Please note that this article is derived from a sermon series on 1 Kings given in Bermondsey Gospel Hall, the audio of which can be found here.
After all that has happened, will we still rely on what the Government says? That is the question many were asking this week. After two months of lockdown, it emerged that Dominic Cummings, chief advisor to the Prime Minister, may have broken the rules. Once the initial ‘should they/shouldn’t they’ sack him debate subsided, the question we were left with was this: if prominent and public figures, such as Dominic Cummings, ignore Government restrictions, will that undermine public trust to the point that everybody else does the same? If Boris’ words are defied by some, will they stop being relied upon by all? A similar question is posed by our passage. After all that has happened in 1 Kings so far, we are left asking: will we still rely on what God says?
Last week we were introduced the Age of Ahab. After recording the decline of David and slide of Solomon in 1 Kings 1-11, the author races through 60 years of chaos in 1 Kings 12-16 to the moment that Ahab is crowned King. The importance of his reign is clear, for it is the Age of Ahab which forms the central section of the book. What kind of period was it? What does the author draw to our attention when introducing it? We concluded that above all else, this period was characterised by open defiance of God’s word. Ahab, influenced by his infamous Sidonian wife Jezebel, fully embraces the worship of her Sidonian god Baal. Just as King Solomon built a house for God in Jerusalem, King Ahab constructs a house for Baal in Samaria. Yahweh has been replaced. There is a new king on the throne and a new god in the temple of Israel. And yet, another building is also referenced as a highlight. For, ‘In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho.’ (16:34) The great fortress city destroyed by Joshua had never been rebuilt. Joshua had warned against it in Joshua 6:26, "Cursed before the LORD be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.’ No one had ever dared to defy that word of God, until the Age of Ahab. By laying Jericho’s foundation and setting up its gates, Hiel declared God’s word was worthless, breaching it wasn’t a big deal. This is an age in which God’s word is openly defied.
Given all that has happened, can we still trust what God says? Prominent public figures, King Ahab, Queen Jezebel and Heil, are openly defying his word. After the failures of King David and King Solomon, 60 years of idolatry in Israel, we are left wondering where is God? Will he still work? The same questions prompted by 1 Kings 16 arise in our own age. Now it is secularism not Baalism, and yet it is idolatry none the less. We live in a world which takes little notice of what God says, which openly ignores and defies his warnings. Our colleagues at work, our friends and even family, look at what we do on Sunday mornings as nothing more than a peculiar hobby. Perhaps just a cultural or traditional habit. Why else would we spend an hour thinking over a piece of ancient history, like 1 Kings 17? What relevance is it likely to have for our lives? Does God’s word really make a difference? Does it still work? Can we rely on it? Trust in it? The questions posed by 1 Kings 16, are answered in 1 King 17. For here we see that God’s promises and purposes, his words, remain reliable.
We get a foretaste of this in the fulfilment of Joshua’s warning in 16:34. Hiel had two gravestones testifying that though God’s word can be defied, it cannot be defeated. 1 Kings 17 builds on this. It starts with the word of Elijah to Ahab in 17:1. This word of Elijah is actually building on the word of Solomon in 8:35, who spoke of a time when heaven would be shut up and there would be no rain because of Israel’s sin against the LORD. What made Solomon and Elijah so sure of this outcome? It was an earlier word of the LORD through Moses, who warned Israel when it entered into the covenant with God in Deuteronomy 11:16–17 to ‘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...’ The reliability of God’s word through Moses, Solomon and now Elijah is evident, the skies are shut as he warned.
However, God’s word in this passage isn’t limited to the words of Deuteronomy or Joshua. References to the word of the LORD continue beyond 17:1 and mean something broader: it is expression in words of God’s purpose or promise (Woodhouse). It is the word of the LORD that sends Elijah to Cherith to be provided for by the ravens (17:2,5). It is the word of the LORD that sends Elijah to Zarephath (17:8) and according to the same that the jar was not spent, or the jug emptied (17:14, 16). What is it that draws the whole chapter to a close, it is the conclusion of the widow (17:24), that ‘the word of the LORD in [Elijah’s] mouth is truth’? God’s word is true, it is reliable. In these three episodes, the ravens at Cherith, the widow at Zarephath and the son risen from the dead, we see illustrated for us three actions that we can rely on God’s word to accomplish. We can rely on God’s Word: (1) to sustain his servants, (2) to redeem the remote and (3) to overcome all obstacles.
