So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
“I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.
Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”
Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” So they took the bull given them and prepared it.
Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.
And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
“Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked.
“There is nothing there,” he said.
Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”
The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”
So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”
Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. (1 Kings 18:16-46 NIV)
As we sat down to watch the Super Bowl, we asked our kids who they were going for. Faith knew right away: “The Eagles!” They have a better mascot, I guess. Do you know what our boys said? “Both teams.” That’s actually the common response at our house. “I’m going for both teams.” We have a lot of fence sitters. Can you guess why? They want to be on the winning side. Do you know how you can always end up on the winning side? It’s easy: Just go for both teams!
That attitude is a lot more common than you might think. To sit on the fence. To play both sides. Not sure what I mean? The fact that we’re in church means we want to have Jesus in our lives. At least a little. But then we also want to have plenty of money, right? In case God doesn’t come through. And we want all the right people around us, for when God and money can’t do it. And enough success that we feel good about ourselves, in case God, money, and family fail us. And it doesn’t hurt to delve into other religions, just to cover your bases. A little luck. Your horoscope. “Christian” easily becomes “Christ and…” We want to make sure we’re on the winning side.
Do you know what the Bible says about playing both sides? Jesus was once asked, “Which is the greatest commandment?” (Matthew 22:34). Remember Jesus’ answer? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). What word did Jesus repeat? “All.” “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” When Jesus faced off with Satan in the desert, do you know what wasn’t an option? A tie. A truce. It was either / or. Jesus or Satan. One or the other. There’s no fence sitting in faith. There’s just “all.” “With all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
The devil wants to divide your heart, so that it’s not all with Jesus. God wants you all for him. Today we hear about the greatest showdown in the Bible. It happened in the 800s B.C. God’s people in Israel were turning away from God, starting with their leaders. King Ahab was the evilest king in a line of evil kings. His wife was even eviler—Queen Jezebel. They didn’t play both sides. They went head-first into worshipping a false god. Who? Baal. Baal was the god of Jezebel’s home country: Tyre and Sidon. Jezebel brought Baal to Israel when she married Ahab.
But why would the Israelites worship a false god like Baal? It seems foolish to worship an idol, doesn’t it? No, it actually made perfect sense. First, the powerful people in Israel worshiped Baal, including the king and the queen. Power tends to be very persuasive! Second, everybody else was doing it. By “everybody else,” I mean all the other nations. Israel was just a small country. All the countries around her worshipped Baal. Isn’t it better to fit in? Third, Baal was the storm god. Baal sent rain. Baal made things grow. If you’re a farmer, what do you need more than anything else? Rain. Stuff to grow. That’s Baal’s specialty! For the Israelites, it made sense to play both sides. “Let’s worship God and Baal. Both. Then we’ll have all our bases covered!”
Except God doesn’t like that. God doesn’t like divided hearts. So God attacked Baal head-on. First, he sent Elijah to King Ahab to tell him that it wasn’t going to rain. Remember what Baal was the god of? Storms and rain! This would be a good test! Who makes it rain? It didn’t rain in Israel for three years. Huh. In the middle of that drought, God challenged Baal to a showdown. “Ahab, bring your 450 prophets of Baal to Mt. Carmel.” Mt. Carmel was right on the border between Israel and Tyre. Remember who was from Tyre? Queen Jezebel. This was Baal’s home territory. Think of the match-up: 450 prophets v. Elijah. Baal’s home field. Not good odds. And Elijah added one more thing: “Make sure all the people come to watch. They need to see this!”
It must have been quite a sight: 450 prophets of Baal on one sideline. Elijah on the other. Elijah challenged the people: “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” You can’t follow both! The Hebrew phrase Elijah used is very picturesque. He said, “How long will you limp on two crutches?” Imagine someone walking on two crutches that are of different heights. Can you picture that? How well would that work? That’s what it’s like to live with a divided heart! “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” “But the people said nothing.” What a condemning statement! They wanted to see how the showdown went first…
Elijah let the prophets of Baal go first. They put a bull on their altar. Then they called out to Baal to send down fire: “Baal, answer us!” This should have been a piece of cake. Remember what Baal was the god of? Storms. Lightening was his specialty! “Just send one bolt down and get this over with!” “But there was no response; no one answered.” After hours, Elijah taunted them: “Shout louder! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling.” Maybe he turned his cell phone off! So they shouted louder and slashed themselves and danced around frantically. “But there was no response; no one answered; no one paid attention.” Know why? Baal isn’t real.
