Elijah's Return to Ministry 1 Kings 19:15-21 (Sermon 15)

Last time we considered God's Work of Restoration in the Life of Elijah:
How was this work of restoration accomplished?

1. God assures Elijah of his love & concern in time of need (v5)
2. God met Elijah's immediate needs as a whole man (v5-6)
3. God restored his servant Elijah by revealing the diversity of his Sovereign Power

This morning we'll look at the Second Stage in Elijah's Restoration:

Firstly: God sent Elijah back to Fulfil his Ministry (1 K 19:15)

Secondly: God gave Elijah a Twofold Word of Encouragement (1 K 19:15-18)

Listen to the Word of the Living God to his servant Elijah (19:15-16):

"Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there,

anoint Hazael king of Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and

anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet."

What did God do to Elijah?

- God did not send Elijah back from the depression under a Broom Tree and his Dejection

in a cave on Mount Horeb, just to sit around for a further period of Depression.

• God did not send Elijah back to the Desert to wallow in self-pity & dejection.

• Instead, God sent Elijah back the way he came, in order to take up his

neglected DUTY, and to fulfil his God-given Ministry.

God is saying to Elijah: Rise up above your circumstances and your depression:

• Remember that you serve the Lord God, Jehovah.

Remember what you said to Ahab when you first came onto the scene of history:

"As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor

rain in the next few years except at my word" (17:1).

Elijah, do you still believe in the Almighty Power of your God?

Do you believe that God's purposes cannot be thwarted by Ahab & Jezebel?

Remember the time you met Obadiah

Obadiah was afraid that Ahab would kill both of you.

Let me remind you of your bold reply, Elijah:

"As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve,

I will surely present myself to Ahab today" (!8:15).

• Elijah, why have you suddenly become afraid and depressed?
• Do you still believe that the Lord God Almighty lives today, just as you did then?

Remember your own challenge to the people of Israel, Elijah:

"How long will you waver between two opinions?

• Elijah, why are you in this terrible position, where your faith in God is wavering?

• Can't you think of what the people said after your Challenge by Fire:

• Elijah, go back the way you came - Go back with those words ringing in your ears.

The lesson here is obvious:

The best way to drive yourself out a state of Depression & Dejection is this:

Remember that you been commanded to SERVE the Living God;

COMPEL yourself to RETURN to ACTIVE SERVICE for the Sovereign Lord.

• Resting in a solitary place, with nothing to do may seem a good idea

during a time of depression.

• However, in the long run, it only serves to feed & increase the state of depression.
• An over-long period of solitude will never heal depression.

Don't give yourself too much time to sit around in morbid depression.

• Yes, God insisted that Elijah had sufficient Rest, Food and Drink;
• Yes, God taught Elijah that he cares for his Physical as well as his Spiritual needs.
• BUT, God did not intend his servant to sit back and rest for the remainder of his days!

A W Pink says:

"Elijah might have succumbed to a settled melancholy or raving madness. The only

hope for persons in such circumstances is to come out from their lonely haunts, and to

God said to Elijah:

"Go back the way you came" - Go back to your place of ministry;

• Go back, because the Sovereign Lord has a plan & purpose for you,

right back in that place that you have run away from.

Believer, ask yourself this question:

Do you feel so dejected that you need a rest from your God-given ministry?

• God says to you through Elijah;

Certainly, you are entitled to a period of rest and recuperation.

But you cannot sit around forever - you must go back the way you came.

You must go back to your place of duty & service for the Sovereign Lord.

Lance Pierson, in his book Standing for God in a Hostile World, says:

"God will never make us redundant or condemn us to the scrap heap.

He does not prolong our sick leave, but wants to send us back refreshed."

Roger Ellsworth says:

"God's message to Elijah was NOT: 'I have got everything under control,

so you just go back, sit in your cave, and enjoy life.' God's message was:

'I have everything under control, so you go back to serving me faithfully.'"

This morning we are looking at the Second Stage in Elijah's Restoration:

Firstly: God sent Elijah back to Fulfil his Ministry (1 Kings 19:15)

Secondly: God gave Elijah a Twofold Word of Encouragement (v15-18)

God encouraged Elijah by giving him a twofold revelation concerning future events.

