So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.
(1Ki 18:28-29)
And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again." Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!"
(1Ki 18:36-39)
Religion vs. relationship, works of the flesh vs. faith in God; here we have these two contrary principles radically illustrated for us! We look at the prophets of Baal and we see man attempting to get God’s attention, to gain his favor. The scene must have been incredible, 450 men jumping around for about 3 hours, yelling “oh Baal, hear us!” What was the response they received? SILENCE. Elijah is standing, watching, and after 3 hours, he begins mocking them… “maybe your God is busy, maybe he is asleep, maybe he decided to take a vacation”. The prophets “KICK IT UP A NOTCH” and they cut themselves, continuing to cry out. These aren’t just little scratches, these guys keep cutting deeper and deeper… now they are GUSHING BLOOD! It’s evening now, and still the heavens are silent.
What a picture… we can kick and scream, we can yell and shout, but there is nothing we can do to earn God’s approval. So much of religion is a watered-down version of what these prophets are doing… pray the right prayer, do the right good deeds, follow these seven pillars, or these five pillars… it all ends the same. You cannot earn a right relationship with God, it is impossible!
Then we see Elijah… The contrast couldn’t be starker. Darkness to light; we see in Elijah a man who KNOWS God, a man who has RELATIONSHIP with God. One simple prayer… no yelling, no jumping, no self-inflicted wounds; Elijah talks to the Lord like a man talks to his friend. God sends FIRE. I mean, God sends FIRE!!! We are talking a serious ball of flame, water evaporates, sacrifice consumed, THERE IS A GOD IN ISRAEL and YHWH is His name!!!
Yesterday we looked at Elijah and in him we saw a man full of faith. Today we see where that faith came from. Elijah KNEW the Lord. God spoke to him, God directed him, they were not disconnected, Elijah had REAL FELLOWSHIP with God. When you look at your life and your relationship with God, are you connected like Elijah, or are you disconnected like the prophets of Baal? Jesus said, “I came that they might have life and that abundant”. In John 1 we read that “In Jesus was life, and that life was the light of men”. Jesus is life, and He wants relationship with us more than ANYTHING ELSE. Get to know Jesus… START TODAY!
2 comments:
I love the way we can do nothing to earn our way to heaven. Nothing!
In other religions where you always have to do something. For me this is a sure proof that they are false. I know as a fact that man has sinned so much there is no way he could ever earn anything through works. I can tell that these other religions are false and made by man, because only man would be so blind to the truth of his own depravity.
What's up with the number on the blog? The 565?
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