And I invite you to turn in your copy of God’s word to the gospel according to Matthew for our New Testament reading. We’ll read that first, Matthew 17, the first 13 verses on the pew Bible that’s found on page 951. Matthew 17, 1 through 13. Let’s give careful attention to this, because this is the very word of God.
And after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. And his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And a voice from the clouds said, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.
When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, rise and have no fear. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, tell no one the vision until the son of man is raised from the dead.
And the disciples asked him, then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come? He answered, Elijah does come and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.”
And now for our Old Testament reading and the text of this evening’s sermon, turn to 1 Kings 17, where, for the first time, The prophet Elijah is mentioned. He’s introduced, sort of, in 1 Kings 17. Of course, this morning we were looking at the passage in Luke’s gospel that speaks of John the Baptist and his ministry and the correlation. We spoke of the correlation between him and Elijah. We’re seeing Elijah in the Old Testament. So our reading is 1 Kings 17 verses 1 through 16. Now Elijah the Tishbite of Tishbe in Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord, the God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall be neither dune nor rain these years except by my word.
And the word of the Lord came to him, depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening. And he drank from the brook. And after a while, the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks.
And he called to her and said, bring me a little water in a vessel that I may drink. And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, bring me a morsel of bread in your hand. And she said, as the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I’m gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat it and die.’ And Elijah said to her, do not fear. Go and do as you have said, but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.
For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, the jar of flour shall not be spent and the jug of oil shall not be empty until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth. And she went and did as Elijah said, And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
That’s the reading of God’s word. Let’s pray for his blessing upon it now. Father, we thank you again for your word. And we pray that in this Old Testament passage where we read of the ministry of Elijah and of your ministry to him and your mighty works, the beginning of Elijah’s ministry of which we read in the holy scriptures, we ask your blessing upon your word and pray that we would profit from it, that it would be to the good of our souls, and that Christ our Savior would be exalted. We pray these things in his name.
Amen. So I said, this passage is where we’re introduced to Elijah. And then I said, sort of, because he doesn’t really get much of an introduction, does he? He just appears. And why is that? Why don’t we have some kind of, there’s not even really any of his background, who his parents were, anything about him, he’s just there, and he shows up and he speaks to the King of Israel. Why is that? Well, ultimately, it’s because as great as Elijah was, this passage isn’t really about Elijah.
It’s about Elijah’s God, who is infinite in power. So What we have in this chapter and what we’ll have in most of the remaining chapters of the book of 1 Kings is not about Elijah versus Ahab. That’s not the top of the ticket, so to speak. It’s about the Lord God of Israel versus Baal. And as I reflected on this passage and the contents of it, Elijah appears, he makes this proclamation that’s very, very meaningful and significant, that there wouldn’t be dew or rain except according to the word of the Lord.
And then Elijah being told to go hide and how the Lord provided for him as he was hiding at the brook Cherith, and then God even providing for him as he sent him into this pagan land to the north. All the things happening in this passage, they really boil down, again, not to anything about Elijah, not to anything about Ahab, but really about the Lord God and how he provides for his people, how he works out his purposes. I think the message of this text tonight is it corresponds to that little question from the children’s catechism.
The question that asks, can God do all things? And the answer is yes, God can do all his holy will. That’s what this passage teaches us. God can do all his holy will. And so we’ll look at this under three points. And I’ll give them to you as we get to them because they’re full sentences, they’re a little bit long.
So point number one, where sin increases, God is able to make grace abound all the more. That’s point number one, where sin increases, God is able to make grace abound all the more. What’s happening in Israel at this time in Israel’s history, sin is increasing. sin and wickedness at an all-time high, or we might more appropriately say an all-time low. in the nation of Israel, in that northern kingdom. As we saw last week, by God’s own testimony, by Scripture’s own testimony, not mankind’s exaggeration or kind of myopic perspective, by the testimony of the Word of God, Israel now has the worst king ever sitting on the throne.
A king over the covenant people of God, and yet he’s serving and worshiping Baal. And under his godless, God-dishonoring leadership, state-sponsored idolatry is the new norm. He built a house for Baal. He built an altar for Baal in that house. And he led the people of Israel in the worship of Baal. That became official policy. So that’s where Israel is. And we might want to look for some ray of hope.
