The Contest on Mount Carmel

Behold,  Elijah  Is  Here!

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The  Contest  on  Mount  Carmel

Uranda  March 21, 1953  Class

Tonight I would like to meditate with you on some of the principles revealed in the story of Elijah at the time of Ahab; this story is from the Eighteenth Chapter of the First Book of Kings.

“And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.” There had been a famine for about three years. “And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)”

Now this gives a little indication of the setting at the time, for Jezebel, the Queen, Ahab’s wife, shall we say—to do her particular honor beyond her just dues—was very much against anyone who undertook to serve the Lord. And she had increased the prophets of Baal in the land and had done her best to destroy all the prophets of God. Now this indicates that this servant of Ahab’s, Obadiah, had saved one hundred prophets of that time, and hid them in two caves, fifty in each cave and had fed them bread and water, to save them from Jezebel, the wicked queen. This emphasizes something.

The only Prophet of the time with whom we have any particularized word was Elijah; and yet there is the statement that Obadiah took an hundred prophets and saved them by hiding them in two caves. This emphasizes for our attention the fact that a prophet is not one who necessarily gives concern to foretelling the future. Sometimes the Word of Lord through the prophet’s mouth may say something with respect to future events, but a prophet is one who lets the Word of the Lord be expressed through his lips with respect to the present time, with respect to the living of life. In other words, here at this time there were an hundred prophets, a hundred men who were so dedicated to God, so centered in His spirit, that they were able to let the Word of the Lord appear through their lips. And many of the prophets had been slain. 

“And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts. So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah? And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.”

Now Obadiah feared, or reverenced, the Lord, and when he met Elijah, whom he hadn’t seen for three years, he fell on his face, bowed to the earth, and gave the greeting, “Art thou my lord Elijah?” And Elijah answered, “I am”—the positive assertion of his Divine position. “Go, tell thy lord” (Ahab the King) that “Elijah is here. And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me? As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.” Because Ahab had done his best to find Elijah to destroy him.

“Behold Elijah is here. And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth.” There is an interesting passage. The King and all of his servants, officers of the law we would say, had spent three years searching for Elijah and hadn’t found him; and they’d sent messengers or ambassadors to all the kingdoms round about, and all had been required to swear that they were not harbouring Elijah. And Obadiah’s fear or uncertainty in the matter is clearly expressed. “And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.”

“And it shall come to pass And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth. Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD'S prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me. And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day.” Now this gives an inkling of the pattern that was in effect at the time; from the outer standpoint the danger which Elijah was facing.

And when the Lord said to him after many days, “Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went …” He didn’t stop to argue; he didn’t stop to say, “Well there’s danger here. How am I going to be sure that I’m all right? What’s going to happen? The Lord said to Elijah, “Go, shew thyself unto Ahab”—and Elijah went. There we have an outstanding illustration of the proper way in which we should obey the Word of the Lord. And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day.” Now notice: Elijah made a positive statement. “As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand.” He knew where he stood. He knew his position in relationship to the Lord; and there was no question. And the positive assertion, “Before whom I stand.” The LORD of Hosts—that is the Old Testament term that carries the same significance as our use of the word, the LORD of Lords—the LORD of Lords or the LORD of Hosts.

“So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah. And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” There we have the typical question. Those who are the sinners, those who are violators of the laws of Being, those who have failed to function correctly, are always seeking to lay the blame on someone else for the results of their own ill deeds, and how often are those who serve the Lord accused of being the ones who cause trouble. Now of course, sometimes we run into those situations where human beings imagine that they are serving the Lord and they are simply following after their own fancies, and they are in fact troublemakers. But I am talking about those who truly serve the Lord. And the first question Ahab asked was, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” And Elijah answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.” Now there’s an unequivocal stand revealed there, a positive assertion. We do not find, in this particular circumstance, anything of hesitancy on Elijah’s part. He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions?”

There is one of the most significant questions. “How long halt ye between two opinions. if the LORD be God, if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” They couldn’t, very well, could they, unless they were ready to yield? “And the people answered him not a word.” And so, to whatever degree there has not yet been a full and complete dedication to God, there is that question, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” Now Baal represents the God of the mind, the human deification of the human being himself; the idea that the human being can with his own mind and his own purposes and his own determinations accomplish whatever he desires; satisfy his own pleasures—and so we must not imagine that the people of the earth have stopped worshipping Baal. There are more prophets of Baal in the United States of America today than there ever were in the land of the children of Israel. The prophets of Baal who say, “By the workings of the mind, by the workings of the will, by the workings of determination, by human design and desire, you can get what you want, you can do what you desire to do.” And there are many who follow Baal today.

