Beginning of the Man

I wanna start with this. A lot of God's greatest servants, a lot of the Bible's greatest heroes have gone through the most intense crucibles of refinement, the most intense fires of refinement. In very few lives are the hammer of history and the heat of refining fire more evident than in one of the most famous bible characters called Elijah. For the next few weeks, I'd love for us to spend some time understanding the man, understanding the context that he found himself in, understanding the message that he proclaimed. It's my hope that we learn about a character so powerfully used that we in turn can be encouraged to find the remarkable strength to be like prophets in our situations, to be like that particular prophet in our situations.

To be men and women who stand in the gap, refusing to compromise, refusing to let go of God's faithfulness and goodness despite dire circumstances, and to see God's hand in all of our situations which we find ourselves in. This morning particularly, we're going to look at what happens behind the scenes of this man's life. If you've been around the traps for a while, you will know the story of Elijah. Famous, incredible stories. But I want us this morning to look at the beginnings of the man, the beginnings of this man, as he found himself in the history of Israel.

If you have your bibles with you, open with me to First Kings chapter 16. First Kings chapter 16. And we're just going to read verses 29 to 34, and then flow on to chapter 17 verse one. First Kings 16 verse 29. In the thirty eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty two years.

Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worshiped him. He set up an altar for Baal in the Temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him. In Ahab's time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho.

He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son, Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son, Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua son of Nun. Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbah in Gilead, said to Ahab, as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word. So far the reading. In First Kings 17 verse one, we're introduced to a man called Elijah. Elijah the Tishbite.

Immediately, that tells us a little bit of something about this man, Elijah. Talk about stepping out of nowhere. Tishbah, scholars can't find on the map. It's been lost in the sands of time. It is so small, so out of the way that it disappeared.

People know where the region Gilead is. It's a dry, inhospitable, rocky place, but they cannot pinpoint Tishbah. In a small little town somewhere, the best scholars can do is give it a rough estimate where it would be. It was probably small. It was probably dusty and unremarkable.

You can imagine some of those little country towns, those road stops in Outback Australia. Something like that. A place where when you wanted to hunt, you'd actually head towards town. Elijah comes out of this rough, scrappy, difficult, insignificant town. And in this time, a new king had started to reign in Israel.

His name was Ahab. First Kings 16 verse thirty two and thirty three says that Ahab, the king, did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings that came before him. He was an evil king in the history of Israel. An evil, evil king. But if we do our context right, you'll just have to imagine how bad this guy really was to have been considered more evil than the other kings that had gone before him.

You see, after the years, the golden years, if you will, of king David and Solomon in the country, the nation of Israel, after these years, the whole nation became difficult. There was civil unrest. As strife and anger grew in intensity, that the nation actually became divided between the northern tribes and the south. The northern tribes, about ten of them, became known as Israel. The southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, became known as Judah.

So there was Israel and Judah, north and south. The division remained until both kingdoms, in fact, was led into exile when they were taken by other foreign powers and led away into captivity. From the beginning of that division, the Northern Kingdom of Israel had nineteen kings. So after Solomon, nineteen kings had come. All of them were wicked.

All nineteen kings of Israel didn't know God, didn't follow God. Back to back to back. The Southern Kingdom, Judah, on the other hand, had eight good kings that knew God, who followed God, and nine bad kings. So it's still not a great track record, but better than Israel. If you've ever read your bible, and especially, you know, Kings and Chronicles, it might be a little bit confusing.

There's all these kings floating around that seem to be working roughly the same time and it's a bit confusing, but in essence, there were two kingdoms for God's people, the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. This morning, we're going to zoom in on the Northern Kingdom, Israel. This is the place where the story of Elijah happened. In our account of Elijah over the next few weeks, we'll see and we'll track the sad state of affairs that was happening in the north, of a people who were who were called to be God's chosen people. Let's have a look at just what type of characters led this nation that had been dedicated as God's special people.

Let's have a look quickly, and we'll just be flipping very quickly to some of the earlier kings. Have a look at First Kings 15 to 30. This is one of one of Israel's kings, Nadab, king of Israel. Nadab, son of Jeroboam, became king of Israel in the second year of Asa, king of Judah. So can you see that?

There's one king in the North, Nadab, and then there's one king of Judah who was Asa. Nadab reigned over Israel for two years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, walking in the ways of his father and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit. Baasha, son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar, plotted against him and he struck him down at Gibbethon, a Philistine town, while Nadab and all Israel were besieging it. Baasha killed Nadab the king in the third year of Asa king of Judah and succeeded him as king.

