Lesson 5

Impact of the Life of Elijah and its application

Elijah his Message

 

Expansion of the Keys to Elijah's Courage and Faith  (1 Kings 17:1b)

The First Key

The words, "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives," show us He was Convinced and Confident in God's Person. 

"Living" is the first word in the statement of Elijah in the Hebrew text.  It is emphatic by its position and stresses his faith in the fact of the reality of God.

 

 

The idea is: "Just as sure as Yahweh, the God of Israel is alive and well, so surely there shall be neither dew nor rain . . ."

 

 

To grasp the significance of this, we need to focus on the name, Yahweh hwhy.  Yahweh means "I Am that I Am."

 

 

Further, it is the name by which God revealed Himself to Israel as their redeemer as seen in Exodus 3. 

 

In summary, this name stands for God's being, His revelation to Israel, and His redemption of the nation.

 

 

Point: Elijah's appearance, his message, and this oath were all based on the vivid reality of all that God was to him.  It was based on the fact that the God who had revealed Himself to the nation, was alive and actively involved in the affairs of the nation and His people. 

Ps. 33:12-14, 18

 

 

 

 

Certainly they think moral absolutes have no place having any impact on the political and moral decisions of our society.  They say it's old fashioned, out-dated, obsolete. 

 

 

But individuals, as well as nations, cannot ignore God's Holy Word without serious consequences, which, like water breaking through a dam, spill over into every aspect of society. 

 

 

 

By the words, "as living is Yahweh, . . ." Elijah was not only declaring the reality of Israel's God as the only true God, but declaring the fact God was superior over the false ideas of mankind and the pagan idols of the nations. 

 

 

 

But we have jettisoned that foundation and with that change has come the present moral decline and the failure of our society to deal with its problems. 

 

 

On October 11, 1798, President John Adams stated in his address to the military:

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.  Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.  Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

 

 

 

By mentioning the home first, we are shown its priority.  The character of a nation's leaders is formed in the home.  As goes the home, so goes the society. 

 

 

The Second Key

The words, "Before whom I stand," reveal two things about Elijah:  

He Was Cognizant of God's Presence and Committed as God's Representative. 

 

 

"Before whom I stand" showed Elijah's awareness that God was with him, God had sent him.  He was under God's watchful eye, protection, provision, enablement, and orders. 

 

 

 

Finally, this statement showed that Elijah's faith was anchored in at least three biblical concepts that were on his mind and in his consciousness, and that motivated and controlled his life. 

 

 

1.     God's Person:   Elijah had God's omniscience and omnipresence in mind as he spoke these words. 

 

 

 

2.     God's Plan:   As a believing Israelite under God's covenant and as a man with the gift of a prophet, Elijah knew he was a personal representative of the living God who had the responsibility to proclaim the excellencies, the virtues of God

 

 

3.     God's Power and Provision:   With God's presence and orders, also came God's power, protection and provision to do what he was called to do.

 

 

Let's focus on Elijah's statement as it pertains to God's omnipresence. 

1. As the transcendent God.  He is far above and outside of the universe, totally independent of it. 

 

2. He is totally separate from and outside of time and creation, enthroned on high, and exalted above the heavens. 

 

3. He is the sovereign King, the independent and all powerful God of the universe (Ps. 103:19; 113:4-5; 115:3; 123:1). 

 

4. As such, He is the source of all authority, power, and deliverance. 

 

5. While God is that, He is also the immanent God who operates within time and creation.  He created it and He sustains it--every atom and molecule is held together by Him (Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:3). 

 

6. God is also intimately concerned with His creatures--particularly with mankind.  Though distinct from His creation, God is immanently present everywhere in creation and in our lives. 

 

Point:  There is nothing we can do, no thought we can think, no place we can go without God being there and knowing it completely. 

 

 

 

This means four things:

1. The whole of God is wholly present everywhere at all times, yet, He is separate and independent from the world and the things and creatures in the world. 

 

2. There is no limit to God's presence and no place is closer to God than another. 

 

3. Being OmPr He does not need to travel and He can act in all parts of the universe at once with all His authority and power.

 

4. God is above us, below us, at both sides of everything and therefore is always present with us in some inexplicable way. 

 

 

He was counting on God's person and faithfulness to His Word.  The person who knows the Lord can never be alone. 

 

 

 

Here is one of the miracles of the universe, that the infinite, almighty God who is transcendent and completely independent and who can use any means He desires, has nevertheless, created us in His own image that we might be a visible representative of the invisible God.