1. TO SUSTAIN HIS SERVANTS – God will provide all we need to perform his purposes
‘You only won that because your mum is a teacher’, I said when confronting a classmate in Year 4. Though I no longer remember what Esther won, I do remember the burning sense of injustice that she appeared to receive preferential treatment. I also remember the sense of terror I had when Esther threatened to tell her mum. I have no doubt some of you have had similar experiences or suspicions. Preferential treatment occurs beyond primary school, with partiality in the workplace and favouritism in sport teams and social circles. Sometimes it is assumed that such favouritism exists in Christianity. As children of God, perhaps we expect to avoid afflictions and difficulties. The Bible repeatedly shows such a belief to be mistaken. Spurgeon, commenting on this text, points out that far from Elijah’s faithfulness meaning he avoided suffering, it actually brought him into it. It is because Elijah declares a drought on the nation, as a judgement from God, that he must pass through the same.
However, while we see God does not spare his servants from all suffering, we also see that he is able to sustain them in it. Elijah is called to go to a small brook called Cherith, where despite the drought, God will sustain his servant in a special way. There Elijah was able to drink from a seasonal stream and receive food from the unlikeliest of waiters. God said, ‘I have commanded the ravens to feed you there’ (17:4). Particularly surprising to a Jew, for ravens were declared to be unclean (Leviticus 11:15), it is surprising to any of us who have seen a raven, for they are scavenger birds, not typically known for sharing their meals! And yet, ‘Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening.’ (17:6) John Newton captures both the miracle that took place and its clear lesson when he wrote a hymn based on this passage: ‘More likely to rob than to feed, were ravens who live upon prey; But when the Lord's people have need, his goodness will find out a way. This instance to those may seem strange, who know not how faith can prevail; But sooner all nature shall change, than one of God's promises fail. How safe and how happy are they; who on the good Shepherd rely! He gives them out strength for their day, their wants he will surely supply. He ravens and lions can tame, all creatures obey his command; Then let me rejoice in his name, and leave all my cares in his hand.’
It is clear that God is able to sustain his servants. But how does this apply to us today? Are we to travel to Cherith to be fed by the ravens? Are each of us to expect to be saved like Elijah was? We must always take care when drawing lessons from the lives of God’s servants in the past. It is crucial that we remember this: we are not Elijah. Not only are we not Elijah, but most of the prophets in this period were not Elijah. For every Elijah sustained at Cherith, we find out in chapter 18 that there were hundreds of God’s faithful prophets who died at the command of Queen Jezebel. Elijah’s lot might have been protection and provision, but other prophets at that time felt the full weight of persecution. Elijah will later ascend into heaven in a chariot of fire, but other prophets took the more ordinary road: death. As Hebrews 11:36-37 tells us, ‘Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword.’ Even John the Baptist, the New Testament fulfilment of Elijah, was beheaded in his jail cell by a petty king. Yes God is able to sustain his servants, but we must admit he does not always choose to do so.
Ultimately this chapter is less about the sustaining of God’s servant and more about the performance of God’s purposes. This chapter is not about Elijah. That is why we get so few details when he is introduced. He seems to appear out of nowhere in 17:1 for the writer wants us to focus on the message, not the messenger. Far more important that the servant who was sent is the God who sent him. Why is it that Elijah received protection and provision, while the other prophets received persecution? Was it not because God still had a purpose for Elijah. This servant was sustained because he had yet to completed the work God sent him to do. Elijah was sent to both start and end the drought, and until he performed God’s purpose, he would remain. As George Whitfield famously explained, we are immortal until our work on earth is done. Picking up on how Paul comforts himself in his final days in 2 Timothy 4:7, the other prophets had fought their good fight, finished their race. In the words of Jesus, having been good and faithful servants in what they were given to do, they were now enabled to enter into the joy of their master. Elijah still had work to do, and until he succeeded God would sustain him.
Christian and church, as servants of God, we can be confident that we will be sustained until our work for God is done. Even if it takes a raven to feed us, if God has a work for us to do, he will sustain us until we can complete it. Do not doubt that God is able to sustain his servants, even when you see that he sometimes chooses not to do so. You will not die a moment too soon. You will not have less than what you need to be faithful to his calling. God will provide all we need to perform his purposes. And after we perform those purposes, we will enter into the joy of our master as surely as Elijah did, even if it is not via a chariot of fire.
