Who Is the Real Troublemaker?

 

I Kings 18:17-40

 

     We do not always behave as we should.  As a parent or as a teacher, when there is a problem at home or in the classroom, sometimes it is difficult to tell who the instigator is.  One child or student tells you one thing, another tells you something else, and you don't know who to believe.  The people of Israel were in a dilemma like that.  They didn't know who to believe, the prophet or the king. 

 

     The prophet was Elijah.  Elijah was a voice crying in the wilderness, trying to get people to pay attention.  The king was Ahab.  He called Elijah a troublemaker, trying to get the people all worked up for no reason.  Elijah said wait a minute, you are the troublemaker.  You are the one who has forsaken the commandments of God and followed the Baals.  You are the one who is wrapped around the little finger of your wife Jezebel. 

 

     What we have before us is a king who was willing to compromise and a prophet who was not.  Ahab was able to fuse together the old beliefs about God with the new beliefs about Baal.  It was impossible for Elijah to make that compromise.  And therefore Elijah said let the battle begin.  He challenges Ahab to a contest.  Ahab accepts the challenge and calls upon all of Israel to watch. 

 

      Looking from the outside, the contest looked like one of the great mismatches of all time, like David and Goliath, or the minister against his wife in golf.  It was prophet  versus king.  Four-hundred fifty prophets of Baal against the one prophet of Yahweh. Each one was given a bull which is to be prepared for sacrifice but no fire is provided.  Each side is to call on the name of their God and we will see which one rains down fire from heaven.  Then we will know who is telling the truth.    And yet the real contest was not between Ahab and Elijah, it was between Baal and Yahweh.  Who indeed is God?  Which one has the power to provide for the people?

 

      Elijah wanted to know where the people of Israel stood.  Elijah asked them to choose between Yahweh and Baal and they remained silent.  They did not answer him a word.  Elijah told them that they could not continue to hedge their bets.  By not choosing they were making a choice.  They had one foot in each camp and according to Elijah that was a choice for Baal. 

 

      Elijah appeared to be the only one who believed God had a chance in this battle.  He is portrayed as calm and confident, giving the prophets of Baal the opportunity to go first. They call on their god from morning until noon, they dance around the altar, they resort to ecstatic behavior.  But there is no fire.  You can begin to see beads of swear pouring down their foreheads as nothing happens.  Elijah taunts them, asking where their god is.  Possibly your god has gone on a journey, he could be sleeping, maybe you need to go wake him up.  Perhaps he has gone aside, which means he is using the restroom. 

 

     After the failure of their god Elijah has water poured on his offering three times.  He has the offering completely soaked before he calls upon God to start the fire.  He wanted the people to know that when the fire did come from God, it would be no accident.  Elijah doesn't dance around the altar, he does not work himself up into a frenzy.  Elijah prays and God listens.  Fire rains down from heaven and consumes the burnt offering. 

 

      Ahab and the prophets of Baal were able to pull the wool over most peoples eyes.  They could fool them into thinking that Baal had power and would take care of them.  But they could not fool Elijah.  When it came to lay their cards on the table Elijah was holding a straight flush while Ahab was sitting there with nothing. 

 

      We may not like the ending.  The prophets of Baal are killed.  But the message is clear.  The end of idolatry is death.  The way to life is through Yahweh. 

 

       Jim Stafford told a story about a little boy drawing in Sunday School.  The teacher asked him, "What are you drawing?"

 

       "God," he said.

 

        The teacher responded, "Nobody knows what God looks like."

 

        "They will in a minute," the little boy said.

 

        After being confronted by Elijah, the people had a better idea of what God is like.  His message was more that the fact that Yahweh alone is God.  Elijah's message tells us  something about God.  God is active in human affairs.  God listens, speaks, and acts.  God honors commitments and keeps promises. 

 

       About eight hundred and fifty years later a man named Jesus came on the scene.  And it looked like the powers of the day had the upper hand, people like Herod and Pilate.  And again it looked like a mismatch as Jesus was hung on a cross and left to die.  But something as improbable as the fire coming from heaven happened.  On the third day Jesus rose from the dead. 

 

       The truth is that it was great mismatch, Ahab and the prophets of Baal, Herod and Pilate never had a chance.  If Elijah was here today I think he would say something like this to us, "You can't straddle the fence.  You can't have your feet in both camps.  Choose this day who your God is and who you will serve."