“And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.” And the record didn’t mention here the four hundred priests of the groves that were likewise present, so that there were actually eight-hundred-and-fifty men present among those who were the prophets of Baal, while Elijah was the only prophet of God present. “I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks.” Now we remember that the bullock, or the ox, is a symbol of the human mind. “Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.” The God that answers by fire—the fire of love, the fire that is in manifestation, the flame of life. And the people said, “It is well spoken.” So two bullocks were to be sacrificed.

“And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.” This is a remarkable portrayal here, just from the standpoint of the story, and it contains so very much significance. “And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon.” Now it generally takes, in the world as it is, the first half of a human being’s life—from morning until noon—before he or she begins to realize that calling on Baal for the fire of life, the flame of life, the true expression of life, is a futile thing. And they “called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them”—that is, he became sarcastic. We find that in Divine expression of the Word of the Lord, sarcasm is very often used; and here is one of the most magnificent illustrations of the use of stinging sarcasm. By the way, the Master, when he was on earth, was a Master of the use of stinging sarcasm. If you’ve never stopped to realize that truth, that fact, it may be of interest; perhaps sometime we will consider that together. But, the stinging sarcasm that was in use here is something that is outstanding.

“And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.” And this is typical with respect to the prophets of Baal—it says, “after their manner.” They leaped upon the altar. “They cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.” But you say, “Well, the people here in our enlightened land don’t do that.” Don’t they? Perhaps they don’t use the same kind of knives and lancets, but how about the spilling of their life force, of the life stream, worshipping Baal, trying to get the flame of life into manifestation, the true expression of life to appear, by calling on Baal. Those human beings who sell themselves to the acquisition of power, wealth, who pour out their lifeblood merely to acquire some earthly treasure, are they not calling on Baal? Are they not actually leaping on the altar? Are they not letting their lifeblood, their life stream, their life force, gush out upon them as they labour for a human purpose, a human goal?

We see that while the form of the worship of Baal may be a little different today—it changed form just a little—the pattern is exactly the same. Let us note the nature of this sarcasm which Elijah used. “Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” That is one of the most beautiful, remarkable portrayals of stinging sarcasm, divinely used in the Word of God, that we have on record; and is it surpassed only by the sarcasm as the Master used it.

And so, “They cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.” Now, in this pattern we see the cycle coming to a close, the human beings are nearing the end of life, they are no longer as strong as they once were, they are about worn out; and there has been none to answer, there has been no true fulfillment in life, and Baal has not regarded them, or given them peace or satisfaction, fulfillment; and then, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, which signifies the closing portion of the life cycle, there is finally, with those who have any response at all, a process of turning to God. O, you may say, “But these people have been religious, they’ve gone to church regularly, almost every Sunday; they’ve been good people, they’ve contributed to the church and the community chest, and so on. Yes, they’ve been good people! But they did not truly seek the LORD; they wanted their own patterns, they wanted to have their own life the way they thought they wanted it—the family pattern, the business pattern, everything just according to their own idea, without regard to the Divine Plan for them. And so, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, “there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.”

“And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.” Now, here we see the picture of that with which we must deal in serving the LORD; this pattern of lethargic attitude toward God while there is devotion to serving Baal, the pouring out of the life stream, trying to make a living, trying to get ahead, according to the human desire. As you serve in the world, wherever you may be, you will constantly be confronted with this pattern, with this situation. People will come to you desiring to be relieved of their aches and their pains so that they can go back and serve Baal. They will want you to heal their scars, stop the flow of the life stream in its wasting expression, so that they can go back and serve Baal. Over and over again—I’ve seen it so many, many times, human beings who had great potentiality in the service of the Lord who, if they were willing to dedicate themselves and let themselves be true stewards, could accomplish great things for God—but would they? No. Instead of letting themselves be changed and transformed and redirected in the patterns of life, they would turn to the Lord to be healed, and then return to serve Baal—not to serve God.

