Sermon from July 2, 2025

Sermon on 1 Kings 19:9b-21

July 2, 2025

“Elijah - Still a Prophet?”

Epistle: 3rd Sunday after Pentecost

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)

The text for our meditation this evening is the Old Testament lesson from this past Sunday, 1 Kings 19:9-21. At the time of this text, the prophet Elijah was having a very difficult time. He was troubled and discouraged and wondered if he even could or should be a prophet, anymore. We have to look at some background that brought Elijah to this point. Some of these stories you may remember. (You can find them in 1 Kings 16:29 through 19:8.)

Elijah had been a faithful prophet of the One True God, but was called to serve in the Northern Kingdom of Israel when there was a wicked Jewish King, Ahab, who had married a non-Jewish princess, Jezebel, who was even worse than he. Jezebel worshipped the false god, Baal, and a false goddess, Astarte, and convinced Ahab to get rid of the worship of the One True God. Instead, Jezebel supported 450 prophets of Baal and 400 of the prophets of the false goddess, as well, with the approval of Ahab, who built altars for worship of them.

Elijah, the prophet, spoke against what was happening and for the True God, but Ahab and Jezebel would not listen. Finally, God predicted a drought, through Elijah, that would go on for a long time unless the king and queen and the Israelites repented, but again, Ahab and Jezebel kept doing their evil things and leading the people further astray against the One True God.

The True God provided for Elijah during this drought that lasted more than two years. He sent ravens that fed him and then fed him through a non-Jewish widow, whose tiny bit of food was replenished by God daily, just enough for her and her son and Elijah. We pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” but that was literally what the Lord God did for Elijah and the other two. Elijah kept speaking the Word of the Lord where he could, and by the power of God, even raised the widow’s son from the dead after the son became ill and died. The widow finally came to faith and said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the Word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

Little seemed to be accomplished in Israel itself, though, because of the continuing evil influence of Ahab and Jezebel and all the false prophets - and even after more than two years of no rain. Finally, the Lord sent Elijah to King Ahab to set up a contest between the prophets of Baal, and Elijah and the true God. Each would build an altar and ask their “god” to send down fire upon their altar. Whichever “god” responded was the True God. The prophets of Baal prayed and cried out and cut themselves with swords and lances to get the attention of Baal until they were bleeding badly, but Baal did not respond all day.

Elijah, in contrast, had his altar soaked with water and then spoke of the true God and prayed to him, and fire from God right away burned up Elijah’s altar and offering. It was very clear that Elijah’s God was the One True God. Elijah then told King Ahab that after more than two years of no rain, rain would come again, and a great rain came, showing God’s power and control, even over nature.

Elijah then had the 450 false prophets of Baal killed. Old Testament Law allowed for the “death penalty” for anyone who “enticed the people of Israel to go and serve other gods.” This may seem very harsh and hard - but remember that the coming Savior of the world was to come out of Judaism and the Jewish nation, from believers who still trusted the true God - and our Lord Jesus did come in just that way.

Now you would think that all this would convince King Ahab and Queen Jezebel to repent and turn to the one true God. That is likely what Elijah thought would happen. But that did not happen at all. Instead, Queen Jezebel was so angry that she vowed a curse upon herself if she had not killed Elijah within the next 24 hours.

Elijah then became very afraid and ran for his life. He ran to the Southern Kingdom of Judah, where there were believers and he could have been safe. But he ran to the southernmost part of Judah and even farther into the desolate wilderness. He was so fearful and discouraged and felt like a failure and asked that he might die. He said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” He lay down, very discouraged.

But God wasn’t done with him, in spite of his weakness, and sent an angel to provide him with food and water. But he lay down again, maybe like a person who is so depressed that he can’t seem to get out of bed. And the angel of the Lord came again and provided him with food and drink enough for a journey of about 250 miles to Mt. Horeb, another name for Mt. Sinai, to a cave there.

That is where our text begins. Some think that the Lord was recreating what He had done with Moses long before, when Moses was so discouraged when the people of Israel had rebelled against the Lord and built a golden calf to worship, instead of the Lord, right when Moses was on Mt. Sinai learning from the Lord and seeking to do His will. Moses was so angry that he smashed the tablets on which the 10 Commandments were written, and was so troubled that he offered to have his name blotted out of the Book of Life.

Instead, the Lord had mercy and forgave Moses and his people, and even gave Moses a glimpse of the Lord’s glory, setting him in the cleft of a rock to protect him and encourage him to continue his ministry. Commentators think that the cave Elijah was now in was the same “cleft in a rock” that Moses had been in. God asked Elijah twice, “What are you doing here?” And twice Elijah had complained that he had been jealously working for the Lord, but the people of Israel had forsaken the Lord and torn down His altars, and he was the only believer left, and they were trying to kill him, too.

As the Lord had done for Moses in his time of great discouragement, the Lord also gave Elijah a glimpse of His glory. There was a great and strong wind that broke rocks in pieces, and then an earthquake, and then a fire, but the Lord was not in any of these mighty, powerful things. Instead, we hear that “the Word of the Lord came to Elijah “with the “sound of a low whisper.” The Lord God gave Elijah the great gift of His Word, powerful, even with a “still, small voice,” as some translate these Words.

God was not done with Elijah. Even in his weakness, God would be at work in him, through His Word. Elijah was to go where he had been and appoint some new leaders who would serve God’s purposes. And Elijah was not going to be alone either. He was to throw his cloak, his coat, upon Elisha, who would also be a prophet and would assist him in the rest of his ministry. And the Lord revealed to Elijah that he hadn’t seen alone, all along. There were seven thousand others who had not bowed their knees to the false god, Baal, and were believers with Elijah in the One True God. And in spite of his struggles and discouraging days, at times, God still worked through Elijah, and he was one of only two people in Scripture who were taken directly to heaven, without dying (2 Kings 2).

What does all of this say to us today? If even great leaders in Scripture like Moses and Elijah had their struggles and discouragements and times of weakness, should it be a surprise that we have such struggles in our lives, too? And the Lord doesn’t write us off because of our troubles and times of seeming failures. He loves us and forgives us and lifts us up and still gives us things to do for Him and the people He places around us.

Remember how Paul talked about his “thorn in the flesh” that kept him humble. He trusted his Lord, who told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” And so, like Moses and Elijah, Paul said, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong, in the power of Christ, who helps me through."

Ahab and Jezebel and many others were strong enemies, but God used Elijah and others through sharing what sometimes seemed to be the still, small voice of God’s Word, always to bring at least a remnant of believing Jewish people to faith, and from them came our Lord Jesus, the Jewish Savior for the whole world by His perfect life of righteousness, in our place, and His death on the cross to forgive all our sins, and His resurrection from the dead, fulfilling the promise of eternal life for us, after death.

And Jesus was also a true man, tempted as Moses and Elijah and we are, yet without sin. He needed encouragement and help, as a man, and John the Baptist prepared the way for Him. The Scriptures and Jesus said that John the Baptist was also the one who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, as prophesied. John the Baptist also had his struggles and questions, too, and died a tragic death, but was saved by faith in the perfect grace of Jesus, as we all are.

And on the Mount of Transfiguration, when a glimpse of Jesus’ own glory was shown to Peter, James, and John, how appropriate it was that Moses and Elijah were there, too, great and yet as imperfect as we are, yet saved through Jesus, as we are all (Matthew 17:1-13). And as Paul later wrote, we can still hear that quiet whisper, the still, small voice in God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures, which may not always seem so important, but are the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” May we stay in that Word, centered in Christ, always. Amen.