So why do we do the same thing? “No, we don’t!” Hold on. Those false prophets believed this: “If we do enough stuff, our ‘god’ will help us.” You could summarize that pagan philosophy like this: “God helps those who help themselves.” Wait a minute. That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Isn’t that what we often think? “If we do enough stuff, God better help us, because God helps those who help themselves!” “If we have the best youth programs and organize the best kids’ activities and serve the best food and schedule the best events and volunteer a lot and build the nicest church and have the best music, then God better…” How often don’t we throw ourselves into a frenzy of activity? Do you know what that is? That’s pagan religion. We may not be prophets of Baal, but we can sure think like prophets of Baal. “If only we…, then God will…”
You know what Elijah does? He pours cold water on all of that. Literally. When it was his turn, Elijah dug a big trench and poured water over everything. Three times. You probably haven’t offered up animal sacrifices before, but I bet you’ve started a fire. What’s the last thing you want to do? Get stuff wet! Not Elijah. He wanted to prove that it wasn’t him. All Elijah could do was make things worse. If anyone was going to do anything, who was going to do it? God! “LORD, … let it be known today that you are God in Israel…. Answer me, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
And God answered. “Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.” He burned it all. What the lightening god couldn’t do, God did. What all the dancing and slashing and shouting couldn’t accomplish, God did. And the people got it. Remember what the people said when Elijah asked, “How long will you waver between two opinions?” They said nothing. But now? “When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, ‘The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!”
There was grace in that fire. God burned up that sacrifice instead of burning up all those sinful people. That fire showed that God had not abandoned his people. That fire showed that there was still time for his people to turn back to him. The LORD is not only the one true God. He is a gracious God. He is not only the real God. He’s the reconciling God who wants nothing more than to have his people come back to him. That fire was an invitation to repent. To return to the LORD and his grace. Forget riding the fence. “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!”
We’d expect everyone to go home happy! Except Elijah immediately commanded: “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized the 450 prophets of Baal and killed them. People don’t get that today. “What? How could God do that? Why would God be so mean?” Because what you believe is a matter of life and death. What you believe is a matter of heaven and hell. There is nothing worse that a person can do than lead other people away from God. In the Old Testament, God commanded his people to put false prophets to death. It’s that serious! You don’t treat cancer with breath mints. You cut it out and try to kill whatever is left.
What do you need to cut out? Now, we don’t live in Old Testament Israel. The penalty for false teaching in the United States is not death. Don’t put anyone to death! But what’s pulling your heart away from Christ? Cut it out. That habit that you know isn’t good. That hobby that doesn’t leave you time for what matters most. That relationship that makes you compromise your beliefs. That thing that your heart loves more than your Savior. “Elijah, can’t I serve both God and money?” No. “How about God and job success?” No. “How about Jesus and sports,” or “Sports and Jesus.” No. “Just a little?” “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” Christians are to be fully committed to Christ.
Because he is to us. Just think of Jesus’ showdown with Satan. He did what we haven’t done. He faced the devil for us and won! The devil tempted Jesus with the same temptations he uses on us: Food. Fate. Power. Every time, Jesus said, “No!” Do you know whom Jesus was thinking of? You. He was thinking of bringing you back to him. He’s our Champion. Jesus won for us! Then think of Jesus’ sacrifice. He didn’t just offer up a bull. He offered up himself on the cross. There was grace at that cross. God punished his Son instead of punishing us. Jesus makes you this invitation: “Follow me, and you will have life. You will have forgiveness. You will have peace.”
“How long will you waver between two opinions?” All gods are not the same. The LORD is a God for whom numbers don’t matter. 450 vs. 1. Which side is stronger? “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). The LORD is a God for whom our activity isn’t his motivation. Do you know why God saves? Because of his grace. Because of his undeserved love for us. The LORD is a God for whom weakness isn’t an obstacle. Pour on all the water you want. Come to God with all your sins and all your failures, and watch Jesus take them all away.
“How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him!” Knowing the truth has implications for life. Christianity isn’t a head thing. It’s a whole life thing. It’s an “all” thing. “If the LORD is God, follow him!” When you see Christ’s commitment to you this Lenten season, may his grace lead you to throw off everything that hinders you and take up your cross and follow him. Because here’s the truth: You know who won. Jesus did. You don’t have to play both sides. You don’t have to cover all your bases. Just one: The LORD is God. So follow him!
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