Elijah's Flight
I. Introduction
A. Let us turn to 1 Kings 18 in the Bible
B. We will spend some time looking at the story of Elijah's flight and derive
some lessons from it
II. Prelude to Elijah's Flight
A. Let us first set some context for Elijah's flight
B. 1 Kings 16:30-33: the time of Ahab, the pinnacle of Israel's idolatry
C. 1 Kings 17: God commissions Elijah to prophesy to Israel, and a drought
begins in the land
D. 1 Kings 18: the third year of the drought
1. vv. 17-19: Elijah comes before Ahab and issues the challenge to the
prophets of Baal
2. vv. 20-24: all Israel is assembled, Elijah gives the terms of the challenge
3. vv. 25-29: prophets of Baal vainly try to get Baal to burn the sacrifice
4. vv. 30-35: Elijah makes an altar with 12 stones, digs a trench, has water
placed in trench
5. vv. 36-39: Elijah prays, God hears him, burns up the sacrifice and all
the water-- the people recognize YHWH as God
6. v. 40: prophets of Baal ordered killed by Elijah
7. vv. 41-46: return of rain upon the land
III. 1 Kings 19: Elijah's Flight
A. vv. 1-2: Jezebel learns of what happens, threatens Elijah's life
B. vv. 3-8: Elijah flees when he learns of it, gives himself up for dead,
sustained by angels until he reaches Mount Horeb
1. Horeb: where God made a covenant with the Israelites and gave the
Law to Moses (Exodus 19ff)
2. At that time, no one could even touch the mountain (Exodus 19:12)
C. vv. 8-10: Elijah rests in a cave on the mountain for 40 days and nights,
and the word of the LORD comes to him
D. vv. 11-13: Elijah commanded to go to outside of cave
1. A strong wind passes-- not the LORD
2. Earthquake-- not the LORD
3. Fire-- not the LORD
4. a "low whisper"-- a thin silence-- the LORD's presence
E. v. 14: Elijah makes his complaint
F. vv. 15-17: God tells Elijah to get going
1. Anointing of Elisha as prophet, Hazael as king over Syria, Jehu as king
over Israel
2. Portent of future: these three, in various ways, will lead to the cutting
off of those worshipping Baal in Israel
G. v. 18: 7,000 left in Israel who have not worshipped Baal
H. vv. 19-21: Elijah returns to Israel, anoints him as prophet
IV. Lessons from Elijah's Flight
A. What can we learn from Elijah's example (Romans 15:3, 2 Timothy 3:16-17)?
B. #1: Even after success, there is no guarantee of contentment
1. After all, after the events of 1 Kings 18, Elijah should have been most
pleased
2. Yet because the powers that be in Israel were against him, he felt
compelled to flee
3. Consider the example of our Lord
a. Matthew 21:9-11: the people of Jerusalem hail Him at His entrance as
the son of David
b. Matthew 27:23: less than a week later, these same Jews call for His
crucifixion
4. If such things occurred to Jesus and Elijah, we can certainly expect
them to happen to us!
a. As we strive for the furtherance of the Gospel-- even with
success-- we might find ourselves in some form of persecution
b. 1 Peter 2:18-25
C. #2: The LORD was in the small, thin silence
1. Elijah was confronted with great tempests: wind, earthquake, and fire
2. The LORD, however, was in the small, thin silence
3. Even today, wicked and adulterous generations seek signs
(cf. Matthew 12:39)
a. people want some physical evidence of God
b. people demand their own "road to Damascus" experience (cf. Acts 9)
4. As the difference between tempest and silence, so between such signs
and God's true manifestation
a. God is present throughout His creation (Romans 1:19-20)
b. The Word of God should be sufficient for them (cf. Luke 16:25-31)
5. Furthermore, this example shows us how our God is a God of peace
a. The tempests Elijah saw can be compared to the tempests in our lives
b. Many times we are beset by sin, temptation, persecution, and/or
suffering
c. God is not in such things; God is, however, present in the silence--
the times of peace (cf. Matthew 6:6)
d. We can only find peace in Christ Jesus (Romans 5:1), not the vanities
of sin
D. #3: Elijah's despair led him into depression and into feeling isolated
1. For reasons revealed or perhaps not revealed-- overall hostility he
faced from Israel, Jezebel's persecution, etc.-- Elijah despaired into
a state of depression
2. He exhibits what we call today the "martyr complex"
3. He feels extremely alone and isolated, feeling that he alone strives
for God
4. It is easy for the Christian to feel the same way; yet let us heed
the instruction we can gain from God's responses to Elijah
E. #4: God put Elijah to work
1. God's reaction to Elijah's comment is to instruct him to go back and
anoint three persons
a. interestingly, Elijah himself only anoints Elisha; the latter actually
anoints Hazael and Jehu (2 Kings 8:7-15, 2 Kings 9:1-10)
b. The emphasis here, then, is God unveiling to Elijah how He will punish
the Baal worshippers in Israel to encourage him
c. If we spent time in 2 Kings, we would see how Elisha gives the word
of the LORD to Israel (2 Kings 2-13), Jehu executes all of Ahab's
household (2 Kings 9-10), and how Hazael constantly defeated Israel
(2 Kings 8-13)
d. all of these events guaranteed that the worst of the idolatry in
Israel was during Ahab, and not later!
2. By instructing Elijah to go and do things, God is attempting to redirect
Elijah's energy away from the despair and depression
3. We ourselves may, at times, despair about our own condition or the
condition of the church, yet we also need to get to work!
a. we need to get back to work in Christ Jesus (2 Peter 1:5-8)!
b. we need to reflect upon the great things God has done for us through
Christ Jesus, and also consider the wondrous things God will do on
the last day (1 Peter 1:3-9, 2 Peter 3:9-11)
4. Work is the best antidote for despair, along with the exhortation in
Philippians 4:8-- where our mind is so we shall be also!
F. #5: God had reserved for Himself 7,000 in Israel who had not worshipped Baal
1. While we may sympathize with Elijah's feeling of aloneness, God makes
it perfectly clear that Elijah is dead wrong!
a. Elijah is not God, and Elijah could not have known about the
goings-on with every individual person in Israel
b. God, however, can know such things, and He knows who are His--
and it's more than one person!
2. Paul uses the same example in Romans 11:2-5
a. even though we at times might be tempted to feel alone, as Elijah
did...
b. ...we must always remember that there remains a remnant elected in
the grace of Christ
c. There are faithful Christians throughout the world: we are not alone!
V. Conclusion
A. We have examined the example of Elijah in his flight
1. even though we see many of his shortcomings exposed here, it helps
us to recognize that God's servants are, save one, fallible men
2. We have seen him in his moment of weakness, and have learned from him
a. we have seen that even with success there can come persecution
b. we have seen that our God is present in silence and in peace
c. we have seen that Elijah despaired to depression
d. we have seen that God got Elijah out of it by putting him to work
and revealing to him the promise of what was to come
e. we have seen that despite Elijah's feelings of isolation, God
reserved for Himself a remnant
3. Let us learn from this example of Elijah, and continue the good
fight of God
B. The encouragement of Romans 8:35-39
C. Songbook
D. Only in Christ can we conquer sin and death
E. If you have not yet obeyed Christ, this victory is lost upon you, and all
that can remain is a fearful expectation of judgment
F. Please obey Him today and enter into His love fully
G. Or perhaps you have obeyed, and you have blocked Christ from your life;
return to God today
H. Or maybe you are suffering, like Elijah did, from a moment of weakness
and despair. Let us encourage you today
I. Whatever your need, please come forward as we stand and sing