June 18, 2021
HAVE YOU BUTCHERED THE OXEN AND BURNED THE PLOW? God directed Elijah to anoint a prophet from behind a plow. He didn’t send him to a finishing school for prophets, but to a farm where Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him. His father must’ve been wealthy to have so many servants
June 16, 2021
GOD’S PROMISE TO BLESS THE NATIONS After Elijah warned King Ahab about the coming drought in Israel, he fled to the wilderness. Eventually, the Lord sent Elijah out of Israel to the land of Sidon, where God had commanded a widow to provide for his needs. In this way, God both protected Elijah from Ahab
June 12, 2021
THE CONDITIONAL PROMISE FORESHADOWS THE UNCONDITIONAL ONE After Solomon had completed the building of the Temple, the Lord appeared to him a second time. In this appearance, the Lord repeated the conditional promise that He had made to his father, David. Notice the “if” and the “then” words that mark such a conditional statement. The
June 18, 2020
HAVE YOU BUTCHERED THE OXEN AND BURNED THE PLOW OF YOUR FORMER LIFE? God directed Elijah to anoint a prophet from behind a plow. He didn’t send him to a finishing school for prophets, but to a farm where Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him. His father must’ve been wealthy to
June 16, 2020
GOD’S DESIRE FOR THE NATIONS After Elijah warned King Ahab about the coming drought in Israel, he fled to the wilderness. Eventually, the Lord sent Elijah out of Israel to the land of Sidon, where God had commanded a widow to provide for his needs. In this way, God both protected Elijah from Ahab and
June 12, 2020
THE CONDITIONAL PROMISE FORESHADOWS THE UNCONDITIONAL ONE After Solomon had completed the building of the Temple, the Lord appeared to him a second time. In this appearance, the Lord repeated the conditional promise that He had made to his father, David. Notice the “if” and the “then” words that mark such a conditional statement. The
June 18, 2019
TWO KINDS OF SPIRITUAL MOUNTAINTOPS After God had used Elijah to win the victory over Baal’s prophets on Mount Carmel, he had no doubt expected a revival to break out in Israel. Instead, he was left spiritually drained, discouraged, and afraid for his life by the renewed threats from Jezebel to kill him. He responded
June 17, 2019
RUNNING LIFE’S RACE WITH GOD’S STRENGTH After using Elijah to defeat the prophets of Baal in a fire from heaven contest, and sending rain in response to the prophet’s prayer, the Lord strengthened Elijah to outrun Ahab’s chariot. Some have suggested that he ran the 16 miles from Mount Carmel to Jezreel before the king’s
June 20, 2017
Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, requested that Ahab, king of Israel, would inquire of the LORD before they united to go to war against Syria. Ahab gathered his 400 prophets and they all affirmed the Lord’s support. However, Jehoshaphat was a righteous king and he took note that the prophets were not worshipers of the LORD (In most English translations, all caps “LORD” is used to translate “Yahweh,” while “Lord” is used to translate “Adonai.”). He asked whether Ahab still had a “Yahweh” prophet. Ahab did, but he said that he hated him because the prophet never spoke good for him. Sure enough, when the Yahweh prophet was brought before the kings, he prophesied Ahab’s death, which in fact, came to pass.
The modern reader may consider Ahab foolish for preferring to surround himself with preachers that only encouraged him with lies, while rejecting the one who called him to repentance with the truth. Yet, Ahab’s generation is here today and Ahab’s prophets too. For as the apostle Paul warned, “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (1 Tim. 4:3-4).
June 19, 2017
Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, thought he had picked a fight with Ahab, king of Israel, but in fact, he had picked a fight with God. Ahab was one of the most wicked kings in Israel’s history, so it seems surprising that the Lord would protect him from the armies of Syria. But the Lord was not defending Ahab. He was defending His own Name. He wanted both Israel and Syria to recognize that He was not some local man-made deity, but the only true God and Creator of all.
His desire has always been that “you shall know that I AM the Lord.”