Elijah – Light from the Word

By This I Know That You Are a Man of God

Actions speak louder than words. Do what I do; do not do what I say. If I tell you, I am a born-again Christian, but my actions deny the very essence of my faith, I am a hypocrite, and the Holy Spirit is not abiding in me. Look at what YAHSHUA called the Pharisees of His day. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders! You blind guides, you are like tombs that have been white-washed, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything impure; blind fools! These are just a few definitions extracted from Matthew chapter 23 where we find a host of definitions our Lord uttered against the Pharisees. This religious sect is alive and well in our churches today. Hypocrisy is evident in the life style one chooses to have. Some are performing miracles in the name of the prosperity gospel; they prophesize falsely to acquire fame. The gospel they preach is not the gospel from the Bible. However, time will confirm who they are. Woe are they, for condemnation has been pronounced by our Lord, YAHSHUA. “I never knew you; depart from Me.” He told the crowd, “Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name? And then I will say to them openly, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who act wickedly” (Matt. 7:22-23). YAHSHUA gives us a picture of someone active in the church. Their activities are those of prophesying, performing miracles, casting out demons. These are well received as from God. They performed these, but did not have a relationship with God. Their lives were instruments for their own gain. They own mansions, airplanes, fancy and expensive cars in the name of miracles, but their insides are filled with hypocrisies and love of money. A god they love more than the true God they presumably serve.

YAHSHUA entered the synagogue in Nazareth, where He had been brought up, as was His custom on the Sabbath day and He stood up to read…He opened the scroll and read Isaiah 61:1-2). He stood as the One Who had come to fulfill the Law and the prophets. He stood as a messenger of the word of God. He said to the people, Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing. But the people wondered about Him, saying, Is not this Joseph’s Son? That’s all they thought of Him. For this reason, they rejected His message in disbelief. YAHSHUA then responded, saying, “I say to you, no prophet is acceptable and welcome in his [own] town. But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were closed up for three years and six months, so that there came a great famine over all the land; and yet Elijah was not sent to a single one of them, but only to Zarephath in the country of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow” (Luke 4: 16-26). Here, we have the reason why Elijah was not sent to a widow in Israel. It was because of their unbelief. Naturally, they would have not believed him. Miracles happen when faith is present. God’s plan to save Elijah, rewarded the widow from Sidon, because she believed Elijah to be a man of God, sent to her by God. Before Elijah performed the miracle of bringing her son to life, she did everything Elijah told her to do, even giving him her last substance. That was faith in action, for she did not know for sure, but believed the words of Elijah, “Fear not, go and do as you said. But make me a little cake of first and bring it to me, and after ward prepare some for yourself and your son, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: The jar of meal shall not waste away or the bottle of oil fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth. She did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days” (I Kings 17:13-15). Her first step of faith opened heaven to bless her as Elijah, the man of God was blessed. In the death and resurrection of her son, she saw the glory of God shinning through His servant, Elijah, who faithfully served Him. It was no small thing to her when Elijah brought her son to life. As a widow, she needed her son to provide for her and was depended on him for everything else. He was to her strength and security for her future. The Lord God honored her faith and blessed her for it. YAHSHUA mentioned her to the crowd, who lacked faith in Him. He stood in the synagogue of Nazareth as the Son of God in all the miracles He performed before the eyes of all people. Yet, He was not believed to be the Messiah that was to come by His own, especially those of His town called Nazareth. In contrast, the prophet Elijah performed only one miracle, and that was sufficient for that widow to believe him to be a man of God: “By this I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” This was her confession (I Kings 17:24).

