The ministry of Elijah seems to fall into two categories. One ends under a juniper tree (or broom-tree), and the other begins there. The story of this change in Elijah’s ministry is recorded in I Kings 19. Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” I Kings 19:1, 2.
Jezebel was to receive exactly what she asked for at a later time. Elijah prophesied that she would die in such a way that people would not be able to say, “Here is Jezebel,” because her life would be like the fertilizer on the field.
Meanwhile, however, God had some things to teach Elijah. And he (Elijah) was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.” Verses 3, 4.
Elijah was not saying he expected to be much better than his fathers, but he felt that if he were really moving in God, the victories he wrought in God would have had more finality to them. He had killed four hundred fifty prophets of Baal; but instead of the victory being final, Jezebel was chasing him to kill him.
We, like Elijah, do not want merely one more victory; we want the final victory. On Mount Carmel, Elijah destroyed the prophets of Baal, but then he ran for his life from Jezebel. We too would like to see our victories a little more complete than that.
This episode in the life of Elijah is analogous to the way God’s prophets of fire in the end time will reach a place of such exhaustion that they will leap into the greater works. I Kings 18 records the total destruction of four hundred fifty prophets of Baal, so it would seem that the nineteenth chapter should begin with Elijah’s being on a high spiritual level. In a sense this is true, because in this episode, Elijah’s motivation and dedication reach a new plane.
Many times before God can bring us to a higher plane, He must dry up the lower plane. Elijah had had that experience by the brook Cherith. The ravens fed him, and the brook refreshed him while the rest of the world was in a famine. Everything was fine, until the brook dried up.
Many a man wonders why his brook has dried up, why he has reached the point of exhaustion, so tired that he cannot move. The Lord propels us from one glory to another; otherwise, we would be content to stay in one glory (if it never failed). We would stay on the same level and never draw any nearer to God. Therefore, it is necessary that God dry up the plane we are on, in order that we start seeking Him.
You may be seeking the Lord, and the Word may be alive to you when suddenly you reach an impasse. The Scriptures seem to be closed to you. You cannot pray or worship the Lord. That is the time to break through and seek God with all your heart. He has dried up the brook so that you can go on to a higher glory.
As the story in I Kings 19 opens, it is apparent that Elijah was discouraged and exhausted. This is not an indication that Elijah was a failure, although he interpreted it to be such; it is an indication that God had something better for him.
After this time of discouragement Elijah performed three important ministries: he anointed Hazael to be king of Syria, Jehu to be the king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat to be the prophet in his place. These three ministries that Elijah performed entered into a realm of ministry that he had not known before; they created ministries that wielded great power in their land.
And he lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat.” Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.” Verses 5–7.
These two meals give another implication of a double portion. The ones who enter the wedding feast are the virgins who have oil in their vessels and oil in their lamps—a double portion (Matthew 25:1–13). The ones who will press on to victory with God are not those who have remnants of an experience, which has already aged and grown dim in their awareness, but those with something that is fresh and alive—a double portion.
So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. Then he came there to a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” The Lord was not speaking about the geographic location; He was asking where Elijah was spiritually. He asked him what he was doing there.
Elijah understood the question. And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, torn down Thine altars and killed Thy prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” Verses 8–10.
We are positioned by our attitude towards God. We are either close to the Lord or afar off, according to the attitude we have towards Him. He wants us to draw nigh to Him (James 4:8). God is closer than our breath, but we can remain far from Him in our attitude. We must learn to practice His presence by our openness to Him.
So He said, “Go forth, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. God caused those events, but He was not in them. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. And it came about when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Verses 11–13.
First came the acts of God without a revelation of God in them. God was not in them. In this day, many things will happen in the earth which will be caused by God, but there will not necessarily be a revelation of God in them. There will be acts of judgment, but God will not reveal Himself to those being judged. In this day God is speaking. While all the things He speaks take place, He will cause something to happen in which He will be revealed to you.
“What are you doing here, Elijah?” Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, torn down Thine altars and killed Thy prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” He repeated the same answer. And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Syria; and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. Then God tells him he is not alone in his devotion to Him. “Yet I will leave 7000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.” Verses 13–16, 18.
From that time Elijah moved into the most fruitful time of his ministry. It was not the performance of miracles by himself, but the creation of ministries who would perform God’s judgments. There is nothing greater for a man of God than to reach that level of dedication where it is not important to do the deed himself, but to create men who will do it.
As for Jezebel, who in her arrogance set about to kill Elijah, her judgment was drastic and complete. It came at the hands of Jehu, one of the ministries brought forth by Elijah in his greater ministry. When Jehu came to the palace, Jezebel adorned her eyes and her face and looked out a window. Jehu commanded that she be thrown down; and when she fell, her blood sprinkled on the wall. Jehu finally decided that since she was the daughter of a king, she should have a decent burial; but all that could be found of her was her skull and hands and feet. The dogs had eaten her. Elijah had prophesied she would be as the fertilizer in the field (II Kings 9:30–37). The dogs ate her body, and it was the refuse from the dogs in the street which was put on the field for fertilizer. God has a way of bringing an end to those who oppose His word.
This gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached to the ends of the world. There will be apostolic companies carrying it, and there will be schools of prophets feeding the apostolic companies.
A big auditorium with large crowds is not important. Bringing forth dedicated prophets and ministering to faithful ministries, who have the call of God upon them and the consecration to prepare for this end-time ministry, brings contentment to a shepherd’s heart.
I Kings 19 ends with the calling of Elisha. Elijah threw his mantle around him, and Elisha said, …“Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen (with which he had been plowing) and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements (which would have been wooden) of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him. Verses 20, 21. It was a farewell feast. We too must say a final farewell to all other interests and determine to go all the way with the Lord, on into all His fullness.