As soon as he began to reign, he killed Jeroboam's whole family. So all of Nadab's relatives, his cousins, his brothers, his sisters, his wife, his kids, Baasha killed all of them. He did not leave Jeroboam anyone that breathed, but destroyed them all according to word of the Lord given through his servant, Ahijah, the Shilohite. Because of the sins that Jeroboam had committed and had caused Israel to commit, and because he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger. Then let's have a look at chapter 15 verses 33 to 34.

In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king over all Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned twenty four years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, walking in the ways of Jeroboam and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit. Skip a few verses and we'll come to verse eight in chapter 16. In the twenty sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah, the son of Baasha, became king, and he reigned in Tirzah two years. Zimri, one of his officials, who had command of half his chariots, plotted against him.

Elah was in Tirzah at the time getting drunk in the home of Arza, the man in charge of the palace at Tirzah. Zimri came in, struck him down, and killed him in the twenty seventh year of Asa, king of Judah. Then he succeeded him as king. This sounds like a Game of Thrones story. Just, you know, killing and overtaking and treason and all that sort of thing.

As soon as he began to reign and was seated on the throne, he killed off Baasha's whole family. He did not spare a single male, whether relative or friend. So Zimri destroyed the whole family of Baasha in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken against Baasha through the prophet Jehu. Because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, so that they provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols. And so the story goes on.

What I want us to see is that this is a history that is just full of bloodshed, full of violence, full of treason, full of self promotion. These are the kings that were sort of the heritage of Ahab. Murder, genocide, idolatry, all of these things occurred during the reigns of Israel's kings. Yet, when it came to Ahab, when it came to Ahab, we hear that he was even more wicked than all of those kings that had come before. He was more wicked than all of them.

Spiritually, this must have been a time of complete despair. The leaders of God's people didn't worship God. The chasm between God and His people had reached its widest breadth. Imagine the thick darkness of evil that hung over that nation, that people, as Ahab, we read, erected and built a temple for Baal, the pagan god. As Ahab built an Asherah pole for the chief goddess of the local time then, the local deities.

As you read these words, you can almost hear the sigh in the narrative. You can almost hear as the writer diligently and faithfully writes the mad and disappointing history of his people. And it was at this time, at this dark, desperate hour, that Elijah turns up. Jay Oswald Sanders writes, Elijah appeared at zero hour in Israel's history. Like a meteor, he flashed across the inky blackness of Israel's spiritual night.

Powerful words, very graphic. But I think it's pretty poignant if we look back on this week, that meteor that flew across Russia's sky, and we've all seen those photos, sure, those pictures. That is the image of Elijah flying across the history pages of Israel. Bright, terrifying, exhilarating. This was Elijah.

It was in the context when the entire nation had turned their back on God, and he was left alone to stand in the gap. To be a lone voice calling back to walk with God. To live lives that reflected their love. Three things I want us to just take note of. In these, the context and the introductory verse of Elijah's story.

Three things. The first thing which is important for us to always look at when we look at the Old Testament especially, was the name of the man. Elijah's name in Hebrew literally means, God is my God. Yahweh is my God. The Lord is my God.

Yahweh is the personal, the intimate name that Israel was given, for them to relate, to communicate with God. It's like when someone lets their friend know what only their other close friends call them. It's like someone calling you Pippy when your name is Philippi, and everyone calls you Philippi. It's an intimate, private name. The name Yahweh is God's special, intimate name.

And so here's a man who says through his name, Yahweh is my God. You guys may worship Baal, you guys may worship Asherah, Yahweh is my God. King Ahab and queen Jezebel were in control of the land. Queen Jezebel, as we'll find out later, was bad news. If you've ever heard someone say, she's a real Jezebel?

This is the person they're referring to. She was bad news. She was just plain nasty. Jezebel worshipped other idols. She was probably a non Jew, and she rejected God's Yahweh as the God of the nation, and then chose instead to worship nature and the fertility god Baal.

In fact, she convinced king Ahab to make Baal the national god. And so it's in this context that Elijah steps out of the blue, out of a place called Tishbeh. And without opening his mouth, his very name proclaimed, I have one God. His name is Yahweh. He is the one that I serve.

He is the only one that I worship. Elijah. As we said, the spiritual chasm between God and His people had reached its widest breadth, and now Elijah chose to stand in the gap. The second thing that we notice about this introduction of Elijah is his land, is his background. Elijah was from Tishbeh, therefore, he's called Elijah the Tishbite.

And like I said, we know very little about the exact location. However, we know that it's on the Transjordan area, that is it is on the Eastern Side of the Jordan River. And given this clue, historians have pieced a few details together with the help of archaeologists. Gilead was known as a place of solitude. Gilead was known as a place of outdoorsy, tough life.

