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, May 15, 1988.
About this sermon
Mount Carmel stages a contest whose outcome was never really in doubt, since Ahab’s power, like Satan’s, is only ever derivative, borrowed from a throne that isn’t his. The fire that falls on Elijah’s altar pictures nothing less than the end of the world breaking into the present. Baal’s silence, and Satan’s, stands exposed against Revelation 19’s vision of Christ’s final victory.
Sermon transcript
All right, we are in 1 Kings 18 this evening, and we are beginning with verse 20, and we will read through verse 40. 1 Kings 18, verse 20. So Ahab sent a message among all the sons of Israel. and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal, follow him. But the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, I alone am left a prophet of the Lord. The Dale Prophets are 450 men.
Now let them give us two oxen. Let them choose one oxen for themselves and cut it up and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it. And I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it. Then you will call on the name of your God, and I will call on the name of the Lord. And the God who answers by fire, he is God.
And all the people answered and said, that is a good idea. So Elijah said to the prophets of Dale, choose one ox for yourselves, and prepare it first for you, our many, and call upon the name of your God, and put no fire under it. Then they took the ox which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, answer us. There was no voice, and no one answered.
And they leaped about the altar which they made. And it came about at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Allowed with a loud voice, for he is a god. Either he is occupied or gone aside, or he is on a journey. or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened. So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves, after their custom, with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them.
And it came about when midday was past that they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, but there was no voice, no one answered, no one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me. So all the people came near to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, Israel shall be your name.
So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. He made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. And he said, do it a second time. And they did it a second time. And he said, do it a third time. And they did it a third time. And the water flowed around the altar.
And he also filled the trench Then it came about at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that Thou art God in Israel and that I am Thy servant and that I have done these things at Thy word.
Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that Thou, O Lord, art God. that thou hast turned, and that thou hast turned their hearts back again. Then fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stone, and the dust, and lit up the fire that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God.
Then 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 Eshon, and slew them there. Our Father, may we remember that Elijah was the servant of your word. and that you were vindicated with your word before your people and thus you are vindicated still your word be it inscripturated or living as is Jesus Christ truly you have vindicated all of your promises and you have kept your word in and through him Our God, may we delight in Your Word, knowing that it is life to us and life on our path. We pray this in Jesus’ name.
Amen. The Envoy of Hell. The Envoy of Hell. Of determined, wide-eyed, self-conscious apostasy. Ahab by name. This envoy of hell sends out his own envoy, as if he were the commissioning agent himself, the Prince of Darkness no less. This Prince of Darkness This king of hell summons the church, seemingly. The sons of Israel. These sons of Israel having been corrupted under his rule, and under the rule of those that have preceded him as those truly representative, no less than he, of the pit of destruction.
He has also summoned his minions and angelic hosts, the ministers of Baal, all 450 of them. So, the church, if you will, and the ministers of Baal, all gather at Mount Carmel, a special and sacred place. At one time, from the story, so it seems, dedicated to the worship of the Lord in some fashion, for there was there an altar to God. But now a special and sacred place dedicated to the worship of faith. A mountain resort and shrine, which in its name memorialized the earthy, alien God that had usurped the love of the people in Israel. This mountain resort and shrine appropriately named Carmel, for the name itself means a fruitful park, a luxuriant garden.
Remember, Baal is the God of fertility. Baal is the God of productivity and fruitfulness. He is the God presently worshipped in Israel by the Church. But now this servant of the abyss, Ahab. This servant of the abyss issues his summons, but as he does so, he proves one in whom there resides no ultimate power. For if we read the verses that precede those which we have read this evening, we realize that the summons has actually been issued by a counter-envoy, by the envoy of heaven, Elijah, who speaks on behalf of heaven’s king. the Lord God of Israel, the God and Father of our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the one who owns the earth. He is the one who owns the heavens. He is the one who owns all that is in the earth and the heavens. At His bidding, then, by His power, This envoy of hell, this one who symbolizes the king of hell himself, issues his summons.
Truly, Satan conspires. He marks out a course. and vainly imagines a power for himself apart from the animating power of God. Does Satan have power in and of himself? Does Satan have a power which is his, of his creation? Is that power equal to that of God, whatever power he has to exercise? Are there actually two competing forces in reality? The power of God, the power of Satan, Both of equal strength. Both destined to continue forever. No, you see, even Satan’s power is derivative, subordinate. It is not ultimate. And in the end, it shall not triumph. God’s power alone. shall demonstrate itself victoriously.
So, the church assembles, and the legions of death gather to a mount in the territory of Israel. Up the slopes they go, to the plateau, as if keeping a rendezvous, as if destined for this meeting, as if convening for an ultimate confrontation, a final confrontation between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness, here being played out before their eyes, and through scripture, our eyes as well.
The people are challenged. As if this envoy of heaven were saying, You cannot serve God and man. As if this envoy from heaven were saying, He who is not for me is against me. They’re hesitating. The hesitation of this people, their silence is deafening. But Elijah preaches. The message goes out. The call to the church is to repent and turn to the Lord. But this church of Latter-day Saints will wait and see.
This church of Latter-day Saints will wait and see who the true God is. So then, she lacks perception, insight, understanding. She seemingly fails in her silence to respond to the gospel. She rejects God in failing to accept openly the offer placed before her.
