Kingdom Revelator Australia – Issue 110

Elijah’s famous confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:20-46), showed the people of Israel who the real God is. The Lord was put to the test when over 400 prophets of Baal were pitted against Yahweh. It seemed a grossly unfair contest because the odds were dramatically stacked in Baal’s favour; their offering was dry, while Elijah’s offering was drenched in water, their ridiculous ritual cries and hours of tormented pleading fell on nonexistent ears, while it only took a simple prayer from Elijah, the man of God, and for the fire to burst forth from heaven and consume not only the offering, but the water, wood and the stone altar too. The people of Israel repented!

But their repentance lasted only until Jezebel, the evil queen, discovered what had happened. As soon as the Israelites reached Samaria they turned once again to Baal, and Elijah was forced to flee for his life. But God kept 7000 people in Israel for Himself who had not bowed to Baal; a small, broken few cowering in caves from Jezebel; the downtrodden, the poor in spirit, the meek, the ones who will inherit the land. The New Testament is not about a God who wins by overwhelming force, but a God who gave His life on the cross for love of His people. Through the death of Jesus on the cross, God’s kingdom came. The time for calling fire from heaven has passed (Luke 9:54-55); God now works as the suffering servant, the humbled Messiah who died on the cross. Hearing the voice of God is often a matter of quietness, as God more often speaks in a whisper than with thunder, and that sometimes the most spectacular signs are the ones that pass by almost unnoticed      (1 Kings 9:11-12). No longer will God be heard in the earthquake or in thunder, but instead God will be heard in a rasping whisper from the cross. The salvation story continues from calvary to this day.