This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Life of Elijah” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 10, 1988.
About this sermon
Elijah’s fate is bound up with his people’s, even as God sends him alone to the brook Cherith. God’s word to Elijah as one man embraces the whole people at the same time. At the brook Elijah receives a small picture of the larger truth, that God himself is our inheritance, more than the ravens’ bread.
Sermon transcript
Tonight we are reading from 1 Kings 17. We are reading the first seven verses. Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word.
And the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. And it shall be that you shall drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. For he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan, and the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. Today, O Lord, your word has gone out, and where there have been barriers erected, those barriers are no obstacle to your power. We thank, Lord, of barriers in the Islamic world.
But even now, your word goes forth with power. as servants of your choosing are raised up to proclaim it. We do ask that your servants may proclaim it in the spirit of Elijah, that they may tell the truth, the whole truth about you. We also realize that in this world there is that grand opposition born of political arrogance raised up against you. Lord, it may well be called an iron curtain, but surely it is not impenetrable, for your word and your spirit are effectual, accomplishing that which pleases you. into even the precincts of the Soviet Union and into the diocese of the Eastern Orthodox Church. You bring your word and your spirit, you are therefore convicting and you will set matters straight so that your people would be gathered together in your name and for the sake of the truth that is found nowhere else but in Jesus Christ.
We plead with you our God in keeping with that plea you have made of us that we would pray earnestly for laborers in the harvest. May they be granted to this harvest in our day we may see a grand and marvelous harvest even now. We pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
I have suggested to you that in order to understand Elijah, in the setting that is presented us here, that we must grasp hold of a certain parallel. Now that parallel is most specifically the union of Elijah with the people of God, that you would observe in this servant of the Lord, the people of the Lord, that his movements comprehend their movements, and that before they live out their lives, this servant has, as it were, lived out their lives. He in them, they in him. Familiar words, familiar terminology.
Surely we have thought of the covenantal structure of scripture, we have thought of various heads of the covenant, and how the life of the people of God is subsumed within them. But no less this prophet, this very important pivotal prophet in the history of the people of God. We have the particulars as well of the text.
You can chart it if you will from verses 2 through verse 7. First of all, in verse 3, the command of God. Then in verse 4, the promise of God. Then in verses 5 and 6, the fulfillment of the promise. Then in verse 7, the complication of life to those who live in the place where God fulfills his word. Command, promise, fulfillment, complication.
That’s the order that we will follow. It is the order of the life of the people of God in their redemptive historical development, as they move covenantally, as we see their historical progress, but also it is reflective of individual life, of the solitary figure within the company of the redeemed, so that you can read this passage and not only find the history of the people of God as a whole, but your own individual history as well. That is what makes for the comprehensiveness of scripture in terms of its application, for it deals widely with the life of the people of God, historically speaking, but it also deals with the life of the person who belongs to God, the individual, his life, specifically considered. How marvelously rich, then, the word how wonderfully rich this text. We will try to deal with it this evening, touching upon these matters.
Verse 3, the commandment. Go away from here. The word of the Lord comes to Elijah, the Lord says, go away from here. What is the here? What place is in view? How monumental this command. You see, the here of the text is the place of God’s promised blessing. The here is the imperatives promised to Israel. But the Lord says, go away from here. The place of blessing has become a place of desolation. The place of blessing has become a place of judgment. No longer blessing found there, blessing must be found elsewhere. Think of a Jew leaving the land.
Think of the Jews that you know now. And when you speak to them about the land, what do you observe in them? It’s almost as if you can observe in them a transformation of personality. Speak to them about the land. and it’s as if you are touching their life. Why is Palestine so important to the Jew? It is the very center of his vitality.
But God says to Elijah, go away from here, leave that which You judge most important, most significant. Abandon it. Why? Because the judgment of God rests upon it. The people who were intended for blessing have by their disobedience now distinguished themselves and they are set apart for God’s justice. Forsake then the land, because God himself has forsaken it. All right. Go from here. This place of blessing has become a place of judgment. and turn eastward. What of the east?
Israel had left the east behind when she had entered the land. And historically, through the record of the scriptures, the east spoke to the Israelite of that place of abandonment, exile, judgment, and sin. Cain was driven out eastward of Eden, a place of abandonment itself.
