In 1 Kings 18:16-40, we learn about Elijah's great victory at Mount Carmel. As spoken of previous, King Ahab and his wife Jezebel were doing wicked in the sight of the Lord due to their idolatry. While Jezebel was an idolater and murderer, Ahab in some ways was worse because he allowed it to happen.
This is one of the reasons the world has so much trouble. Too many people are standing by allowing a toxic person to cause problems in the families, schools, churches, communities, workplaces, social groups, etc. There's a saying, "All it takes for evil to prosper is for good men to stand by and do nothing." If you are aware that evil is happening and you don't speak and act against it, you become as guilty as the individual doing wrong.
Of course, wisdom must be used to stay safe, but never turn a blind eye when you see an innocent person being attacked with physically or verbally.
Three years into the drought, the Lord tells Elijah to present himself to King Ahab and tell him that He will send rain soon. This was actually very dangerous since Jezebel was murdering the true prophets of God. Obadiah: another prophet of God, had hidden 100 prophets in 2 caves to ensure their safety. He was also in charge of the palace. During this time, Obadiah and Elijah met up and Elijah told Obadiah that he was here. 1 Kings 18:1-8
Obadiah was worried he was going to be killed if Elijah disappeared before Ahab would arrive, but Elijah swore by God that he would be there. 1 Kings 18:9-15.
When Ahab arrived, Elijah sure enough was there. Ahab then asked, "Is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel? 1 Kings 18:16. It's interesting that Ahab was so arrogant and hypocritical to call Elijah a troublemaker when he and Jezebel were running around making God angry with their idolatry and murders. Ahab forgot all about that. But that's how a lot of people are. They spend years doing terrible things to people, but then turn around and accuse others of being troublemakers over less. Such a person shouldn't be taken seriously.
Elijah reminded Ahab that it was him and his family that were the troublemakers because they wouldn't obey God's commands and have worshipped the images of Baal. 1 Kings 18:18 Elijah then told Ahab to summon the people of Israel to join him at Mount Carmel along with the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. It's interesting how when people do evil, they very rarely do it by themselves. But the righteous don't necessarily need to have many people backing them up because the armies of Heaven and the cloud of witnesses are for them always. Hebrews 12:1
After Ahab had summoned the people of Israel and prophets to Mount Carmel, Elijah asked them a serious question. "How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him. If Baal is God, then follow him!" 1 Kings 18:19-21
The nation of Israel had a lot of trouble staying faithful ever since the first freed generation sinned with the golden calf. Exodus 32 They didn't know that sin was going to follow them from generation to generation. After Joshua died, the book of Judges showed that when a judge rose, they followed God. But when the judge died, they went back to worshipping false gods. This caused them to get into bondage with other nations.
Every time they got into bondage or overtaken; they would cry out to God for deliverance. He would deliver them only for them to go back to their idolatry. We must make the decision as to whether we will serve the one true God or the false gods of the world. We can't go back and forth because A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:8
It was then Elijah issued a challenge to show who is truly God. This was a very high-pressure situation because he was one prophet and there were 450 false prophets of Baal. 1 Kings 18:22. Sometimes we must stand alone against an army. But remember David was by himself when he faced Goliath. He only had a sling and a stone. 1 Samuel 17:40-50. If you know God is on your side, you can face anything and anyone.
The challenge was this. Two bulls were to be cut into pieces and placed on the wooden altar without a fire. The prophets of Baal were to select one bull while Elijah took the other one. The prophets of Baal were to call on Baal and Elijah was to call on the true God. The god who answered by fire was the true God. And the people agreed. 1 Kings 18:23-24
The prophets of Baal went first in the challenge. All day and all night, they called out to Baal. But there was no answer. They danced around the altar and at around noon, Elijah started mocking them. He told them to shout louder since Baal was a god. He then said maybe he's daydreaming, relieving himself, on a trip, or asleep. The prophets got so desperate that they literally cut themselves with knives and swords until they bled. Despite this, there was never a response. I Kings 18:25-27
So many times, we hold so much trust in the false gods of the world that when things get hard, we cry out to them only to be met with silence. We become desperate and take extreme measures to get our false god to answer, deliver us, make us better. But an idol has never saved anyone. We can also make a false god out of people be it our family, friends, etc. When a challenge comes, we call for that person only to find silence. It's heartbreaking. We are only to trust God in times of challenges. Proverbs 3:5
After Baal failed to produce the fire, Elijah called the people over. They watched as Elijah repaired the torn down altar of the Lord. There were probably whispers of wonder as Elijah took the twelve stones that represented the 12 tribes of Israel to rebuild the altar. They continued to watch as there was a trench dug around the altar. Wood was piled on the altar and the cut-up bull was placed on the wood.
It was then Elijah did something very unexpected. Elijah ordered 4 large jars with water be poured on the offering 3 times. 1 Kings 18:30-35. Elijah trusted God so much to answer by fire by he willingly had everything drenched with water. It looked impossible, but with God ALL things are possible. Matthew 19:26
Elijah walked up to the altar prayed that God would prove that He was the God of Israel, and that Elijah was His servant. Immediately the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed everything including the water. Only God can do that! The people saw this and declared that the Lord is God. It was then the people of Israel grabbed hold of the false prophets and killed them. 1 Kings 18:36-40
Not too long after, Elijah told Ahab to get something to eat and drink because a rainstorm was coming. Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and prayed. He told his servant to look toward the sea. The servant did this 7 times because before he couldn't see anything. On the 7th time, the servant saw a cloud about the size of a man's hand coming out if the sea. Elijah told his servant to tell Ahab to go home. Soon after, the rainstorm happened. For the first time in 3 years, it finally rained. While Ahab was on his way home, Elijah received special strength from the Lord and ran ahead of the chariot. 1 Kings 18:41-46.
It's interesting that it didn't rain while the false prophets were still alive. After they died, the rain came. Often, God can't rain down special blessings and anointing because we have false gods in our lives. We must get the false idols out of our lives before God can rain down His best on us. As for Elijah, the strength he got truly came from God because the chariot was pulled by the fastest horses in the land. When God is in control, we can truly do the impossible.