And we might ask, well, weren’t there at least a small little huddling group of faithful remnants in the Northern Kingdom somewhere? Weren’t there at least a few who still worshipped the true and living God? Well, you’d kind of hope so. But it’s far more likely that most of them, anyway, had long since fled to Judah. Because if they wanted to worship and serve the true and living God, Jerusalem was the place it had to be done.
And if they tried to hold out and be a light and a witness in that northern kingdom that had broken away from Judah, and it was becoming increasingly pagan, that was becoming increasingly idolatrous, if they wanted to try to be faithful in the midst of that, It would be very difficult to do. We’re looking at a dismal spiritual climate with no real prospects for any improvement. Which brings us to that children’s catechism question, can God do all things? And even in that scenario, the answer is yes, God can do all His holy will.
And so in the midst of this profound wickedness, these depths of sin, Elijah the Tishbite arises. And that sets up a showdown. But again, I say, not ultimately a showdown between Elijah and Ahab, not even, as we’re going to see before long, primarily a showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, but a showdown between Yahweh and Baal, which is really no contest. most wicked king ever, versus the most renowned Old Testament prophet. To man’s eyes, that’s the showdown that’s brewing here. And I say Elijah as the most renowned Old Testament prophet. Some might object and say, well wait, what about Moses? Wasn’t he really the greatest prophet of the Old Testament? Yes, Moses was a prophet, but But Moses, first of all, was sort of in a category all by himself.
Secondly, Moses is more associated with the law. Now, it was one of the reasons, there were several reasons I chose the New Testament reading that I did. But one of the reasons is, in the New Testament, you have Moses and Elijah appearing together on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the Gospel writers testify to this, not just Matthew, but also Mark and Luke. and this transfiguration where Jesus with just a few of his disciples is up there on the mountain and Moses and Elijah appear. Moses being the figurehead and the representative of the law, Elijah being the representative or the exemplary prophet. And you know that phrase, that lingo, that shorthand, the law and the prophets, that was just a shorthand reference to the Holy Scriptures. So when we read in the New Testament of Israelites speaking about the law and the prophets, they’re talking about their Bible, the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament. So Elijah is kind of the epitome of Old Testament prophetic ministry.
And at the point of Israel’s deepest apostasy, God raised up this iconic prophet, because where sin increases, God is able to make grace abound all the more. That’s what we see happening, bringing hope. When Israel has this horribly evil king sitting on its throne, God raises up this mighty prophet, this holy man, to be his witness. But there’s another instance of God making grace to abound where sin increases, God showing His strength in a scenario that seems hopeless, in a place that seems hopelessly given over to evil, given over to sin, because God, after sending His prophet to hide by the brook Cherith, sends him into Sidon, sends him into enemy territory, deep into enemy territory.
Elijah was being fed by these ravens, God was providing for him by this supernatural means in a sense, causing these birds, who ordinarily would not do this, to bring food morning and evening to his prophet, his servant. And that was a remarkable supernatural thing, God showing his command over his creation, command over these birds. But then in terms of ordinary circumstances, the brook Cherith dries up because there’s no rain. And so the Lord moves Elijah, he repositions him.
He says, arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow to feed you. And here’s the thing about Sidon. Sidon was Jezebel’s home turf. That’s where she was from. She was the daughter of the king of Sidon, and Baal was their god. And God tells Elijah, go there. He sends his prophet to hide in plain sight, we might say, in pagan territory. Can God protect and provide for a servant even in that Gentile land?
He does. He did. And while the whole population is suffering famine, look at verse 15 again. She and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word that the Lord spoke by Elijah.” And this all points to the To the greater and more overarching truth, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ prevails even in the darkest of places.
Many of you have experienced that, been in places of hopelessness, been in places of extreme difficulty and trial. And in the midst of it, you knew the grace of God. And he was sufficient for you. His grace was sufficient. Because where sin increases, God is able to make grace abound all the more. Well, our second point is the Lord has limitless means at His disposal to do His holy will. God can do all His holy will, but He has limitless means at His disposal to do His holy will. As I was reflecting on this passage, Over the past week, I was thinking God has this unity of purpose, but a diversity of means.
We see how he provided for Elijah, not just in one way, but in several different ways. God, one thing you probably noticed about our God is that he loves to show his power in weakness. He even says so. He loves to show his power in weakness. And that’s why on several occasions over the history of his covenant people, he provided for them in famine.
He provided for them in the wilderness. You think of Israel and their wandering years after they came out of Egypt. And there’s sort of equation there. to Elijah’s time at the brook Cherith. Elijah now, the faithful Israelite, a faithful Israelite. He’s in the wilderness and God’s providing just as he provided for his people those 40 years as they sojourned.