1. God declares his Sovereign Power over All Nations (v15-17):

Remember the bitter complaint of Elijah before the Lord:

"I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected

your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the

sword. I am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too" (1 K 19:14).

Elijah is saying:

• Lord, you are the Lord God Almighty, and yet you have stood back and allowed your people to break your covenant.

• You have let them compound this evil by breaking down your altars and

building a temple to the false god Baal.

• You have stood by and allowed evil Queen Jezebel to slaughter the Prophets of Yahweh!
• The implication is this - Lord, are you going to allow this evil reign to go on forever?

Now, listen to the reply of the Lord God Almighty:

• My son, you are discouraged. You thought the slaying of the prophets of Baal on

Mount Carmel would bring a revival of the worship of Yahweh.

• You are despondent because the work begun on Carmel has yet to be completed.

• Elijah, my dear son, I am the Sovereign God and therefore I am in complete control
• I will most certainly bring judgement upon this wicked & apostate nation.
• But I will do it in my time, not yours.

• The evil dynasty of Omri & Ahab will be overthrown, and the process has already begun

My son, Elijah, be assured that your Sovereign Lord, Yahweh, is in complete control and he will certainly complete his work of judgement.

Although God pronounced judgement, Elijah had to accept it in faith:

• It was not until the time of his successor Elisha that this judgement was carried out.
• But, it was Elisha who anointed Hazael king of Aram and Jehu king of Israel.

• Jehu set about to wipe out the entire royal family
• He went to Jezreel and massacred Jezebel and the whole royal household (2K ch 9 & 10)
• He had all the prophets of Baal massacred in the temple of Baal and then tore it down.

Elijah needed to learn that no king throughout history has ever had the authority to reign over a nation, except the Sovereign God gives him that authority.

• Even then, kings only reign as long as God is pleased to allow them.

There is no doubt whatsoever that God is Sovereign over ALL NATIONS:

The message of Scripture is clear:

Even pagan kings were compelled to recognise the Sovereign Power of God:

Remember what the pagan King Darius said about the Lord (Daniel 6:25-17):

"He is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed,

his dominion will never end. He rescues & he saves; he performs signs & wonders

in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions."

Darius remembered the Word of God to king Belshazzar:

"Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes & Persians.

That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede

took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two" (Daniel 6:26-30).

At the end of time, the Eternal Message will remain the same:

"God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every

name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and

Take very careful note of this message:

Even the most evil kings are used by God to bring about his Eternal Purposes!

• Neither Hazael nor Jehu were godly men (2 K 8:15 & 2 K 10:31).

Hazael, king of Aram, which is more commonly known as Syria,

came to the throne by murdering his predecessor, Ben-Hadad.

Jehu caused God's people to sin, just like Jeroboam and many others before him.

• We must marvel at the manner in which God accomplishes his Purposes.

He can work through men whose only thought is to gratify their own sinful desires.

• God does not condone their sin - they are accountable for their own sin -

Yet these men are still in the Sovereign Hand of God, and he uses them

to carry out his Divine Counsel, which is determined from Eternity.

It is the Sovereign prerogative of Almighty God to raise up nations and cast them down

This has been seen down through history, but we'll stick to some modern examples:

• You older people: Did you believe that God was in Total Control in the days of Hitler?
• Middle aged people: Did you believe that God was in control in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda and many other nations as well.
• Young people: Do you believe that the Sovereign Lord brought down the

Communist Nations like a line of dominoes?

• Today, do you believe that God is in control in the U.K., including Northern Ireland?

This morning we are looking at the Second Stage in Elijah's Restoration:

Firstly: God sent Elijah back to Fulfil his Ministry (1 Kings 19:15)

Secondly: God gave Elijah a Twofold Word of Encouragement (v15-18)

God encouraged Elijah by giving him a twofold revelation concerning future events.

1. God declares his Sovereign Power over All Nations (v15-17).
2. God declares that he Sovereignly Appoints Prophets and

Calls out a People for Himself (v16 & 18)

"Anoint Elijah son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.