2. TO REDEEM THE REMOTE – No one is too odd or obscure for God to save
This isn’t the first time Dominic Cummings has hit the news cycle. Back before coronavirus and his ill-fated trip to Durham, he extended an invitation for individuals to join Boris Johnston’s Downing Street team. What kind of people was he looking for to help Boris Johnston tackle the problems facing our country? Well, he appealed for applications from ‘Weirdos and misfits with odd skills.’ He not only wanted odd skillsets, but unordinary backgrounds. He explained, ‘I don’t want confident public school bluffers…We need some true wild cards, artists, people who never went to university and fought their way out of an appalling… hole.’ Odd people from obscure places, that’s who Dominic Cummings was looking for. That is also who Elijah was sent searching for. After the drought had dried up the stream, the word of the LORD came to Elijah and said ‘Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.’ (17:9) A widow in Zarephath, an odd person in an obscure place.
The importance of this search can be overlooked if we miss the context. We have already noted that the building of the house of Baal in Samaria was a stark contrast to house of God in Jerusalem. However, this was just the beginning of a kind of ‘god war’ between Baal and Yahweh, which ultimately ends in the contest at Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18. 1 Kings 17 itself is also a kind of contest. The followers of Baal, Ahab and Jezebel, had acted as if the LORD was dead. And so, in 17:1 we are told the LORD will demonstrate himself to be alive by withholding rain. This was a direct challenge to Baal, for Baal was the Sidonian storm god, a literal rain maker. Baal was the deity people prayed to when they needed rain for their land. The LORD was demonstrating that he ruled the skies. Elijah entering Zarephath actually takes this contest to a new level, for we are told Zarephath belongs to Sidon, the very kingdom which Baal came from. Just as Baal had invaded Israel, Yahweh was now invading Sidon. Elijah is sent into enemy territory. Baal’s stronghold was an obscure place for a prophet of Yahweh to receive supplies. But God shows the reliability of his word for providing for his prophet even there.
It’s not just an obscure place for such provision, but an odd person to provide it. A widow was as unlikely a waiter perhaps even as a raven. Given the extent of the drought, how likely was it that she would have significant supplies to spare? Not only a widow, but likely a widow who believed in Baal. In 17:12, though she acknowledges the existence of Yahweh, the widow refers to the LORD as Elijah’s God, not her own. And yet, as John Newton said, ‘sooner all nature shall change, than one of God's promises fail.’ We can rely on God’s word not just to change the nature of ravens or jars and jugs, but the very hearts of those who defy him. For in a perfect picture of what Christian faith is, the widow, facing certain death under God’s judgement, hears the promise of God’s word and relies on it. Her reliance in God’s word results in life, even when she faced certain death. An odd person, an obscure place, her faith shows we can rely on God to redeem the remote.
Martin lived in a monastery. After a near death experience, he had taken his vows in order to ensure that God’s anger against him was appeased. Now he was a teacher of the catholic faith, instructing others what works they could do to win their salvation. Clive was also a teacher, though certainly not in a monastery. Clive’s Oxford classroom was one where the existence of God was regarded in the same way as the medieval myths that were his area of expertise. Clive believed God was a myth believed by superstitious monks like Martin, not a mindset fit for the modern age. John hadn’t given much thought to the matter since childhood. John had just got a new job, he had lost his last one for disobedience and he hoped this new role on a different boat would result in a change of his fortunes. What did it matter that it involved transporting slaves across the Atlantic? The wages were sufficient to provide him with a little more luxury. Odd people in obscure places. Yet God redeems people like Martin Luther, C S Lewis and John Newton and uses them in amazing ways. Is it not clear that nobody is beyond the reach of God’s redeeming arm? If you are not a Christian, whoever you are, wherever you are from, whatever you have done, it doesn’t matter. Like the widow, you are faced with certain death, eternal judgement on account of your sins, life is available for you if you rely on God’s promise. The promise that ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’ (Romans 10:9). If you turn to and call to God for salvation, trusting in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, no matter how remote you are, you can rely on God to redeem you. No one is too odd or obscure for God to save. In fact, in an age where those we naturally expect to be more likely to receive the good news of the gospel reject it, God often redeems the remote. Jesus himself explained, when faced in Luke 4 with rejection by the ‘right’ sort of people, ‘there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah…and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon.’ No one is too odd or obscure for God to save. Do not doubt you can rely on God’s word to redeem the remote.
