The Spirit of Elijah

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- Malachi 4:5-6

“Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

The Time of ElijahWho was Elijah the prophet? Elijah was one of the greatest prophets in the bible. He was one of only three men listed in the bible that never died. Instead Elijah was taken up directly to heaven in a chariot of fire. Elijah lived during the time of King Ahab and Queen J e z e b e l . J e z e b e l w a s a Zidonian princess. They were extremely wicked rulers of Israel. I Kings 16:31-33. Jezebel e n c o u r a g e d A h a b i n h i s wickedness and caused the people to worship Baal and the gods of the grove.

Jezebel was a Zidonian princessthat was married

to King Ahab

Ahab and JezebelShe was also a cruel and vicious woman. She systematically had all of the prophets of the Lord put to death. No one could speak against her or their life was in danger. Obadiah, governor or steward of Ahab’s house was a righteous man who feared the Lord. He hid 100 of the prophets of the Lord in caves and fed them. Elijah was not like the other prophets. He was full of the spirit of God and was not afraid to prophecy against Ahab and Jezebel.

Zidon also known as Sidon and Tyre were ancient cities in the Phoenician empire. They were notable merchants: traders in purple, stone, ivory and glass art.They were situated north of Israel and were devoted to the idols: Ashtoreth and Baal.

Modern day Sidon

The children of Israel were always greatly influenced by their leaders. They began to be completely taken over by idolatry. Elijah prophesied against this wickedness and called for a famine and drought in the land. There was no more rain. The land and the people suffered greatly and began to fail with drought and hunger. Elijah remained hidden from Ahab and was fed through the power of the Lord by a widow woman in Zidon. When he asked her for food she gave the little that she had with her first even before she fed herself and her son. Elijah prophesied and blessed her,

“For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.”

A Choice to be Made

So Elijah and her family were fed during the years of the drought. After three years God told Elijah to show himself to Ahab and that he would send rain again. When Elijah met Ahab he told him to gather together all of the prophets of Baal and the prophets of the grove. It was time that the people would choose who was the true God that they would serve. He asked them to bring two bullocks, one for him and the other one for the false prophets. They would prepare the bullocks as sacrifices on two altars.

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Whichever God would answer with fire on the bullock would be the true God. They all agreed. The prophets of Baal and of the groves called on Baal from morning until noon and nothing happened. They jumped and leaped on the altar. Elijah mocked them. Perhaps their god was on a journey, or maybe he was sleeping. By evening they began to cut themselves, their blood pouring out to Baal and still no fire, no voice and nothing regarding. About the time of the evening sacrifice Elijah prepared the altar of the Lord that had been broken down and built it with twelve stones according to the twelve tribes of Israel in the name of the Lord. And he built a trench around the altar that could hold water.

Who was the true God or Baal? Who would Israel serve

He laid on the wood and the Bullock that he cut in pieces on the altar. He had four barrels filled with water and had it poured on the offering and the altar. He did this three times until the water ran around the altar and the trench was filled. And at the time of the evening sacrifice Elijah called upon the Lord. Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God. And Elijah said unto them take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. I Kings 18:36-40.

So why are we still looking for Elijah the p r o p h e t . T h e p r o p h e t M a l a c h i prophesied about the coming of Elijah the prophet many years after Elijah had been taken up into Heaven. Malachi was not talking about the man Elijah, but the spirit of the prophet Elijah. Christ expla ined th i s fur ther a f ter h i s transfiguration on the mountain. He told them to tell no man what they had seen until after his resurrection. They asked him why the scribes said that Elias must come first. He told them that Elias shall truly come first and will restore all things. And then he told them that Elias is come already and they knew it not, but had done to him whatever they had wanted. They knew he was talking about John the Baptist. John the Baptist was an example of the spirit of Elijah because he prepared the people for the first coming of Jesus.The angel of the Lord prophesied about this to Zacharias in Luke 1:13-17,

“Fear not Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make read a people prepared for the Lord.”

God’s children are for signs and wonders. Isaiah spoke of this when he said, “I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and wonders in Israel form the Lord of Hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.” He was not speaking necessarily of himself, but was speaking as a prophet about Christ and his children. Everything in the bible teaches us through demonstrations and examples the will of God, the kingdom of heaven, and the nature of God. It teaches us of his righteousness and his judgment. All of the prophets and righteous leaders were examples pointing to God. Elijah was an example of how the Holy Spirit works with man to change the heart.

One of the works of the Holy Spirit is to make you see yourself truly and to prick your heart so that you may make the changes necessary to be saved.

Malachi was talking about the spirit of Elijah that will prepare the world for the second coming of Jesus. “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” The great and dreadful day is still to come.

When the Holy Ghost fell on the apostles on the day of Pentecost and they began speaking in tongues it pricked the hearts of the people. Their hearts turned to God. They repented and were baptized. Peter told them that they times of refreshing and the times of the restitution of all things was still to come. It would come at the second coming of Jesus. Acts 3:19-21 “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

The lesson that we learn when we study about the prophet Elijah is that there is one God. God is indeed the Lord. He is omnipotent. Idols are lies and falsehood. God is our Lord and master and we must worship him with our entire hearts turning away from the sins, deceit and lusts of the flesh. This is what worshipping idols are in our day. When we sin, when we are partial in the law we are just like the children of Israel who were worshipping Baal and the idols of the groves.

Today people idolize many things: money, beauty, homes and fame. It does not mean that it is a sin to have any of these things except when it causes you to sin and the effort to obtain them causes you put God anywhere but first in your life.

We must worship the one true God from heaven that has given us life, a chance at salvation, who heals our diseases and saves us from our sins. We continue to look for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, which is the spirit of Elijah who will strengthen us and prepare us for the s e c o n d c o m i n g o f G o d . We remember the words of the Prophet Malachi, “Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers soap.”