To the east was found Babel. From the east the four kings arose, one of them being the king of Shinon. They carried away to the east Lot and his family, Abraham having to pursue them to retrieve them. It was, after all, out of the east that Abraham had come. But now, Elijah, by God’s command, is told to turn eastward.
That place is the place of desolation. But you see the significance of the reversals taking place as Elijah moves eastward now. The place of blessing has become the place of desolation. But the place of desolation has now become that place of blessing.
Hide yourself, says the Lord to Elijah. There is that hiding of the servant of the Lord significant because In hiding him there is a hiding of the word attached to his person. From those who are no longer worthy to receive it, those to whom it no longer belongs, hide yourself This place of desolation turned to a place of blessing. The place into which you have gone, a place of exile, has become a place of refuge for you. The command of the Lord then, leave this place. formerly of blessing for desolation. Turn eastward to the regions of desolation which now become the regions of blessing and refuge for you.
Hide yourself there. There will be with your hiding a hiding of the word attached to you from you are from my people.” But there is another dimension to this command from God that Elijah hide himself east of the Jordan. The hiding becomes a form of discipline to the servant.
For in the land the land that is sought to be than the inheritance for Israel. A blessing reserved for her and to be maintained throughout her generations. That being so important to the people of God and to Elijah. the thought may well occur to this servant of God, will why leave? There is power in my ministry. There is a message to be delivered. There is a response to be elicited.
Now that the rain is withheld from Israel, will not the people turn? Will they not find their relief in what I can supply them? Is this not the time at which my powers are at their highest? Why desert now? Why depart now? Why hide myself now? Why not seize the opportunity? There is another one, of course.
And for him, the crowds will gather and assemble. pursue him persistently, seek him out, but he will withdraw and he will hide himself from them. There is a discipline then that comes to the servant of the Lord, a discipline that is expressed only through withdrawal, not through pursuit. How strange and odd, for now the would-be prophets in our own day know only the pursuit of the crowd. They know nothing of the withdrawal, and they know nothing of the discipline of the Lord.
What is in itself a temptation has become a way of life for them. They live for the adulation, and the applause, and the admiration, and the crowds. They could not abide an assembly like this. The command, go from here. Of course you see the parallel for the people that died, for eventually they too will be taken across the Jordan out of the land of promise and into exile for the refuge there. A place of hiding, until the time of restoration.
The promise, verse four. You shall drink of the brook, says the Lord. A promise to Elijah. Here God gives to his servant what his judgment withholds from his people. What is being denied others is given the servant, and what is given here is emblematic of natural provision. The brook, sheriff, supplied by the mountain streams, a natural provision given. That which is denied Israel is given Elijah, this by the promise of God, that he demonstrating his power over nature itself, that this is in his realm of authority.
But notice well what is promised. Not only this natural provision from the brook cherished, but the supernatural provision, the ravens will bring the meat and the bread, morning and evening.” How strange! What are these ravens? Ravens are birds of prey. How is it that they do not devour what they would ordinarily devour?
Instead, by the hand of God, and by His control, and in keeping with His promise, they bring to Elijah that which is necessary for his nourishment. Yes, a nourishment of the body, but insofar as this is a supernatural provision, a nourishment that is of the soul. God will nourish his servant, even in exile, while in this refuge, while he is in hiding, with both natural and supernatural provision.
This he will do. The command comes. What is expected is that the servant of the Lord obey. Obeying then is in keeping with those promises. We move on to the fulfillment and see the servant then complying with the command of God, verses 5 and 6, and that provision promised of God’s supply. The place then of exile becomes the place of fulfillment. The servant submissive, seeing then the provision of the Lord.
Why does he submit Why does he comply? Why does Elijah move from Israel across the Jordan? Because he believes the Lord. He obeys because he believes. He trusts. His faithfulness has its reward in that he sees the promises of God fulfilled for him. Here is the exposition of the covenant in relationship to Elijah with regard to the people of God as a whole. The command comes, the people obey, the promise is given. They in faithfulness comply, and the reward of that faith is evident.