Servers have found that there are those people who will come and receive ministry, who never give anything—sometimes they will give a penny. Yes. There have been many people who actually gave a penny. They could have afforded to give much more but they gave a penny in an acknowledgment of an attunement—sometimes a dime, sometimes a quarter, sometimes as much as a dollar—for the healing ministry of God made manifest on earth. Very seldom, comparatively speaking, are there those who are willing to contribute more than a dollar. They set the pattern of worth themselves, and we can see it in such a case. But how about the pattern of living—what is the worth, what is the value? I have known so many people who could have given themselves and their substance in the service of God and render great things. They had asked to receive the blessings of the Lord, and when they were given, when they received something of the healing power they turned again to serve Baal. So this is the sort of thing we face in the service of the Lord today, and it is necessary to repair the altar of the Lord that was broken down. What is the altar of the Lord? It’s your body; or the body of those whom you are going to serve. And those who are going to serve with you, you cannot foretell. I have, in my giving, screened on the basis of their response, tens of thousands of people in order to have you here tonight; and some of you have not yet fully given yourselves to God. But you cannot tell in advance. Those who respond, we serve them, whether they are going to turn again and serve Baal, or whatever they’re going to do—because the altar of the Lord that is broken down must first be repaired, and then we can begin to see who it shall serve God and who is determined to serve Baal.

“And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.”

Four barrels of water—four—we think of the Four Forces of Being, the Four Creative Forces, and Water, the symbol of the truth. And they did it three times—and we think of the fact that man is a human trinity, and that the Water of Truth in the expression of the Four Forces needs to be released in relationship to the body, in relationship to the mind, and in relationship to the spiritual expression phase of Being. So, three times they filled four barrels of water, until the twelve barrels had been poured over the burnt sacrifice, over the wood, over the stones of the altar, and filled the trench round about the altar.

Now, aside from the fact that each step in this act is a revelation of Divine symbolism, we see here a great psychological factor at work. Elijah had watched the prophets of Baal very closely. He had to. They would have, if they could have, put some fire under it; they would have liked to have started a fire and made it appear like it was coming from Baal. But the people were watching, and Elijah was there—and that makes a difference. And so the psychological factor is that it would be absolutely evident that, with twelve barrels of water poured over the altar, the burnt sacrifice and all, the prophets of Baal would not have any chance to claim that Elijah had played a trick, that he had put fire under. So, it forestalled any false claims on the part of the prophets of Baal. But what is it that forestalls the false claims of the prophets of Baal? Water—the use of the Water of Truth in relationship to all three phases of Being, in harmony with the Four Creative Forces. So if, as we repair the altar of the Lord, and prepare the sacrifice of the Lord, prepare that which is given to the Lord—it’s not really a sacrifice, as we think of the word today—we need to remember that unless our ministry relates to all three levels of Being—body, mind and spirit—it will not be successful; unless it works in the pattern of the Four Forces; unless it is the actual revelation of the truth, it won’t stand, it won’t come to fulfilment. But when we so function, we forestall false claims of the prophets of Baal.

“And the water ran about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day”—let it be known this day—“that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” Not the mind, the heart. Let us note this remarkable prayer. And “Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day”—not some day in the future—“let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.”

We notice the action of the fire of the Lord which consumed the sacrifice, the wood and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. What is it that the fire of the Lord does to you? You, the self-active human being, trying to be something all by yourself, remain no more. You’ve been received into the pattern of Deity, into the Body of god, when you let the fire of the Lord fill you and receive you into your Divine Place in the Cosmic scheme of things. “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces”—they bowed down, signifying response, signifying letting go, signifying a yielding to the Divine Pattern of things, signifying repentance and a willingness to be redirected. “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.” And what a wonderful realization it is, what a wonderful evidence of the working of the spirit of God in the hearts of the children of men when they finally come in such responsive repentance to acknowledge the LORD, not Baal, is the God.

The LORD, He is the God

In the pattern of religion as it is known in the world today, it has been very ingeniously worked out so that most people who think they are serving God are actually serving Baal about six days and twenty-three hours out of the week. The ingenious arrangement, whereby people feel that they can be religious in the pattern of the world as it is and serve God—for man has lost the vision of letting his life in actual fact be dedicated to God, so that the expression of his Being in body and mind and heart, with his whole spirit, shall be to the glory of God, in accordance with the will of God, for the purposes of God. And what a wonderful thing it is when any man or any woman finally comes to the true and vivid realization that, “The LORD, he is the God.”

“And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.” He put all eight hundred and fifty of them to the sword—slew the works. The prophet of the Lord, Elijah, the one who was translated without the necessity of facing what we speak of as death. And after he had slain these prophets, “Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” He didn’t say, the rain has started falling, but he heard the sound of it coming. “So Ahab went up to eat and to drink, And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.” Seven times, Elijah’s servant went and looked. “And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.”

And so the rain came, ending three years of drought and famine. Seven times, the servant of Elijah went to look and the seventh time he saw a little cloud, like a man’s hand rising out of the sea, and the moment that little cloud appeared Elijah sent word to Ahab to hurry, or he would be caught in the rain; and he was, even so. The fulfillment of the blessings of the LORD. “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.”

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