Yet I reserve 7,000 in Israel - all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and

We looked at the second aspect of this Word of Encouragement last time.

• God works in a Gentle Whisper as well as in the Fire & Earthquake.
• Elijah thought he was all alone!
• But God had reserved 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
• Sometimes God works in Revival Power.
• At other times God works silently and secretly, but just as powerfully & effectively.

This morning, we'll look at the Sovereign Appointment of Prophets.

Remember the bitter complaint of Elijah before the Lord:

"The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your

prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left and now they are

trying to kill me too" (1 Kings 19:14).

Note how the Sovereign Lord ANSWERS Elijah's cry of consternation:

"Go back the way you came - Anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah

to succeed you as Prophet" (v16).

God is saying to Elijah:

Think of what you are saying in this complaint of yours.

• If you are the only one left, there will be no more Prophets after your departure.

• Are you implying that the Lord God Almighty will be silenced?

Do you really believe that God has No Power to raise up Prophets in Israel?

• All Nations need the kind of preaching which speaks of sin, righteousness & judgement!
• All Nations need preaching that speaks to both the National & Individual Conscience.

Furthermore, God is saying to Elijah:

• My son, if my people are to keep the covenant it will depend on the

continuation of the Prophetic Ministry.

• The Prophet will call back the Nation to the terms of the Covenant,

He will call them to Holiness of Life & Purity of Worship.

- He will call them back to their allegiance to the God of the Covenant, Yahweh.

• Therefore, my son, be assured that I will certainly provide a Prophet in Israel.

I will provide one who will bring My Word to My People;

Elijah, I have chosen you to go and Anoint a Prophet, who is called Elisha.

• This is the man whom I have chosen to uphold the Prophetic Ministry in Israel.

He is the man who will succeed you as Prophet, to preach against my people's

hardness of heart, and call down Divine Judgement on this Apostate Nation.

Note that Elijah did not go to call Elisha by his own human volition:

• God said: "I have chosen this man to be a Prophet. The only part you have to play is

to recognise and set apart the man that I have chosen."

• Elijah must recognise the Prophetic Gift that the Holy Spirit has endowed upon Elisha!
• He must recognise him as the Preacher who will call God's People back to his Covenant.
• He is the one who will uphold God's Standard of Holiness within the Nation.
• He is the one who will anoint Jehu & Hazael to bring judgement on this apostate Nation.

Let's bring this Glorious Doctrine of God's Sovereign Power in the

Appointment of Prophets more closely to home:

We must ask ourselves the question:

Does the call of an Old Testament Prophet have anything to do with us?

• Reformed Theologians argue that the Office of Prophet per se does not exist today.
• Prophets were a special class of men to whom God gave special revelations.
• Now that revelation is complete in Scripture, there is no need for that Special Office.

The modern day equivalent to the Prophetic Office is the Office of Preaching;

- This is the task of those who are set apart to boldly proclaim the Word of the Living God.

This of course is a major aspect of the Office of Elder in the Local Church:

• Elders of the Local Church have a Fourfold Ministry:

To Teach God's Word to believers, in order to build them up in the faith;

To be the God-given Rulers who will Govern the Church of Christ;

To Proclaim the Gospel of Christ to unbelievers;

And, to Guard the Gospel against False Doctrine & False Teachers.

Without the exercise of such a Ministry, the Local Church cannot exist.

The general principle in this passage is that God Sovereignly Appoints Leaders.

He does this in order to ensure the continuation of the Church of Christ.

Elijah's complaint was this:

• There are those today who claim that there are no Leaders left in the Local Church.
• They have exactly the same complaint that Elijah had!

God's reply to Elijah was this:

• You have no right to say that, Elijah!
• I am the Sovereign Lord and I have raised up a man by the name of Elisha.

The Biblical Application for today is clear to all Biblically minded believers.

• The Sovereign Lord God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, raises up Leaders for the Church of Christ today, after the same manner that he raised up Elisha, and

all other Leaders in Scripture.

We have No Gospel; and No Church without the Authority of our Sovereign God!

