Author: tr

Running Scared – Despite God’s Oath

One would have thought that after the astounding display of God’s power and glory on Mount Carmel, Elijah would be so set in his faith that he would never fear or doubt again.

Yes. One would have thought.

But after the victory over Baal and the restoration of rain to the land – as Elijah had boldly promised – we see another side to Elijah: a man scared to death and running for his life. And who scared him? Jezebel the wife of King Ahab.

In a previous blog I wrote about the oath of God. But people also swear oaths. When they do they swear by the “greater” (Heb.6:16). People will say “I swear by God” or “I swear by mother’s grave” – anything to convince another that they are telling the absolute truth.  The president takes the oath with his right hand uplifted and his left hand on the Bible. Why? So that all will be convinced he will fulfill his vow. God of course could not swear by the greater so he “swore by himself”(Heb.6:13).

It turns out that Jezebel swore an oath that she would get vengeance upon Elijah for what he did to the prophets of Baal. What was the “greater” to which Jezebel appealed in order to convince people she meant what she said: “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do no make your life like that of one of them” – a word she sent by messenger to Elijah (1 Kings 19:2).

You would have thought that Elijah would laugh it off – as he sneered at the prophets of Baal. But not this time. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life (1 Kings 19:3). This goes to show two things: (1) Even though Elijah experienced the oath of God with regard to rain and the fire falling on Mount Carmel it did not spill over into his personal life and sense of safety; and (2) that Elijah was still the same human being we have seen in previous blogs. He was a man “just like us” (Jas.5:17).

He ran a long way. All the way to Beersheba in Judah – about as far away as you could get from Jezebel and still be in Israel. Elijah was taking no chances. He knew she meant what she said. He thought he was a goner. Wrong.

Jezebel’s vow was not kept. The Bible warns of making a vow  – which carries virtually the same weight as the oath – and not fulfilling it (Numb.30:2). But not keeping one’s oath would not worry a godless Jezebel. Sadly it did not seem to bother King Saul either – who swore to his son Jonathan that he would not harm David (a vow he broke soon afterwards – 1 Sam.19:6-10). Saw had become “yesterday’s man” and one of the evidences of being yesterday’s man or woman is that you have no integrity.

The eventual result of all this was Elijah being emotionally exhausted. Even apart from Jezebel’s threat he might have been exhausted anyway from the ordeal at Carmel. Dr. James Dobson has shown that many a minister thinks the devil is getting at them on Mondays when it is in all likelihood merely the loss of adrenalin! If so, imagine the depletion of adrenalin Elijah must have experienced after Carmel. And following that – Jezebel.

So he was a tired man. When we are extremely tired we say things we may mean, yes, but which are not always true. “I’ve had enough . . . Take my life” (1 Kings 19:4). I recently experienced the worst jet lag of my whole life. I have crossed the Atlantic nearly fifty times in the last ten years and have crossed the Pacific three times. But for some reason my recent trip to the Middle East and to India found me utterly depleted of energy and rational thinking!

The lovely thing is, God knows these things. “All at once an angel touched him”  (1 Kings 19:5). How kind God is. He does not desert us when we are afraid. Or tired.

RT

You can read much more about this in my New book: These are the days of Elijah available at a discount for this month.

Elijah – How Come Such Authority?

Whatever enabled Elijah to say to King Ahab, “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” (1 Kings 17:1). How often do you read about such boldness? However did Elijah know to speak like that? Would he not have lived in fear day and night that it might rain after he said that to Ahab, and then his word would have no credibility at all? I think I would have been a nervous wreck if I made a claim like that!

But there is more. How could Elijah have such calmness when he said to the prophets of Baal that the “god who answers by fire – he is God”. Not only that; while the false prophets feverishly pleaded, “O Baal, answer us!”, watch Elijah! He is having the time of his life! He pokes fun at them. “Shout louder . . . Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened” (1 Kings 18:22,27). How could Elijah be so relaxed? So sure

The answer is: God had sworn an oath to him.

God swore an oath to Abraham (Gen.22:16ff). Up until then it had been one promise after another to Abraham that his seed would be innumerable – like the “dust of the earth” (Gen.13:16) or the stars in the sky (Gen.15:5). Abraham believed these words but also felt a need to make these promises happen – as when he slept with Hagar (Gen.16:2). But once God swore an oath to Abraham he was “set” – utterly and totally convinced that his seed would be like the sand of the seashore.

What made the difference? Is not the promise true? Is it not valid? Why would one need the oath to be utterly and absolutely convinced? It is because the oath is stronger. It puts an end to all argument (Heb.616). When the oath is sworn no room for doubting is left. These two unchangeable things – promise and oath (Heb.6:18) – are equally true but not equally convincing to us. God sometimes accommodates us by swearing an oath to us, and when he does we know that we know. It is an assurance that comes by the immediate and direct witness of the Holy Spirit. It was what was promised to the Hebrew Christians (Heb.6:9ff). I shall deal with this in detail this summer at The Cove (Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, NC). I also deal with this in detail in my latest book  These Are the Days of Elijah.

My point is this.  No man or woman on earth could speak as Elijah did had he not heard from God at what I would call the oath level. You have two unchangeable things: promise and oath. Both are true but the promise tends to be conditional: this is true upon the condition “if”. But there is no condition attached to the oath. When God swears an oath it is going to happen, like it or not. When God swears this to a person he or she KNOWS what will happen.

That is what Elijah had. That is how he could, almost casually, say to Ahab: no rain unless I say so. That is why he could be so calm on Mount Carmel and even tease the prophets of Baal. He knew his word was infallibly true.

Have you ever had God to swear an oath to you? It may come with regard to an answer to prayer (1 John 5:15; Mark 11:22-24), to full assurance of salvation (Heb.11:22) or infallible understanding of what is true (Col.2:2).

Ask God to give you this. He did with Elijah – an ordinary man (Jas.5:17). Why not you?

RT

You can read much more about this in my New book: These are the days of Elijah available at a discount for this month.