Elijah wasn’t growing crops. He wasn’t planting food and harvesting it so that he could eat. He didn’t have access to a market because God had told him to go and hide. The Lord God Almighty sent ravens to feed him. He commands the ravens. Did you see that in verse four? I have commanded the ravens to feed you. So that’s how God provided food for Elijah and the way he provided water for him was through the brook.
That’s something we would refer to as ordinary means. The problem is there is a drought in the land, and the brook dried up. The brook Cherith was what sometimes referred to in that part of the world as a wadi. It’s basically a riverbed, which during a certain season of the year when there’s water flow, whether it’s due to rain or whether it’s due to ice caps and mountains melting, there’s water in the wadi. But then as all the ice melts off or as you go into the dry season, temporary brook becomes dry. It’s a seasonal brook. And since the brook Cherith dried up, God sent Elijah to Zarephath. And in Zarephath, we see more strength illustrated in weakness. God is still going to provide for his prophet. But he used pretty surprising means. Means contrary to the ones that we might have predicted or chosen if it had been up to us.
You can imagine God saying to Elijah, I’m going to provide for you, I’ve got somebody set up. It’s a widow. That might have led Elijah to think, wait a minute here, you know, widows are usually pretty disadvantaged, especially in the ancient world like that. Usually pretty disadvantaged, often impoverished. And that’s how you’re going to provide for me, Lord. Yes, Elijah, a widow is going to provide for you. And not just any widow, a poor one.
And just as God commanded the ravens, he says, I commanded the widow. I’ve commanded a widow to provide for you there. And if that’s all the Lord told Elijah before he set out for Zarephath, you might be, you can imagine Elijah thinking, well, there must be some wealthy widow there in Zarephath who’s got plenty of means and she can take me in. And then the widow he meets coming out of the gate of the city, well, Notice the language of scarcity in verse 12.
Look at verse 12 with me. He asked for water, he asked for bread. She asked for water and she goes and she’s drawing him some water. And then he says, oh, bring me some bread too. And her response in verse 12 just is filled with language of scarcity, deprivation, Even despair. As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked. Nothing’s ready, in other words. Only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug.
Now I’m gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat it and die. In other words, this woman assumed this was going to be her last meal. She’s going to prepare it, they’re going to eat it, enjoy it, and then that was going to be it. And as far as she was aware, humanly speaking, she would starve after that.
And this is the one God commanded to provide for his prophet. And the Lord did that because he has limitless means at his disposal. So Yahweh provides a bottomless jar of flour and a bottomless jug of oil. And it says, the jar of flour was not spent, and the jug of oil did not become empty according to the word of the Lord.
Elijah and the widow and her household ate for many days. A similar miracle occurs in the ministry of Elijah’s successor. You know, Elisha encountered another widow. She was impoverished. And the creditor was going to come and take all that she had. Elijah was the vehicle by which the Lord did this miracle of causing her flask of oil to fill vessel after vessel after vessel till she had so much oil she could sell and pay off her debts and then live on the rest.
But even more importantly, We think of the feeding miracles of Jesus, how he fed the 5,000, how he fed the 4,000, and he did so with very limited means because it was a miracle. Reminding us, illustrating for us that the Lord has limitless means at his disposal to do his holy will. This is our God. This is Elijah’s God, but he’s your God and my God. This is Christ. Nothing is too hard for him, and he has infinite power and resources at his disposal to work out his purposes. Well, it finally brings us to our third point.
And I borrow the words of Zephaniah, The Lord is able to famish the gods of the earth. Drawing on the hunger motif that we’re seeing in this text with a drought and with the inevitably ensuing famine that would come upon the land, the Lord is able to famish the gods of the earth. Look with me again at verse one, because these words are very significant. Elijah the Tishbite of Tishbe and Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord the God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word.
That wasn’t just a random act of discipline on God’s part. It was a command of execution. whereby God was unleashing upon his covenant people the covenant curses. This is what God had said would happen to his people if they turned from him and serve other gods.
If you’d like to, you can turn with me, but I’ll read to you Deuteronomy 11, verses 16 and 17. In several of these passages in the books of Moses, you have prolonged descriptions that the Lord God gives of how he’s going to bless his people if they will walk with him and if they’ll love him and keep his commandments. All the goodness that’s going to abound and overflow to them if they’ll just walk with him and fear him. But what we often forget is not only were there covenant blessings, but there were covenant curses as well. And God is very clear that if His people turned away from Him and served other gods and didn’t walk in His ways, that there would be consequences. And some of those are described in Deuteronomy 11. I’ll read particularly verses 16 and 17. He says, take care lest your heart be deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them.
Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the land will yield no fruit and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you. That’s just one example of several in the books of Moses. where God speaks of sending famine, sending drought on the land as a consequence for the people’s disobedience. Because God is able to give increase, but he’s also able to withhold it as necessary. And if the words of Moses from Deuteronomy were too ancient and spoken, Too, too long ago for the people to remember to take heed to.
The same thing is forecast in the prayer of dedication that was uttered by Solomon at the dedication of the temple. In first Kings eight. As he was praying for the people. Says when heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they’ve sinned against you. If they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance. So in that wonderful prayer that Solomon makes at the dedication of the temple, he not only reiterates and brings to people’s mind the covenant curses, but he also provides the remedy, repent, turn back to the Lord, pray to Him, call out to Him. Israel ought to have expected famine because of their idolatry and their falsehood to the true and living God.
But I remind you, Again, God loves to show his power in weakness. Loves to do it. He also loves, at key moments, to show the weakness of idols at the very points of their supposed and pretended strength. Loves to do that. When the enemies of Israel say, oh, their gods are gods of the hills, not gods of the plains. If we fight them on the plain, we’re good to go. God is very happy to say, oh, yeah? Well, let me show you. He loves to show the weakness of idols at their very point of supposed and pretended strength.
That’s what was happening in Egypt during the plagues. Every single one of the plagues of Egypt was a direct affront to one of the gods of Egypt and their supposed realms of power and dominion. Whether it was the Nile or whether it was cattle, all the plagues You know, they served the sun god, Ra, and God brought a plague of darkness, completely shutting out that false god. That’s what God was doing in Egypt during the plagues.
And here’s the thing about Baal. Baal was a fertility god. Baal was sometimes known as and referred to as the storm god. It was believed by the people who serve this false god that Baal was able to give rain. And that’s exactly where God addresses the idolatry of his people. Israel was serving Baal, and so God challenges Baal. Can Baal give rain? Can he really provide rain for you, Israel?
Well, the answer’s in verse one. There shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word. My word, says the Lord God Almighty. The Lord is able to famish the gods of the earth. Almighty God can confound those who are trusting in false gods. But He also works mightily in seemingly hopeless situations to save His elect and bless those who seek Him. Nowhere is this more evident than at the cross.
Think about the weakness and the hopelessness of the cross. God’s people had waited long ages for the Promised One. And when the Promised One finally came, the one and only hope of the faithful, the only Redeemer of God’s elect, what happened to Him? He was rejected. He was betrayed. He was murdered. Never did sin increase and prevail more mightily than at the cross. Yet it was also at the cross that God’s grace superabounded. God put the weakness of Satan on display at the very point of Satan’s supposed strength. Through death, he destroyed the one who had the power of death.
And what about you? What about you now? What about you today? If you’re trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, remember this, you have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is with you. The Holy Spirit is in you. I don’t know how often you take time to meditate upon the attributes of the Holy Spirit. But knowing that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, that He, just like the Father and the Son, is fully God, that means that the Holy Spirit is almighty.
You know that verse that we love to quote from the New Testament that talks about greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world? Yes, that’s true. But then do you realize how infinitely true that is? That the one who dwells in you is almighty. He’s all powerful.
There’s nothing too hard for him. Jesus sent his spirit to be with us forever. to be light to us in the darkness, to bring that abounding grace, to nurture us even when we seem, whether spiritually or temporally, to face scarcity or despair. He sent his spirit with us to overcome all the enemies of our souls. I think of those those wonderfully, warmly consoling words that Jesus spoke, he said, fear not, little flock. It’s the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It’s his good pleasure. In other words, it’s his will to give you the kingdom. And God can do all his holy will.
Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for this passage that reminds us of your power, that nothing’s too hard for you and that you can do all your holy will. Remind us of this, Lord, when we’re in dark places, when we’re in difficult places. Lord, cause your grace to abound to us. Remind us, Lord, that you have limitless means at your disposal. Father, we pray that you would put down all the false gods of the earth and cause the Lord Jesus Christ to be exalted in all the earth. And may He be exalted in our hearts and in our midst right here. We pray this in His name. Amen.