“As the LORD God Israel liveth before, Whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to My Word” 1Kings 17:1
GOD IS YAHWEH
Elijah, the Tishbite, suddenly stood before king Ahab and proclaimed that there would be a drought throughout the land for three and a half year. This judgment was said that the people should turn to their LORD Yahweh again, turn away from their idolatry. Prophecies usually point to the present time and beyond. These three years and a half of drought are pointing, the time of Jacob’s Trouble. It’s the time we are living in now. The world full of idolatry has nothing to offer, let alone life. The only thing it has to offer is violence, death and destruction.
The Brook Cherith
During the years of the drought, Yahweh God took care of Elijah and fed him through ravens in the morning and in the evening; the Brook Cherith had fresh water for him to drink until the brook was dried up too.
The Widow of Zarephapth
Yahweh said to Elijah to go to the widow of Zarephath in Zidon to sojourn there. Zidon, Lebanon was the birthplace of Jezebel and the very center of idolatry. He asked the widow if he could have a drink of water and a morsel of cake. She was gathering sticks to make a fire so that she and her son could eat together for the last time. A handful of meal in a barrel and a bit of oil in the cruse was all she had left. The Prophet knew this, however, she should not be afraid but to go ahead and prepare some cake for him first and then for herself and her son. And behold, the meal in the barrel and the oil did not lessen.
Suddenly, the son of the widow passed on, and she more or less held Elijah responsible for his death. The Prophet took her son to his lodgings. Three times he prayed to Yahweh to put the soul back into the body of the widow’s son. On the third day, Yahshua Christ has truly risen from the dead. Your son is alive and well. The widow now knew that Elijah belonged to Yahweh, the Most High and the Holy One of Israel. Yahshua Christ came to earth to die, to free His Covenant people from their transgression and to make animal sacrifices obsolete, and was truly risen the third day, Luke 24:34. Only through Yahshua Christ, the Kinsman Redeemer, there is Life; Yahshua is the Resurrection and the Life. John 11:25,26 Luke 24:6.
Mount Carmel
Ahab furious blamed Elijah for the drought he caused. No, Ahab, not I, but you did, you and your fathers before you by leaving Yahweh God, to turn to idolatry, and serve Baalim. Nonetheless, gather all the prophets and come to Mount Carmel.
When we look down from Mount Carmel, we see the Valley of Armageddon (Valley of Destruction). Here will take place the decisive battle and the final overthrow of the antichrist and all Yahweh’s enemies.
Ahab gathered the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asjera. When all of Israel were gathered together, Elijah three times appealed to the conscience of the people by asking: “How long will you have two minds?” They could not have it both ways. It is either Yahweh God or an idol, and there is nothing in between. Nobody answered. Just as in the present time, there are many onlookers; they perhaps may take part in a discussion or a dialog, a specific choice is being avoided at all costs. It would be discriminating and certainly “politically incorrect”.
In a second appeal, Elijah reminds the people that he is the only prophet of the Yahweh, who is left. There were of the onlookers, 7000 Israelites left who did not bend their knees for the image of Baalim but, they did not dare to acknowledge the Name of Yahweh.
Elijah gave the false prophets ample time. From the morning until late in the afternoon, they were still screaming and cutting themselves for their false gods to answer them and to send fire on the altar. No avail.
“Come near to me” Elijah’s third appeal. All the people came near. He built an altar with twelve stones according to the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel. Three times four is twelve* barrels of water** were poured on the sacrifice and the wood so that the trenches surrounding the altar were overflowing. And he prayed to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to let the people know that HE is the Holy One of Israel. The answer of the Most High came instantly, the sacrifice and the altar turned into a blazing fire. The fire only burned the substitutes, the sacrifice and the altar. Yahweh God let His People go free. When the people saw this all happening they called out “God is YAHWEH, God is YAHWEH.” Drawing this moment to the Man of Sorrow, we also see a Substitute Sacrifice, an innocent Lamb, Whose Blood flowed on Calvary’s Cross to free His people from transgression.
Waiting for the Rain
Six times, Elijah’s servant went up the mountain to look for a rain cloud to show up. When he went the seventh time, behold a cloud of the size of a man’s hand was coming up out of the sea in a clear blue sky. Soon this small cloud will be a mass of dark clouds bringing rain. Elijah said to Ahab to go home quickly.