Elijah goes. He does what God has asked. He lives by the brook Cherith, east of Jordan. He sees the realization of God’s promise, the ravens do in fact bring the bread and meat morning and evening, and Elijah drinks of the brook. But now comes the complication. Does Job serve you for nothing? He’s placed a hedge about him. Doesn’t Elijah have it easy? Ravens bringing him bread and meat morning and night, and an endless supply of water. Why concern yourself any longer, Elijah? Have you not found the end of the road? Has not the desolation of the wilderness been reversed? Have you not found the answer to the curse that rests upon the earth? Has not even been restored? I could shout for all that I am worth Do you not see it?
The answer to those questions is a resounding no. No. To this day, many Bible-believing, many well-intentioned Christians still do not get the point. I believe the Lord. I obey Him. I see the fulfillment of the covenant in my life. I enjoy prosperity. Eden has come to me. For after all, life is for the sake of that water, it comes down the wine, the brook cherry. That’s why you live, is it not? That’s why you have believed. That’s why you trusted. Is it not? Because God promised you endless provision of the things of this world. of the things of the created order so that you might dwell at ease until you breathe your last. Nonsense.
Now how is God going to get across to you? Yet the objective of His covenant is not the endless provisions of the stuff of this creation. How is He going to communicate that to you? How is He going to train you with regard to the objective of the covenant? For is that objective a place here in this world perpetually?
No, it is not! And the way in which he proves it to you is to take all of that away from you. It is specifically the natural wonder that is removed from Elijah in the East Jordan. In fact, it is precisely that judgment that rested upon Israel on the west side of the Jordan that now affects the east side of the Jordan. No rain. It dries up. The brook dries up. You don’t live for the water. That cannot be the objective of your life.
Well, if that isn’t, then what is? You may well say, well, if it’s not the water, then it’s the bread and the meat. But you see, the bread and the meat is the supernatural provision of God. And when we talk about the supernatural provision of God, we are ultimately talking about God himself. Let me tell you, the inheritance is not payment. The inheritance is not the stuff of the created order, it is not the water of the book of The inheritance is God.
Is God. Now how is the Lord going to know if you serve him for his sake? He will take away from you. everything else. And he will see how you fare. Now does that mean when these things disappear from your life that the Lord hates you? No. It means that he loves you. Because he is facing you squarely with the matter that means the most. That matter which is of eternal significance. Himself. Israel will serve God for what she can get out of him. She will live in the covenant because the covenant is profitable. Live in the covenant and foster. Well then Israel, what happens when the prosperity is removed? Will you love me still? Will you serve me? Will you serve me for myself? Will you trust me?
There is one greater than Elijah. He too will cross the Jordan. He will abide in the desert. And all of the natural provisions will be removed. and when faced with temptation, he will say, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. In him you will see the covenant perfectly expressed and that citizen of the kingdom perfectly tried and successful. Why? For the kingdoms of this world would I abandon him? No. I will serve the Lord God only. and he shall be my inheritance.” So, the command, the promise, the fulfillment, then the complication. A trial of faith.
Why do you serve? We see it all working itself out in the life of Israel, do we not? For before Israel will go across the Jordan into exile, Elijah has gone. before Israel returns from exile and passes through the land and even embarks into the regions of the Gentiles, Elijah will have done that. We will see what is worked out in Elijah, worked out in the life of the people of God, and we will observe however successful Elijah was, the failing of Israel preparing the way for that one who is greater than Elijah, even greater than Elijah, that by root of him the people of God may understand the ultimate intent of the covenant, that they may be introduced to an eternal inheritance above and to their reward.
God himself. For you have died, and your life is fit with Christ in God. And when he who is your life is revealed, you shall be revealed with him in glory. O Lord, in the life of your people there came the day when the brook Cherith dried up. Lord, we know that in that day of testing your people failed, but Jesus Christ is triumphant, and he points out the way for us. he himself being the way, the truth and the life.
Unto the Father we would come, but no one comes to the Father but through him. Our God, while we are tested and that sorely, we pray for an abiding faith in the power of Christ that our eye through him may be focused upon an internal inheritance. Therefore, when times of privation come, let us not turn upon you and reject you. May we not hate you, spurn you, turn our backs upon you. Rather may we love you all the more because in our trial you are demonstrating your love for us and purifying us even though it be by trial through fire.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.