The House of Ahab (6)

The House of Ahab (6)

1 Kings 18

1And 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. 2And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.

Last time we looked at how the Lord sustains His persecuted saints in time of trial and tribulation; only when God’s people are Refreshed and Restored can they be Revived by the power of God the Holy Spirit. After the time of trial, Elijah was commanded of God to go and meet Ahab; now we come to the Show-down of ‘The House of Ahab’

Elijah, ‘strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man’ set out to confront the sinful House of Ahab; ‘the weapons of (his) warfare (were) not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds’. It is interesting that Elijah did not rely on the arm of the flesh, by strength of numbers; he did not hold a rally; no, his confidence was in God and not in paltry man.

The first person that Elijah met was Obadiah; now this man’s service for God was seriously compromised by political affiliation with ‘The House of Ahab’. Ahab had promoted Obadiah in the political realm, he became ‘governor’ of Ahab’s house; so Obadiah was bought and therefore could not rebuke his master. While Obadiah did help the prophets of God, he was dealing with the effect and leaving the cause alone; his duty to God was to protest against ‘The House of Ahab’ that was destroying God’s people. When a church has political affiliation with the Secularist political establishment, then it cannot serve God. ‘Ye cannot serve God and mammon’. A classic example of this is The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster; being inextricably linked to Paisleyism, it can neither rebuke nor condemn the Secularist policies and proposals advanced by the power sharing executive which it supports. This is the same the whole world over; churches get obligated to the Secularist system, the system blinds and binds their testimony, and the church falls into the global Obadiah movement; they become Secularist puppets.

When Elijah meets Ahab; it is Ahab that blames God’s messenger for the famine in the land; evidently he has no perception of the national sin that God was visiting with judgment. Like the Secularists of today, there was no fault with man or with the plethora of pagan gods; the blame for all woes must be leveled against Almighty God and His people. Elijah silences the diatribe of nonsense from Ahab; ‘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.’ The judgment of God in Israel was on account of national sin; that sin was occasioned by the Secularist policies of Ahab’s power sharing executive.


It is amazing to see here that God was mixing mercy with the wrath that He was pouring upon sinful Israel; showing that He ‘was not willing that any should perish, but that all might come to repentance.’ Almighty God sent His servant Elijah to confront ‘The House of Ahab’, thus giving them room to repent before they would self destruct. So Elijah challenges Ahab to bring the false prophets in the land to Mount Carmel for a public Show-down. ‘So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.’ Elijah saw the devastation in Israel, caused by The House of Ahab’, so he ‘came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.’ The time had come for the ordinary people of Israel, to make a choice concerning the religious identity of their nation; similarly in our own nations we have also reached such a time of decision.

So the Show-down began; the state sponsored prophets of Baal, which are representative of Secular Humanism today, on the one hand; while Elijah the prophet of God was on the other. The contest was with regard to fire falling on the altar; ‘and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.’ The prophets of Baal, although they made such a great show in the flesh and evidently enjoyed much popular support, failed miserably; they were humiliated as Elijah poked fun at their folly. Here is the classic example of fallen, fallible and foolish man failing in his vain attempt to vindicate himself; this is the certain humiliation and ruin that awaits Secular Humanism. It mattered not, how much they denied God, it mattered not how much they made a show in the flesh; the banner over the false prophets of Secular Humanism, reads FAILURE; ‘there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.’ The Secularist ‘House of Ahab’ had removed God’s Word from the state, the judgment of God ensued, bringing with it drought and famine. The prophets of Baal had no answer to the national crisis, as the false prophets of Secular Humanism are helpless today.

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.’ This brings us to consider finally,the Strength of Israel.

Rev Mervyn Cotton (Heb13:6)