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Elijah, a Prophet for All times

Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Asked His disciples. YAHSHUA then answered them saying, But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know or recognize him, but did to him as they liked. So, also the Son of Man is going to be treated and suffer at their hands (Matt.17:12). YAHSHUA answering the question, confined to the disciples that He, like John, will be rejected and be killed by those who killed John. That was a solemn moment for the disciples to ponder about the words of YAHSHUA, as they had just experienced the most supernatural event, when YAHSHUA underwent a change in their presence at the Mount of Transfiguration; His face shone clear and bright like the sun, and His clothing became as white as light; and there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him, and then, they were overshadowed by a shinning cloud and God’s voice sounded warning them saying, This is My Son, in Whom I am delighted; listen to Him (Matt. 17: 2-3,5). The subject of the conversation between them was of great importance, for those were YAHSHUA’S last forty days on earth before His death. The Gospel of Luke is the only one that mentions the subject of the conversation (Luke 9:30). Moses, representing the Law and Elijah, the prophets, constituted time frames when all that which had been prophesized about YAHSHUA was going to be fulfilled through Him. YAHSHUA, through His death, was going to fulfill the Law in its entirety. Moses and Elijah came to Him with the purpose to be witnesses and to confirm the coming event. As a matter of fact, A.E Ware, the author of the book, The Restored Vision, suggested that the two men seen at the tomb of YAHSHUA at His resurrection, were Moses and Elijah.

Elijah became the subject of the conversation, when they were coming down from the mount. Based on what had been prophesized by Malachiah 4:5-6: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he shall turn and reconcile the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse and a ban of utter destruction. The disciples’ question was, Why must Elijah come first? That is, before the end of all things or the great tribulation. “But I tell you that Elijah has already come.” Was the answer presented to them by YAHSHUA. How so? In the spirit and power of Elijah. He was not Elijah in his physical body, for that, Elijah will come in person to fulfill the prophecy of Malachi 4:5. John went into all the country round about the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance unto the forgiveness of sin, as it was written in the book of Isaiah the prophet (Luke 2). This same John’s garments were made of camel’s hair, and he wore a leather girdle about his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey (Matt. 3:4). His message to the nation of Israel was hard and direct without compromises. To the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he called them, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee and escape from the wrath and indignation that is coming? Bring forth fruit that is consistent with repentance and do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our forefather; for I tell you, God is able to raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones; and already the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Matt.3:7-10). So, with many other appeals and admonitions he preached the good news to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, who had been told about his fault and reproved with rebuke producing conviction by [John] for [having] Herodias, his brother’s wife and for all the wicked things that Herod had done, added this to them all- that he shut up John in prison (Luke 2:18-20).

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The Lord, He is God

(I Kings 18)

The Prophet Elijah feared not the multitude of the false prophets he confronted at Mount Carmel. Israel, for the most of its existence, has been submerged in the worship of false gods from the beginning; today it is no different. One can witness the mason’s symbol at the border between Egypt and Israel. It is a sad representation of the spiritual decay the nation is suffering. All through the Old Testament we read about Israel’s stubbornness in heeding God’s call to repentance. Four hundred plus years living in Egypt, Israel was brain washed concerning their beliefs seemingly forever. Nothing has made her to turn around from idolatrous gods. And today, worse yet, Israel is leading the nations on its idolatrous practices. Kabala, mingled with masonic, and other religious practices, (which I will not mention here), has taken the world by surprise. Spread all over the world, Israel is one nation that has influenced the entire world in the name of religion. Such a small nation, with such influential power makes one to wonder. Anti- Semitism is rampart in the nations, for many understands Israel’s influence in the world and they do not like it. As fruits leave a permanent mark on one’s clothes, so the nation of Israel has stained the world; never to leave it.

In the days of Elijah, drought came as God’s judgment on that land for three years. Not perceiving the reason why, they continued on their idolatrous ways. A nation now divided in two nations had lost the essence of their only true God. Embraced by the gods of the nations all around them, Israel became blind and forgetful. Baal, considered a fertility deity, was worshipped in many middle eastern countries, especially among the Canaanites, which God clearly warned Israel against them. The land of Canaan was from the beginning a land rooted in evil. It took its name from Noah’s grandson, Canaan, whose father was Ham, the carrier of a curse for seeing the nakedness of his father (Gen. 9:20-27). Ham’s descendants constituted the roots of Canaan. The Bible registers Ham’s genealogy as follows: Canaan became the father of Sidon his firstborn. Heth [the Hittites], the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites spread abroad and the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon as one goes to Geerar as far as Gaza, and as one goes to Sodom, Gomorrrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha (Gen. 10:15-19). Canaan was also home for giants, descendants from Anak, and of the Nephilim. Little seems to be of importance to us today, for its ancient history. However, history has a way of showing us the roots where we all came from.

