A passion for the Lord cannot exist without a passion for His Word.
That was the hidden passion while Elijah was obscure before his confrontation with Ahab. Again, Elijah didn’t go to Ahab on his own accord with personal feelings; he went as led by the Spirit armed with the Word.
How so?
Notice Moses’ declaration to Israel in 1423 BC,
“Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the LORD’S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you” (Deuteronomy 11:16-17 KJV).
And then the words of Joshua about a year later,
“And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it” (Joshua 6:26 KJV).
Both saw fulfillment in Elijah’s day around 595[1] years later:
“We gather from the record that at the time Elijah faced Ahab with the news of God’s judgment, the drought had been on the land for some six months.”[2]
“And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun” (1 Kings 16:33-34 KJV).
I find the adage, “Familiarity breeds contempt,” applicable here. Years of disobedience with repentance occasionally salted in between ultimately made the Word of God of no effect. After all, Moses and Joshua’s pronouncements were nearly six centuries old.
However, Elijah also addressed the years when he stated, “As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand” (1 Kings 17:1). It was as if Elijah was saying. “It may seem, after 600 years, God has moved on, but He is alive, and I have been in His presence; His word, spoken then, is coming to pass now!”
Can we not see the parallel in An Elijah Day where the Word of God is made of no effect through the culture’s practice where the reality of Jesus has been dismissed, just as the Lord witnessed in His day when he said,
“[You are] Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye” (Mark 7:13 KJV).
How those obscure believers who now stand in His presence in prayer and who love His Word will become His visible vessels in an Elijah day!
Remember, the time is coming…sooner than we may think!
