3 days ago

The Aftermath of Mount Carmel: From Victory to Whirlwind • Sunday Service

I. The Triumph on Mount Carmel Fire Falls from Heaven

1 Kings 18:36-40 (NKJV)

36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word.

37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.

38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, â€œThe Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!

40 And 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 executed them there.

II. The Coming Rain and Elijah's Supernatural Strength

1 Kings 18:36-40 (NKJV)

41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain."

42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees,

43 and said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea."

So he went up and looked, and said, "There is nothing."

And seven times he said, "Go again."

44 Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, "There is a cloud, as small as a man's hand, rising out of the sea!"

So he said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.'"

45 Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.

46 Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

III. Jezebel's Threat and Elijah's Despair

1 Kings 19:1-4 (NKJV)

1 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword.

2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time."

3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, "It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!"

IV. God's Provision and Encouragement

1 Kings 19:5-8 (NKJV)

5 Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, "Arise and eat."

6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.

7 And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you."

8 So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

V. The Still Small Voice - God's Answer to Elijah

1 Kings 19:9-13 (NKJV)

9 And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

11 Then He said, "Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord."

And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;

12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

VI. Elijah's Fiery Departure

2 Kings 2:11 (NKJV)

11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.