Bible Studies
My God Is the Lord (1 Kings 16:29-30)
Series: Studies in First KingsIntroduction:
1. “Eliyahu” is the Hebrew word for Elijah’s name. It means, “the LORD is God.” 2. But Ahab walked in the sins of Jeroboam. He promoted idolatry. And if that were not enough he married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. He erected an altar to Baal and built a house for Baal in Samaria. He made the Asherah, the wooden symbol of a female deity. 3. The narrator says, “Thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” 4. Who IS God? Is it Baal or the Lord? The narrator of First Kings presents the evidence.Discussion:
I. The Lord is God because He prophesies.A. He is there and He is not silent! This is a theme already evidenced in First Kings.
1. Ahijah had delivered a message from the Lord predicting the end of Jeroboam’s dynasty (1 Kings 14:10-11, 14-16).
2. Jehu had delivered a message from the Lord predicting the end of Baasha’s dynasty (16:1-4, 6-7).
3. In each case the narrator carefully records the prediction and its fulfillment (15:29; 16:11).
B. These predictions stand in contrast to the predictions made concerning David’s household. He would never lack a man to sit on his throne (2 Sam. 7:11-17). His dynasty was continuing just as the prophecies had said. The dynasties in the north were continually changing. Just as the prophecies had said.
C. The narrator is very careful to observe yet another prophecy that should have convinced Ahab that the Lord is God (1 Kings 16:34).
1. In Ahab’s day Hiel had built Jericho.
2. He laid its foundations with the loss of his son Abiram.
3. He set up its gates with the loss of his son Segub.
4. Joshua had predicted these events, by the word of the Lord (Josh. 6:26), some 500 years before.
D. Prophecy is the ultimate evidences of God’s reliability and insight.
1. He only stands above time.
2. He only can predict the future.
E. There are those today who work to undermine the credibility of Scripture.
1. They deny that it is the word of God.
2. They claim that it is merely the word of man.
3. Predictive elements are denied.
4. The authority of God is discredited and men do whatever is right in their own eyes.
5. Do you believe in the authoritative nature of the Bible? Do you believe that God is there and is not silent?
F. By the word of the Lord Elijah predicted a drought (17:1).
1. He spoke directly to Ahab.
2. We might reason that Ahab might have been unaware of these other prophecies, but now Ahab is face to face with the message of God.
G. Elijah trusted in the word of the Lord.
1. To be provided for by ravens (17:2-6).
2. To be provided for by a widow (8ff).
H. This widow trusted the word of the Lord.
1. She was a Sidonian. She acknowledged the Lord as God (v .12).Remember Jezebel was a Sidonian.
2. She is a widow. Widows were known for poverty.
3. As Elijah stands in contrast to Ahab so the widow stands in contrast to Jezebel.
II. The Lord is God because He performs miracles to sustain and give life.A. God performed miracles to sustain Elijah and the widow.
1. Baal was supposed to sustain life. As the storm god he was supposed to be in control of the rain and thus agricultural prosperity.
2. But God sustained Elijah and the widow by miraculous means.
B. The widow’s son died.
1. Seems an odd circumstance if God is providing for them.
2. God miraculously raised him from the dead as evidence of His power to give life.
3. The widow’s conclusion: “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth” (v. 24).
C. But people today deny God’s provision.
1. Refuse to acknowledge God. Refuse to give thanks.
2. Their conclusion, “I provide for myself.” “I am provided for by nature.” “There are no miracles and no resurrection.” Do you serve the god of self, the gods of nature?
3. God says, “I give you rains and fruitful seasons” (Acts 14:17).
4. God says, “In Me you live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28).
D. What do you believe?
III. The Lord is God because He controls the weather.A. Jesus said, “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45).
B. Elijah has predicted a drought.
1. The objective—to bring men to repentance.
2. Baal was recognized as the storm god. He is often depicted as holding a bolt of lighting in his hand.
3. In the ancient world in the heavily agricultural region of Israel survival depended on the presence or absence of rain.
C. Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to make a determination once and for all who actually was God (1 Kings 18).
1. Each was to prepare a sacrifice and the God who answered by fire He is God.
2. The prophets of Baal prepared their sacrifice and called upon their god to answer. But there was no answer.
3. Elijah prepared his sacrifice. He doused it with water multiple times.
4. Then prayed (1 Kings 18:36-37). Note the emphasis on having done these things “at Your word.”
5. “The fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.”
6. Elijah slew the prophets of Baal at the brook Kishon.
7. Again Elijah prayed. He prayed on the top of Carmel and the Lord sent rain.
D. Do you believe that God is in control of the weather? Or do you believe that the weather is the result of merely naturalistic forces at work? Do you pretend a belief in God while believing that the weather is merely naturalistic forces at work?
Conclusion:
1. This account presents us with the phenomenal challenge. Do you really believe that God is there and that He is not silent? 2. Do you really believe that God communicates? 3. Do you believe that He sustains life and raises the dead? 4. Do you believe that He controls the natural forces of this existence? 5. Or is it all just “make believe” with you? Are you just “willingly suspending” your disbelief?