Furthermore, there is No True Local Church without a God-given Leadership.

Over the past few months on Thursday Evenings we have proved beyond doubt that God raised up a Plurality of Elders in both the Old & New Testaments Congregations.

• We have proved beyond doubt that a Biblical Eldership is

the God-given pattern for all Church Government.

• The Spirit of God raised up a Plurality of Elders in every Local Church,

who worked together as equals.

As David Merck says:

"You will look in vain for a Church with just one Pastor in the New Testament."

Eric Alexander had this to say in a recent paper on Eldership:

"Equality within the Eldership is such a fundamental principle in my view that I am not

entirely happy to make a distinction between Ministers & Elders. All Ministers

(so-called) are Elders. Their function may be that they minister the Word but

nonetheless they are still Elders. There is no hierarchy within the Eldership."

We have looked at the Appointment of Elders.

Again the New Testament principle is clear

• It is the Holy Spirit who Appoints Elders in every Local Church.
• The role of the Church is to recognise those whom the Spirit has already endowed with the necessary Spiritual Gifts.

Can anyone prove from God's Word that his plan for Sunderland Free Church

should be any different?

• Do you believe that the Holy Spirit has kept his promise to give some the

"gift of Pastors & Teachers" in this Local Church?

Or can you prove from Scripture that the Spirit has a different plan for us?

The issue at stake here is a very serious one:

Is the Lord God Sovereign in the Church of Christ in this place; Or is he not?

• Do you truly believe that the Spirit of God is at work among us?

Or has the Spirit written the word "Ichabod" in bold letters across the door, saying:

"The Glory of the Lord has departed from this place" (1 Sam 4:22).

This is precisely the same principle that the Lord God placed before Elijah!

• Elijah was despondent, saying:

"Lord, I am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too" (1 K 19:14).

• The Lord God replied:

By my Sovereign Power I have raised up & equipped your successor as Prophet.

If you don's believe that, you are saying: " The Glory of the Lord has departed."

If we believe that we form a True Expression of the Church of Christ, we MUST believe that this work has been accomplished by the Sovereign Power of God's Spirit!

• If we believe this truth in sincerity; we must also believe that the Spirit will raise up those who will be Elders, Pastors and Teachers to Instruct & Rule this Local Church.

If we DO NOT believe that the Spirit has given Spiritual Gifts for the proper functioning of the Church of Christ - then we doubt the Sovereign Power of God.

• Furthermore, we show that we doubt the Spirit's Power to bring some believers to a level of Spiritual Wisdom & Maturity that will equip them for the Office of Elder.

Let me remind you of two quotations from our Introductory Paper on Eldership:

Eric Alexander, regarding the importance of Eldership, says this:

It is imperative that we get back to Biblical basics, rather than the opinions of individuals.

• The spiritual well-being of God's people and the expansion of the Church demands a return to Biblical Church Leadership - a Plurality of Elders in EVERY Local Church.
• It demands a belief in the Sovereign Power of the Spirit of God to Appoint & Equip members of the Local Church who will emerge as Elders.

Hampton Keathley, an American Reformed Pastor, says:

Paul and Barnabas viewed Biblical Leadership as being so crucial to the well-being of the Church of Christ, that they went back to the Local Churches they had established and "Appointed Elders in every Church." Furthermore, they saw this task as being of such great importance that the Appointment of Elders was accompanied by "prayer and fasting."

They recognized the fact that it is the Holy Spirit who appoints and equips Elders.

SUMMARY

This morning we have looked at the Second Stage in Elijah's Restoration:

Firstly: God sent Elijah back to fulfil his ministry (1K 19:15)

God said to Elijah: "Go back the way you came. I am sending you back to your

place of ministry. I want you to go on serving me, just as faithfully as you did

before your time of despair and depression."

Secondly: God gave Elijah a Twofold Word of Encouragement (v15-18)

God encouraged Elijah by giving him a twofold revelation concerning future events.

1. God declares his Sovereign Power over All Nations

Even the most evil king in the whole world is under the control of our Sovereign God.

2. God declares that he Sovereignly Appoints Prophets & Elders and

Calls out a People for Himself