3. TO OVERCOME ALL OBSACTLES – We can overcome death through the actions of another
I wonder if you got a sense of déjà vu as we read chapter 17? As you entered this final section, did you notice that the same story seemed to play out again. God’s word told Elijah that he would sustain him at Cherith, Elijah obeyed and found God’s word to be true before circumstances changed, the brook ran dry, and we are left asking, is God’s word reliable? We got an affirmative answer when a word came to Elijah again, telling him to go to Zarephath where he would find a widow to sustain him, Elijah obeyed and found God’s word to be true before circumstances changed, the widow has no food, and we are left asking, is God’s word reliable? Another affirmative answer as God’s word comes, this time the widow obeys and finds God’s word to be true, the jar is not spent and the jug does not empty, but then circumstances change again, ‘the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.’ (17:17)
For the third time, we are left asking, is God’s word reliable? Will his care for the widow and her son through the jug and jar prove to be in vain? However, while the storyline is the same each time, the stakes rise with each occurrence. The first-time around, Elijah faced possible death during the drought. The second time around, the widow faced probable death, for she was about to serve their last meal. This third time, it is not just possible or probable death, for the son has died. Yes, we have seen God can sustain a life and save a life when facing death, but can he restore a life after death has come? Yes, God can avoid death in the drought and dearth, but can he reverse it? How reliable is God’s word? Can it overcome even this final obstacle?
We see a very similar scenario set up for us in Luke 7. The first account in that chapter is of a gentile centurion, who believes that Jesus is able to heal his servant even though, like the widow, he was at the point of death. ‘Say the word, and let my servant be healed.’ (Luke 7:7) We see that we can rely on the word of Jesus, to save someone at the point of death. But when Jesus appears at Nain, the funeral procession has already started. A widow’s son has already died and they are on their way to the grave. How can such an obstacle be overcome? Once death has come, what can be done? Just how great is Jesus’ authority?
Faced with such an obstacle in 1 Kings 17, Elijah takes the boy into his arms and carries him to his own chamber. The writer emphasises the identification of the boy with Elijah by this action, for he ‘carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed’. Elijah is literally putting this son in his own place. This emphasis is confirmed by Elijah’s extraordinary actions when ‘he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again."’ (17:21). Dale Ralph Davis comments that this is Elijah acting out his prayer, even as he was pleading for the boy’s life, his actions cried out ‘let this lifeless boy share in my life. ‘And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.’ (17:22) Resurrection as a result of substitution that reassures us of the reliability of God’s word. On returning downstairs with the resurrected son, Elijah said ‘"See, your son lives." And the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."’ (17:23–24) Even death cannot defeat God’s word.
An amazing story, yet eclipsed by what takes place in Nain. For what Elijah can only do through prayer; Jesus can simply declare. ‘"Young man, I say to you, arise." And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.’ (Luke 7:14–15) No wonder the crowd that day drew the conclusion that they did, for ‘they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us!" and "God has visited his people!"’ (Luke 7:16) In Jesus they had a prophet even greater than Elijah. Here was authority that had never been seen before. Here was one that could declare that death be reversed, and it was done. Resurrection, but as in Elijah’s story, it is not without substitution. For Jesus’ authority to reverse the effects of death, the rightful judgement of God for our sin, find its source in substitution. On the cross he stretched himself out in our place. As his mouth prayed to the Father for life to flow to us, his body carried out the action that made that possible.
Can we rely on the word of God even in the face of death? The story of Elijah demonstrates that we can rely on God’s word to overcome all obstacles. That we can overcome death through the actions of another. Not the actions of Elijah, but Jesus Christ. Further, just as the widow was reassured of the reliability of God’s word through the resurrection of her son, Jesus reassures us of its reliability through his own resurrection. For having stretched himself out in our place, he rose from the dead three days later just as he had said he would. Like the widow, when we see the Son alive, we know that the word of the LORD is truth. It is true. We can rely on it. For even death cannot defeat it. As Martin that monk wrote, ‘The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still.’
CONCLUSION
1 Kings 17 closes then with a demonstration that God’s word leads to life. What a contrast to how 1 Kings 16 closed, where God’s word lead to death. The widow received her son back from the dead, Hiel is left standing at two gravesides. What is the difference between the two results? What’s the difference experiencing death like Hiel or life like the widow? One defied God’s word, the other relied on it. If you are not a Christian this morning, that is you haven’t responded to the gospel, the word of God comes to you this morning. Jesus declared at the graveside of his soon to be resurrected friend Lazarus, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live…Do you believe this?’ (John 11:25–26) Will you defy it or rely on it? In a much greater way even than the widow, as you face certain death and judgement for defying the word of God, you are invited to give God everything you have for he can give you everything you need (Van’t Veer). 1 Kings 17 teaches us that in an age which defies God’s word, we can rely on it to sustain his servants, redeem the remote and overcome all obstacles. God will provide all we need to perform his purposes. No one is too odd or obscure for God to redeem. We can overcome death through the actions of another.
ALEXANDER ARRELL