A place where people would have likely have been rugged, they would have been tanned, they would have been leathery, they would have been strong. They would have had fantastic tan physiques from the sun and muscular hard work that they would have been involved with. It was your common day Emerald or your Mount Isa, your Black Hole, those sort of places. It was never, it was never a place of polish. It was never a place of sophistication, of diplomacy.

It was a tough country. And if you read more about Elijah, you sense the idea that Elijah's character was in keeping with that. His manner might have bordered on the edge of coarse and crude. He was a man who was rough, rugged, but it took a man like Elijah to meet this dark hour of Israel's history. A stern, solitary man from the rugged village of Tishbeh.

And then the third thing we notice about Elijah is his style. Elijah's name is significant. Yahweh is my God. His background is significant. But what comes most immediately to mind when we think of the person of Elijah is his style, is his character, is his personality.

Right from the get go, he's in the king's face. Chapter 17 verse one says, Elijah comes and he says to Ahab, he just bursts through the door in the palace, and he says to the king, to his face, no more rain, no more dew until I say so. He's like a tough little bull terrier that just runs into the thick of it. Without a moment's hesitation, with no apparent fear or reluctance, Elijah stands before the king, and he says, this is what the Lord says. Now remember, the kingdom of Israel has learnt sixty or more years of unbelief, of assassinations, of idolatry, ungodliness, and cutthroat rulers.

Furthermore, the current king and his dominating wife Jezebel are the worst of the lot, the bible says. And then on to this stage, the prophet steps up from nowhere. He doesn't follow any protocol, there's no bowing, there's no courtesy, he makes no introductions, there's no courtly etiquette. He offers no honour to the royal audience, he is without sophistication, without polish, without courtesy, or any manners. He probably doesn't even smell that good either.

Elijah is a man on a mission, declaring himself as a servant of the Lord God of Israel. Without preparing his audience for the warning, makes the ominous pronouncement, no rain, not even dew for years unless I say so. His words are so matter of fact, aren't they? But keep in mind, he's shaking his fist in the face of pure evil. From this introduction, there's some things I believe that God wants to teach us.

The first thing is that God looks for special people at difficult times. God looks for special people at difficult times. God needed a special man to shine the light in the blackness of those days. It was tough, and he needed a tough man. But God didn't find that person in the palace or in the courtroom.

He didn't find him walking around with his head in the books. He didn't even find him in the home of the ordinary folk. God found him in Tishbah of all places. God looked for someone who had the backbone to stand up, to stand alone, someone who had the courage to say that is wrong, someone who could stand toe to toe with an idolater and say, Yahweh is God. In our culture, friends, in our offices, in our factories, in our lunchrooms, in our boardrooms, our universities, our schoolrooms, we need men and women of God like that.

We need respected professionals, athletes, teachers, public figures, private citizens who will promote and uphold the things of God, who will stand alone, stand tall, who will stand firm in the face. How's your stature? How's your uprightness? How's your integrity? Have you corrupted your principles to stay in business, to make good profits, to avoid conflict?

Have you been involved in behaviour or entertained a lifestyle that you knew is not acceptable to God? God expects much more of us. To those who find comfort in the court of Ahab, in the comforts of the court, in the comforts of the palace, to those who find comfort in the court, they can never bring themselves to stand in the gap with Elijah. If that is us, we have to repent, we have to turn back, we have to be strong, we have to stand up, we have to stand firm, we have to draw closer to God. The second thing we notice about this, and the second thing that really speaks to us, is that God's methods are often surprising.

They're often surprising. God didn't raise up an army to destroy Ahab and Jezebel. Although history tells us, the bible tells us that He could. God didn't send some charismatic prince to argue or to persuade with the royalty, to have some diplomacy, to figure things out. Instead, God did the unimaginable.

He chose someone like Elijah. Are you thinking that you aren't the right person for that particular job? That there is someone better qualified for you in that leadership position? That there is someone better suited for leadership in the church. Or that the need in the community that is just in the back of your mind there, that it needs someone else.

That someone else better than you could be doing it. Well, you may be just missing the opportunity that God is calling you for, that God has really placed on your heart. You could be missing that opportunity that is right in front of you. In fact, you may already be in ministry, serving, but may not even know it. You may not even know that that one, two, three people in your life, you're ministering to them.

Don't discount what God does or is doing. God is often surprising. Elijah, the staunch, rugged, leathery figure, strides out of nowhere. He suddenly steps onto the pages of history. But Elijah is a clear witness of the value of one life completely committed to God.

An unknown man from a backwater place, he was called to stand against evil in the most turbulent and violent times in Israel's history. And I believe, I believe that God is still working with Elijahs today. He is still searching for Elijahs today. I'm really looking forward to this series. It's gonna be a cracker.

And I hope, I hope that God does call Elijahs from this church.