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Elijah, Ravens and a Widow

(I Kings 17:2-16)

The days of the prophets of old were days of unprecedented supernatural happenings, when God visibly acted for or against His people – Israel. Elijah’s life, for example, was one with stories to tell, perhaps not all registered in the Bible, causing us to wonder why doesn’t God continue manifesting Himself in our days as He did then. Israel had the direct spoken word from God through the prophets, but they did not heed to them, instead they killed God’s messengers. In Luke 13:34-35 YAHSHUA utters a warning to Jerusalem for having done that: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who continue to kill the prophets and to stone those who are sent to you! How often I have desired and yearned to gather your children together, as a hen her young under her wings, but you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see Me again until the time when you shall say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

Elijah had a message from God to give King Ahab that would cause his anger to arouse, persecute and kill him. However, it is the duty of a prophet to be God’s mouth and Elijah courageously took the podium and proclaimed the word from the Lord to King Ahab: As the Lord lives, before Whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years but according to My word (vs.1). However, before that happened, God provided not only a hiding place for Elijah, but also sustenance. He told him, Go from here, He said, and turn east and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan. You shall drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there (vs.3-4).

The raven is the largest of the perching birds. It resembles a crow; it is all black, with a 4ft. wing span, measuring over two feet from head to toe. It is one of the most intelligent of all birds; it communicates warning, threats, taunting and cheer to all other birds by changing the sounds it makes. Amazingly how all birds understand the meaning of the various sounds it makes! It is like police to us humans with his siring car. So, God chose ravens to feed Elijah with bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening. For a few days Elijah depended on those ravens to bring him food from heaven, already prepared by God Himself. It must have been the tastiest food ever tried by Elijah. Ah the faithfulness of our God! The Prophet Elijah neither question God, nor doubted His provision, but “did according to the word of the Lord.” Obedience first, then the fulfillment of God’s promises in one’s life. Elijah, was a man of courage and faith; his name has a wonderful meaning: YAHWEH is my God; he is also called Elias. His ministry extended to the northern kingdom of Israel (the remnant of Joseph); his ministry was during the reigns of Ahab, and Ahaziah. In his zeal for the only true God, he commanded the slaughter of all 850 false prophets and prophetess of the northern kingdom in one day. Nothing stopped him from performing the word of the Lord. Taken to heaven without experiencing death, Elijah was one of the two witnesses of the Lord’s death and resurrection; in the future, he will come as one of the two witnesses to turn the hearts of the nation of Israel toward God during the tribulation.

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Moses and Elijah on Mount Sinai and Mount Herman

(Exodus 19; 33; I Kings 19:8-14; Luke 9: 28-33)

Moses, as Israel’s leader to the Promised Land, was a remarkable man. No one that has ever lived, has ever experienced God the way he did. He was not only a leader for the nation Israel, but a prophet, who spoke with God face to face, although he did not see His face. From the signs and wonders seen in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, water coming from the rocks, mana coming from heaven as food for the people while in their journey of forty years through the wilderness, and much more, Moses’ life shines over all others.

As a baby, Moses was taken from the water when his mother tried to hide him in the time of the king’s command to kill all the Jews’ babies to control their population. He was rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter, who later adopted him. She named him Moses because she said, “I drew him out of the water.” For forty years he lived in the royal palace, however, he preferred to suffer with his brothers, as Hebrews 11:24-25 confirms: By faith Moses, when he had grown to maturity and become great, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter because he preferred to share the oppression and bear the shame of the people of God rather than to have the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life.

