Altar Repair

Happy Sunday. It's hard to believe that Easter is just two weeks away. If you're in the Atlanta area, I want to invite you to the sunrise service at Arlington Memorial Park. I have the great privilege to preach that morning at 6:30.

I hope to see you there. One of my favorite stories is found in the book of First Kings, chapter 18. Here we see one of God's most dramatic examples of visible power in all of scripture. He really shows off.

Before I get to the story, let me give you a little bit of background. The king who ruled Israel at the time was named Ahab. He married a woman named Jezebel. Together they were trouble.

They did not worship the God of Israel. In fact, they were very much against the God of Israel. Let me read to you the first mention we have of Ahab in scripture. It is found in chapter 16 of the book of First Kings.

I'll start at verse 29. There we're given a list of kings. And about Ahab, it says, "Ahab son of Omry began to rule over Israel in the 38th year of King Asa's reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria 22 years.

But Ahab, son of Omry, did what was evil in the Lord's sight, even more than any of the kings before him. And as though it were not enough to follow the sinful example of Jeroboam, he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbel of the Sidonians. And he began to bow down and worship Baal. First Ahab built a temple and an altar for Baal in Samaria.

And then he set up an Ashira pole, something like a totem pole. He did more to provoke the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than any of the other kings of Israel before him. As I said, Ahab was a bad man, not a good introduction, and his wife Jezebel was his equal. The good guy in the story is the great prophet of God, Elijah.

We first meet Elijah as chapter 17 begins and God lo uses Elijah to oppose Ahab and Jezebel and their wicked ways. Elijah relays a message from God to Ahab and he tells the king that there will be no rain or even any dew on the ground for the next several years. By the way, we're around the year 860 BC, give or take. As chapter 18 begins, a few years have passed from chapter 17.

No rain has fallen in about three years, and Elijah goes to Ahab and challenges him to a contest. Elijah dares King Ahab to bring the people of Israel to Mount Carmel to see a showdown between Elijah and his God against Ahab's priest dedicated to Baal. Ahab and Jezebel were worshippers of Baal, a false god of the Canaanites. As I said, they had 450 priests dedicated to Baal to lead Israel astray.

Let me read the rules of the contest, beginning at verse 23. Elijah said, "Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of the altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it."

and then call on the name of your God and I will call him the name of the Lord. The God who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God and the contest was agreed to. So as it happens, Elijah told the other side to go first. This would give him time to do the work he needed to do to prepare the bull for the sacrifice for the offering.

And the prophets of Baal, all 450 of them, did all they could do. They prepared the bull. They prepared the wood. They danced.

They prayed. They shouted. They even cut themselves, hoping that their own blood would prompt Baal to act. And as you can guess, nothing happened.

A god that does not exist cannot respond, no matter how deceived the followers may be. In verse 30, I'll begin reading about Elijah's turn. Then Elijah called to the people, all the people of Israel that were gathered there to witness this contest. Come over here.

And they all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. He took 12 stones, one to represent each of the 12 tribes of Israel. And he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold about three gallons.

He piled wood on the altar, cut the bull in pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood. Then he said, "Fill four large jars with water and pour the water over the offering and the wood." After they had done this, he said, "Do the same thing again." And when they had finished, he said, "Now do it a third time."

So they did as he said, and the water ran around the altar and even filled the trench. You can probably guess if you know the story, Elijah is a bit of a showman. Now remember, it hasn't rained for three years. Elijah wants to remove any doubt that the other side could raise that it was a spark that started the fire that was to come in these dry conditions.

And so he drenched everything with water. Oh, but the fire did come. Elijah prayed and God answered. We're told that the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, the dust, and it even licked up all the water in the trench.

We're told when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried, "The Lord, he is God." Yes, the Lord, he is God. If you have your Bible, you may want to go back and look at verse 30. This is a life-changing verse as we look towards revival in our lives.

Do you call recall what Elijah did before the fire came? Let me read verse 30. There it says, "Then Elijah called to the people, come over here. They all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down."

Elijah repaired the altar. Israel had long ignored this holy place. The altar represents the place of worship, a place to meet God. If we're to see God in great ways, we must repair the prayers, the prayer altars that God so desperately wants us to visit.

So, as we talk about revival, how's your prayer life? If you want to grow, your prayer life must grow. Pray with me. Father, through your spirit, convict us to pray the way we should.

And I know very few that do, including myself. Help us to recommmit ourselves to prayer for us, for our families, for the world around us, for our country, for our nation, for this world. Father, we've got so much to pray about. Help us to do it.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen. God bless. Have a great week.