So you see, here, as it will be in the end, judgment begins at the house of God. And though her later confession, verse thirty-nine in this story, in this account promises to us a message of grace and forgiveness. Yes, yes, there will come that day when any form of a later confession will not save us. And she The Church, like the virgins with untrimmed lamps, will awaken in the night of the Lord’s Advent, in the midst of the conflagration around her, in which more than an altar, with a sacrifice upon it, is consumed. And she will see her world and all that she has lived for, in disobedience to God, consumed.
So it is that in Elijah’s day, the fire that comes forth from God is a four-tenth of the last day, a symbol of impending judgment. How wonderfully we resonate to this story. and that in part because, you see, in Elijah’s day time remains for a change of heart.
But the day is coming and is already upon us when no change of heart will be possible. Indeed, as the Prophet intoned in the Old Testament, and as the message of Revelation repeats, Those destined for the sword will go to the sword. Those destined for famine and pestilence will go to famine and pestilence. Those destined for destruction will meet destruction. The day of opportunity expires, and the time of judgment comes.
But what of, what of this prince of the domain of this world? What of this king of darkness? This pretend god with whom the world and the church has played? with whom they have delighted themselves. You see, the prince of darkness who presently plays himself with the flames of his abode can produce no flame himself.
He who is confined to the fire can produce no fight himself. And whatever reality stands behind this deity, this pretend god, this veil, whatever reality stands behind this veil is ultimately impotent. There is a sense in which This pretender, this vapor god that fails is as real as evil itself, as real as the pit of hell. But there is that sense as well that this god is but an apparition, an invention, a contrivance of men and their imaginations. He is but a mask. He is but a charade behind which Satan parades. He is hollow, but a shell. He is as nothing. Baal is non-existent. He is incapable of any action whatsoever. He can do nothing.
The sight of his servant’s blood, while they dash themselves, while they tear at their flesh and open that flesh, the sight of his servant’s blood cannot move him at all. for he has no eyes with which to see. The sound of his servant’s cry cannot move him, for he has no ears with which to hear. And the humiliation Think of the humiliation of the 450 prophets of Baal. The humiliation of his servants cannot move him, cannot even move him, because he has no arm. And he extends no head to his own. Baal is non-existent.
He has no reality, yet there is reality behind him. Reality as bold as evil and as plain as the pit of hell. As real as Satan. For Satan struts behind the mask. He is the one who is behind the charade. Good night. Good night. Just as the inoperative, incapable, impotent, non-existent veil, Satan too is incapable of action. Any final action.
It is as if he were bound. As if Satan were bound. So, Bound is he, he cannot act. He is not free in himself. How tied up might he be? How constrained might this being be? He is doubly bound, for he is bound by the power of God. He is like one whom God is set on a journey and is not even proximate to hear the cries of those who serve him or observe their behavior by which they thought to compel his action. He is like one asleep. He is as if one preoccupied. Because God sends him away. God puts him to sleep. God diverts his attention. Yes, bound by the power of God. That power, ultimate. But I have suggested that he is doubly bound. not just bound by the power of God, but bound by his own nature.
In the end, you see, Satan proves he proves no helper to anyone who serves him. For Satan not only will not say, he does not want to say, He does not give a damn about your soul, except as that soul flatters Him. He knows nothing about the meaning of the word salvation. Satan has no love. He doesn’t even have any love for those who serve him.
And he must be seen in the end, as is obvious from this text, this story which we have read, he must be seen as one who delights in the torment of those who serve him, tormented as he is himself. As these prophets of fail make fools of themselves, The supreme fool is thriving in their foolishness. So much does he hate those who call him war.
For he is the perfection of hatred. You see, in the end, Satan, the god of this world, will not lift even a finger to aid any who has served him. There is a sense in which he is perfectly, completely preoccupied with himself. He is the epitome of selfishness, existing in and out of absolute self-absorption. That is His soul.
But over against Baal, and Satan, and Ahab, is the Lord and His messenger. God and His Son expose the fraud, the fiend, this perfect expression of conceit and self-love. So dance on, you prophets of Baal. Whirl wildly in your dance macabre. spend and expose yourselves for the sake of this perfect expression of vanity live for him if you will he is no friend of yours he has lied to you For he is a liar from the beginning, and he has deceived you, and you foolishly have fallen into his trap. But Elijah’s God, the God and Father of Jesus Christ, he is true. call to him day and night, and will he not answer them quickly? From beneath the altar they cry, and their cry ascends, How long, O Lord?
And this one, the Lord our God, who seems so restrained at times, seems so far away, seems as if he were the one that was non-existent. This one, in conclusion, at the climax of things, bursts forth in the flames that affirm that he lives and reigns. And in that day, the bright champion of the Kingdom of God, when blazing light shall streak across the sky, and he shall ride upon a white horse, his name will be called Faithful and True, his eyes a flame of fire, his head be decked with diamonds, his robe dipped in blood, his name the word of God and from his mouth there shall issue forth a sharp two-edged sword and he will tread the winepress of the wrath of God Revelation chapter 19 verses 11 through 15 hallelujah Father, we know of the call that has come forth from heaven, and we are addressed by it, that we might be prepared because we have been awakened through your call to serve you. So let us be alert, awake, so that the day of the Lord will not overtake us and we be found to be unprepared. Instead, Lord, let our cry ascend. How long, O Lord?
And may we look forward to, with longing and great anticipation, that day in which the Lord Jesus Christ will appear in all of His glory, and every hope and aspiration which we have held because of what Your Word has told us will be realized and accomplished. So may we trust, so may we abide in your grace, so may we believe for the saving of our souls.
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