master. In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 22 God's people are given a very special invitation, and that is to draw near to Him in prayer. And it says that we are to do so in full assurance of faith. This is a very privileged invitation to be sure, but there's a requirement and there's a stipulation to this confident access that we are so graciously given. He goes on to say that we are to draw near with a sincere heart, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. In light of that, how often do you and I presume upon the Lord, and come to Him with an impure heart. We come to Him as servants of self rather than servants of the Lord. We’re approaching when the Word of God has not been our portion. First John chapter 3 in verse 22, it says:
“And whatever we ask we receive from Him,”
Notice the caveat here,
“Because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.”
That’s a description of Elijah isn’t it? It’s a very good description of the prophet Elijah. As I was working my way through this passage these last few days, one of the things I could not help think, is how we in this body need to see a demonstration of the glory of God's power. We need that in our very midst, in the lives of one another. We need to see a demonstration of the glory of God's power. That is how God changes men's hearts, as we have just seen. And our hearts need to undergo change. I hope none of you would argue with that. Day by day growing in God's grace. In order for that to happen, it means that you and I need to be men and women who follow after the example of such ones as Elijah. Men and women who are faithfully committed to the Word of God, but who are also committed to prayer. People whose hearts and whose wills and whose actions are aligned with the very heart and mind of God. People whose prayers then the Lord makes effective for His glory. James tells us that we are not only to be hearers of the Word, but that we are also to be doers. And so this morning, I want to ask you to examine yourselves. We have heard what the Lord has for us to hear this morning. I trust that we need to examine ourselves in light of this example that we are given of a righteous man whose praying is effective. How does my life compare? How does your life compare to that of Elijah? There can be no doubt in our minds, none whatsoever, that the Lord wants to accomplish much in our midst. He wants to accomplish much in your life in and through your life. But again, that starts with a commitment to prayer. It starts with the commitment to come before Him on our knees. Humbly, pleading with Him, pleading with Him to reveal Himself to us, to make His power known, the very glory of His power. Let's close our time in prayer.
