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At Mount Carmel, the time finally came for God's people to experience the promise. There, the discipline and perseverance Elijah had gone through was transformed into the Glory of the Lord. We sometimes forget that Elijah took an active part in the entire process. He not only yielded to and endured it, he even asked God to not let fulfillment come until the right time.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. (James 5:17-18)

Elijah asked for no rain until God would get the attention He deserved. He loved God enough that what he personally needed and wanted was no longer most important. That he continued in that vein proved that His first love was for the Lord. Elijah also loved the people enough that he realized their only real chance to ever truly honor the Covenant they had been given was to go through such a chastisement. Regardless of their agony, their only hope was to return to God.   

Although I am sure many would object, to say that dynamic is "old covenant" and that it no longer applies is to fail to heed God's New Covenant admonition:

Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. (Hebrews 12:4-10 KJV)

God's Ways and Glory

So now we find Elijah: with his love for the Lord and His people fully established by preferring God's ways and Glory above all else. 

At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again. (1Kgs.18:18:36-37) 

Here you see proof Elijah knew the heart and mind of the Lord when he prayed for the people (36-37). What Elijah wants known is that there is a power and priority greater than the natural authority God instituted at the people's request: the Lord Himself. Yes, Elijah wants to be vindicated, but his vindication is of secondary importance, and without God being seen for whom He is, any vindication of Elijah is of no importance whatsoever. Today, we need to see a generation of Apostles and Prophets arise whose only quest is to see God revealed and received, in spite of how it may impact their own establishment.

One called, anointed and appointed by the Lord to an Elijah ministry has a clear priority fully set in place: God and then His people, not self. Three years of Cherith and Zarephath had taught Elijah more about God's nature and ways than could be ever be demonstrated at Mount Carmel. Because of that Elijah had received (& therefore could release) the heart of God for the people in prayer. "Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again." (1 Kings18:37)

Accomplishing God's Purposes

Although we see Elijah asking for recognition in the eyes of people, he is not asking for acceptance from them. It is so God's purposes can be accomplished. What is most essential for Elijah is that the people of God rediscover once and for all who the God of Israel truly is. We need this type of representation today: "self-dethroned," "us and ours," fully suspended in favor of the "Him and His" of the Lord. Elijah's request is a desire for true servant hood to be seen. But that is not so he can be lauded, instead: it is so the people will grasp their very real need to follow true leadership. God sought to restore His own place in people's hearts. Elijah became the embodiment of that in the earth. That is what we need today.

What that would mean in daily life was that people needed to become intimate with the Lord, as well as constantly aware of His willingness to rightly lead them. And the purpose would be for something far greater than their survival and betterment. If anyone could give a testimony about the trustworthiness of God's care and leadership during perilous times, it would be Elijah. Today, without Elijah's in training who go through God ordained Cherith and Zarephath processes, not only will they not rightly know and represent God. Those God intended to send them to will never have a valid opportunity to truly witness and know Him either.

"Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God. Then Elijah said to them, Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape. So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there." (1 Kings18:38-40)

The Lord Answers by Fire

When one anointed and appointed as an Elijah prays for the people in the midst of the Mount Carmel of God's choosing, the Lord answers by fire! (38). But the sacrifice is not acceptable because of the technique, boldness, desire of the prophet, or the need of the people. It is because the preparation and obedience of the anointed one has collided with the time and place of the Lord. Without everything coming together God's way, in God's time, we have no right to expect a "suddenly" (Acts 2:2; 9:3; 12:7; 16:26). But to repent, we must turn away from our own perception of need, our motives for God to move, and the way we need to present ourselves (or be perceived) in such endeavors. No, the sacrifice is acceptable because it is offered in God's way, in God's place, at God's time and for God's purposes. It is the heart of an Elijah- fully united with God and obedient to His Spirit- which releases the Lord's favor. And only God can shape the heart and mind of those called to be an Elijah.

God used Elijah to get His own people's attention. And in that moment, they move from observing to participating. Instead of just passively listening, they rose up in the faith that came by way of God's Word and began to act in relationship with the one giving that Word. Today, instead of being tickled by our fleshly desires, understanding of needs, or activated by an idolatry that comes from seeing something we want for ourselves, we instead need to respond to the pure heart, mind and way of a message and messenger truly from the Lord (39). The question is this: how difficult will it need to become before we forsake all the false options and wise up to winds of doctrines and machinations of the flesh?

Granted to see and hear through the anointing of the fully prepared Elijah, they respond to an anointed one's direction to bind the enemy. They then witness the destruction of enemy forces and share in the spoils of increase and new confidence in God. But only the sword of Elijah is used to put to death that which is false and misleads the peoples (40). It took the Elijah anointing to destroy the yoke of false covering that blinded the people. It will be the same today. Do not allow yourself to believe that God's truth will only be established when you have prospered beyond before, or because we've changed the political landscape, the legal climate, or even found ways to make the message more palatable.  

True Elijah's scoff at such carnal answers to supernatural dilemmas- especially the malady of the sin sick heart which causes people to seek the Baal of abundant produce to the Lord of Hosts. For their economy (in their thinking), the harvest of crops was everything. Yahweh was for deliverance, but Baal was for making it rain so crops could grow. Offerings had to be made through sacrifices to Baal for that to happen. Mount Carmel was a power encounter for proving to His own people that the Lord was for far more than deliverance from the enemy; He was God over all aspects of life. Mount Carmel was for returning the peoples to trust only in the God of the Harvest, not in the harvest itself.

Bill Click