One day, while checking out the slavery condition of his people, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his brothers. He then killed the Egyptian and buried him (Ex. 2). His zeal for the wellbeing of his people was a sign of what he was to become in the future. From that time on, he become a refugee in the land of Median, where he married and worked as a shepherd for his father- in-law. Moses had his first encounter with God at Mount Horeb, or Sinai, the mount of God, forty years after his ordeal that caused him to flee for his life. The Lord God appeared to him in a fire out of the midst of a bush. Curious about what was happening, he turned aside to see why the bush would not burn, when he heard the Lord’s voice saying, do not come near; put your shoes off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground (Ex. 3:2-5). In that encounter, God revealed Himself to Moses as the God of his fathers- Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses then hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God (Ex. 3:6). God spoke to him from the fire saying, come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people…out of Egypt. Moses’ conscious burned with guilt and fear of his past in the presence of that fire that symbolized the unapproachable holiness of God. Mount Sinai, the pivot point of Moses’ life, stood before him with a divine call to redeem his people from bondage.

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Days of Elijah

(I Kings 18)

The days of Elijah foreshadowed today’s day in the increase of apostasy, immorality and idolatry. When Israel was under the control of evil kings, including Ahab and Jezebel, who reigned its northern kingdom, they persecuted and killed God’s prophets. They were intolerable of anything related to the Living God. Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, was a Phoenician princess, a prostitute and a killer. She worshiped Baal, the god of fertility, practiced in her native land, Tyre. Her name, symbolic of shame and wickedness, was visible in many aspects of her life. The name Jezebel remains alive and active today in its synonymous with evil.

In those days, God raised up a prophet called Elijah, who confronted both Ahab and Jezebel for their wickedness. A prophet filled with power and determination against the evil Ahab and Jezebel was on display. To start with, he killed all Israel’s 850 false prophets and prophetesses in a single day. A courageous prophet for the hour, at the time when darkness was abundant in the nation of Israel, for the nation had lost the sense of their true God in their worshipping of Baal, Jezebel’s god, and other gods as well. We find the report of Elijah’s amazing courage in I Kings 18, when he confronted all 850 of Baal’s false prophets and prophetess and challenged them to a test in which to prove YAHWEH to be the only true God. As a result, the slaughter of those false prophets took place, cleansing the nation of idolatry. A necessary cleansing for the nation to be blessed once again.

Where there are leftover roots of evil, good cannot prevail. Elijah, under God’s anointing, destroyed the root causes of the nation’s idolatrous evil. When the people who had come to the meeting Elijah organized at Mount Carmel, saw God’s consuming fire coming down over the offering on the altar, they repented and turned to the Lord by falling on their faces, and saying, The Lord, He is God, He is God! (I Kings 18:39b).

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In the Wilderness of Temptation

No nation has ever experienced the physical wilderness as the nation of Israel. Theirs were the trials, the thirst, the hunger for meat, for the onions and other things Egypt offered. To them were given forty years wandering through the desert for the purpose of being formed as a nation under God Himself. Many died; a large number of them; they did not make it through the wilderness to their destination, because they fell to temptation, while their hearts became hardened as they were tested. The signs and wonders they witnessed when God provided for their needs did not serve as a guide to exercise faith in Him. So their journey became a wilderness of temptation in every aspect: physical, emotional and spiritual. That constituted an open door to fail in every time a need arrived. Without waiting for God to provide for their needs, as He promised He was going to, they murmured and complained, even when manna- food from heaven was given them. They longed the world’s food instead. In Psalm 95 the Psalmist remembers those days with a warning: Harden not your hearts as at Meribah and Massah in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tried My patience and tested Me proved Me and saw His work. Forty years long was I grieved and was disgusted with that generation, and I said, It is a people that do err in their hearts, and they do not approve, acknowledge or regard My ways. Therefore I swore in My wrath that they would not enter My rest (95: 8-11), and again in Hebrews 3: 7-11.

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