Prophets in the Bible

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God’s Word came to Elijah!  

The Word of God made him go back to the nation of Israel to deliver a message to King Ahab. We read the message in 1 Kings 17:1

1 Kings 17:1: Elijah Proclaims a Drought to the king Ahab … “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”

This is tremendous! Elijah did not return to Israel on his own accord. He did not proclaim the judgment of God on his own. He went back because God had sent him back.

He was willing to sacrifice his life by going back to face King Ahab, because a prophet of God had no consideration for his own life. A prophet of God was one who obeyed God to the uttermost. If God said go, he went. If God said, “Hide,” he hid. There was absolutely no self-consideration in this man Elijah.

He prayed until God’s mind was revealed to him.

And when God’s mind was revealed to him, he did not hesitate to declare it. He was sent by God to declare judgment upon the nation of Israel in his time.

How did he do it? He went back and said to Ahab, “as Jehovah the God of Israel lives.”—”Though you, King Ahab, did not recognize Jehovah, though the whole nation of Israel did not acknowledge Him, Jehovah is still the God of Israel.”

Now that is faith. It was not because of the circumstances, or change of situation, that the mind of God had changed—not at all. Israel might rebel against God, but God was still the God of Israel. And Elijah stood firm on that ground. He did not give in an inch.

This is not an easy thing to do. How often we are governed by what we see. How often we are influenced by our circumstances!

The reason is that we do not see God. If we see God, then no matter how the circumstances may change, no matter what else happens, God remains the same, yesterday, today, and forever. That is the truth.

When Elijah went back, he did not give in to King Ahab even an inch. He told Ahab, “Jehovah is the God of Israel, and Jehovah the God of Israel lives. He has not died. He is still living.”

Elijah knew out of his personal experience that God still lives. This was not just a bookish knowledge to Elijah. Elijah had a hidden life with God. He had a prayer life with God. And in that hidden life of prayer with God, he knew that God lived.

God spoke to him, and God revealed His mind to him. God sent him out on a mission. When he declared to King Ahab “as Jehovah the God of Israel lives,” he was saying, “Do you think God has died? He hasn’t died. He lives! He hasn’t changed a bit.”

Elijah was a true servant of God because he stood before the presence of God. We cannot stand if we haven’t first sat. We have to sit before God first, and then we will be able to stand before God. To sit before God, is to commune with God. After we commune with God, we are able to stand before Him, to wait upon Him, and to serve Him.

The problem today is that we do not sit, neither do we stand. We just run. We think that we are doing God’s service, and in doing God’s service, we run here and there. And we run all over without really knowing what is in the mind of God. Where does God want to send us? And what does He want us to do? We have no knowledge whatsoever.

A true servant first sits before God. And then, stands before God, waiting upon the Lord. Since Elijah waited upon the Lord, the Lord’s command came to him. He wouldn’t move until God gave the Word. That is a nature of the true servant of God.

Today, we live in a generation of greater privilege and better understanding as Jesus showed us the way and is the express image of Father (Hebrews 1:3).

We can choose to exhibit our true nature as God’s children by carrying Jesus heart and manifesting his heart in our immediate surroundings and to the world at large.

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Elijah! The very name Elijah is a testimony in its meaning. Elijah means “my God is Jah” or “whose God is Jehovah.” Jehovah is the name of God in covenant with His redeemed people.

Redeemed People: God’s heart is for all people, He loves the whole world and people in it. He has redeemed all mankind in His love. These Prophets of Old Testament times dealt particularly with a nation of Israel

 When Moses was in the wilderness, God appeared to him and sent him back to Egypt to deliver his own people. Moses asked, “What is your name?” and God said, “I Am That I AM”—I AM, Jehovah.

Elijah is the memorable name, a covenanted name with His redeemed people. At the time of Elijah, the whole nation of Israel had turned away from Jehovah their God. And yet Elijah’s very name meant that Jehovah was his God. You can understand the difficulty that Elijah must have been in. He was alone, as it were, among the multitudes. Among the people of Israel, he was the only one who stood up and declared that Jehovah was God—even with his very name.

He was not in any sense a hidden believer. He was very open. In his name, he declared that there is no one who is like Jehovah, full of mercy and love. Jehovah is God, and God is Jehovah. That was Elijah. Elijah – The Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead. He is called “Elijah the Tishbite.” We know Tishbe was in upper Galilee, so he was born and reared in the nation of Israel. He was under the dominion of King Ahab. He is also “of the inhabitants of Gilead.”

This means he was a native Tishbite, yet he dwelt among the inhabitants of Gilead. If you study geography, you will find that Gilead is on the eastern side of the River Jordan. It was not under the dominion of King Ahab. Why would he live there? It must be that his public testimony was such that he couldn’t live in his native land. He had to flee for his life, so he crossed the River Jordan and dwelt among the inhabitants of Gilead.

He was an exile for the sake of Jehovah, the God of Israel. We do not know how many years he spent among the inhabitants of Gilead. But one thing we are sure of—though he had escaped to the eastern shore of the River Jordan, he had not forsaken his own people. It must have been that during the time of his hidden life in Gilead, he gave himself to prayer.

Elijah, a man of prayer

We know that Elijah was a man of prayer. The reference to his prayer life is not only from the Old Testament but even from the New Testament. The fervent supplication of the righteous man has much power. [Elijah]  was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed with prayer that it should not rain; and it did not rain upon the earth three years and six months; and again he prayed, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth caused its fruit to spring forth (James 5:16b-18).

Elijah prayed, and God did this, and Elijah prayed again, and God did that. Elijah was a man of prayer. Now to be a man of prayer does not happen by accident. To be a man of prayer comes by practice. We often say the best way to know how to pray is to pray. There is no other shortcut, no other secret. If you want to be a man of prayer, what you need to do is to pray and pray and pray. And certainly, Elijah was such a person. Though he was not able to remain in his native land—to testify to all the people, including the king and testify to the fact that Jehovah is God who is full of full of love and mercy —yet in exile, he was still standing on that ground. He did not give up that ground.

He was still praying and standing before God and his own people. How did he do it? He did it by prayer. Through Prophet Elijah we can learn that prayer accomplishes more than just preaching/words.

Elijah, as it were, was silent—because he fled. And yet, he prayed. We do not know how long he prayed. He must love his own people dearly. He must love God dearly. He was zealous for the honor of God (see I Kings 19:10). He was jealous with the jealousy of God for his own people. And having such a spirit, he could only discharge it in prayer.

He prayed and prayed and prayed until the word of God came to him. The word of Jehovah came to him; He went back because God had sent him back. He was willing to sacrifice his life by going back to face King Ahab because a prophet of God had no consideration of himself. A prophet of God was one who obeyed God to the uttermost. If God said go, he went. If God said, “Hide,” he hid. There was absolutely no self in this man Elijah. He prayed until God’s mind was revealed to him.

Prophet Elijah under Old covenant prayed and could operate in such power. How much more now we, under New Covenant who have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and Holy Spirit living within us (1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 John 2:27, Romans 8:11, 2 Timothy 1:14 and many more scriptures point us to the reality of this truth) are at greater advantage of manifestation of God’s love, glory and power to be displayed in and through our lives.