* Twelve barrels of water, twelve tribes of Israel.
**Where the water came from I honestly don’t know and as far as I know it is not mentioned in the Bible. Nothing, however, nothing is impossible for YAHWEH, the I AM, THAT I AM.
ELIJAH ARISE AND EAT
Elijah seemed a great hero, a man who did not fear anyone, or anything, defying the royals and their court including the 850 false prophets. But he also had his weaknesses. As soon as he heard Jezebel was out to kill him, he starts running away as far as he possibly can. He was, however, forgetting the strong and faithful Hand of Yahweh God. The same Hand that also is leading us in our daily life. Elijah was so confused and so very disappointed in himself that he asked Yahweh God to take away his life. Feeling his mission failed, he laid himself down and fell asleep under a juniper tree. An Angel of Yahweh came down and awakened him, gave him food and drink. While in the desert, he looked around him and saw a cake baked on coals and a cruse of water. He ate and drank and laid himself down again.
Again, Yahweh God touched him and for the second time he got up ate and drank; as he had to travel forty days through the desert. Yahshua Christ before he began His Ministry stayed forty days in the desert, where the Redeemer rejected satan three times.
Mount Horeb
After traveling forty days, Elijah came to Mount Horeb and lodged in a cave. Then the Word of Yahweh came to him. According to the first chapter of John, the Son of Yahweh. Yahweh God is saying in:
1Kings 19:9 “What doest thou here (= what are you doing here) Elijah?” and he emphasizes his active mission: ” I have been very jealous for the LORD the God Hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken the covenant, thrown Thine altars and slain Thy prophets with the sword and I even I only am left; and they seek my life to take it away”
Being near Yahweh God he, Elijah, also neglected in danger of death, to put his trust in Yahweh. But before he leaves the cave, something happens. History is repeating itself when Moses asked to see the Glory of Yahweh. Moses also stood in the entrance of the cave when the Glory of Yahweh passed him by. The same with Elijah, however, there was a difference. Just before the Glory of Yahweh passed, a great strong wind was released that crashed and shattered the rock, but Yahweh God was not in the wind; neither was He in the earthquake that followed; the fire came but, Yahweh God was not in the fire. Yahweh God displayed frighting powers of nature. Elijah must understand that Yahweh, will always remain faithful to the servants He called.
It is the same with us, when we obey to the Most High we will be fully protected. No harm will come to us, that is, to our soul.
In this time, the greater part of mankind seek their Baal in worldly pleasures, indulging in excess, and it is growing rampant as time goes by; defying Yahweh, the Most High.
ELIJAH TAKEN UP INTO HEAVEN
And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into Heaven”. 2Kings 2:11
Elijah and Elisha
Yahweh God said to Elijah to return and that he would not see death in his life. Even much more, Yahweh would take Elijah up into Heaven. He was to go to Bethel, and he said to Elisha that he was to stay in Gilgal. But Elisha said: “As the LORD liveth and as thy soul liveth I will not leave you”. So they both went to Bethel. The sons of the prophets asked Elisha if he knew that Elijah soon would be taken away, and he said that he knew. Arrived in Bethel, Elijah said that he was to go to Jericho and said to Elisha to stay in Bethel, and again he said he would not leave. When the prophets came to the bank of the Jordan River Elijah, smote the waters with his mantle, the waters divided so that they could walk on a dry path when crossing the river.
2Kings 2:9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
2Kings 2:10 You have asked a very hard thing nevertheless when you see how I am taken away from you then the wish is granted but if not your wish is denied.
Elisha saw Elijah taken up into Heaven
The two continued the journey when suddenly a chariot and horses with fire appeared. Elijah was gone. But Elisha did see how Elijah was taken up into heaven and called out:
2Kings 2:12 “My father, my father, the Chariot of Israel and the horsemen there of”
Then he saw Elijah no more.
Elisha rents his clothes, and picks up the mantle of Elijah stood near the bank of the river said: “Where is YAHWEH the God of Elijah?” 2Kings 2:14. He smites the waters just like Elijah did, the waters divided, and Elisha went over a dry path.
And Elisha returned to The Promised Land with a double portion of the Spirit of Elijah..