Fire from Heaven

December 15

Ornament

Altar with fire

Family Fit

For younger children or those with shorter attention spans, read only the text printed in bold.

Song Suggestion

Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light

Scripture

When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you—you who are causing trouble for Israel?”

“I’m not causing trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “It’s you and your father’s family! You have rejected the Lord’s commands and are worshipping the Baals. Now call together all of Israel and meet me on Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who are supported by Jezebel.”

So Ahab summoned all of Israel and also gathered the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah approached the people and asked them, “How long will you hobble along, hesitating between two opposite beliefs? If the Lord is God, then follow him. But if Baal is God, then follow him.” But the people didn’t answer.

Then Elijah told them, “I am the only one left of the Lord’s prophets—just me alone—but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Provide us with two bulls. Let the prophets of Baal choose for themselves the one they want, and have them cut it into pieces and place it on the firewood. But don’t set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and place it on the firewood but I won’t set fire to it. Then you call on your god by name, and I will call on the Lord by name. The god who replies by sending fire—he is God.”

Then all the people said, “We agree to what you say.”

At the time of the evening sacrifice, the prophet Elijah went over to the altar and prayed: “Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, demonstrate today that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that everything I have done has been at your command. Answer me, Lord! Answer me, so that these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are bringing them back to you.”

Then the fire of the Lord came down and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil—it even licked up the water in the ditch! When all the people saw this, they fell facedown on the ground and shouted, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!”

1 Kings 18:17-24, 36-39 FBV

The Big Idea

God is real and powerful.

Reading

Standing before Ahab, Elijah demanded that all Israel be assembled to meet him and the prophets of Baal and Ashtorethon Mount Carmel. Early on the morning of the day appointed, the hosts of apostate Israel, in eager expectancy, gather near the top of the mountain. … Facing King Ahab and the false prophets, and surrounded by the assembled hosts of Israel, Elijah stands, the only one who has appeared to vindicate the honor of [God]. But Elijah is not alone. Above and around him are the protecting hosts of heaven, angels that excel in strength.

Unashamed, unterrified, the prophet stands before the multitude, fully aware of his commission to execute the divine command. In anxious expectancy the people wait for him to speak. Elijah cries out in clear, trumpetlike tones, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.”

The people answer him not a word. Not one in that vast assembly dare reveal loyalty to [God]. Not all at once had this fatal apostasy closed about them, but gradually, as from time to time they had failed to heed the words of warning and reproof that the Lord sent them. Each departure from rightdoing, each refusal to repent, had deepened their guilt and driven them farther from Heaven. And now, in this crisis, they persisted in refusing to take their stand for God.

While Israel on Carmel doubt and hesitate, the voice of Elijah again breaks the silence. The proposal of Elijah is so reasonable that the people cannot well evade it, so they find courage to answer, “It is well spoken.” … Outwardly bold and defiant, but with terror in their guilty hearts, the false priests prepare their altar, laying on the wood and the victim; and then they begin their incantations. Their shrill cries echo and re-echo through the forests and the surrounding heights, as they call on the name of their god, saying, “O Baal, hear us.” The priests gather about their altar, and with leaping and writhing and screaming, with tearing of hair and cutting of flesh, they beseech their god to help them.

The morning passes, noon comes, and yet there is no evidence that Baal hears the cries of his deluded followers. There is no voice, no reply to their frantic prayers. The sacrifice remains unconsumed.

Evening draws on. The prophets of Baal are weary, faint, confused. One suggests one thing, and another something else, until finally they cease their efforts. Their shrieks and curses no longer resound over Carmel. In despair they retire from the contest.

All day long the people have witnessed the demonstrations of the baffled priests. They have beheld their wild leaping round the altar, as if they would grasp the burning rays of the sun to serve their purpose. They have looked with horror on the frightful, self-inflicted mutilations of the priests, and have had opportunity to reflect on the follies of idol worship. Many now await with deepest interest the movements of Elijah.

It is the hour of the evening sacrifice, and Elijah bids the people, “Come near unto me.” As they tremblingly draw near, he turns to the broken-down altar where once men worshiped the God of heaven, and repairs it. … The calm demeanor of the prophet stands out in sharp contrast with the fanatical, senseless frenzy of the followers of Baal.

The altar completed, the prophet makes a trench about it, and, having put the wood in order and prepared the bullock, he lays the victim on the altar and commands the people to flood the sacrifice and the altar with water.

Elijah calls upon [the people] to humble their hearts and turn to the God of their fathers, that the curse upon the land of Israel may be removed. Then, bowing reverently before the unseen God, he raises his hands toward heaven and offers a simple prayer. He prays as if he knows [God] is there, a witness to the scene, a listener to his appeal. The prophets of Baal have prayed wildly, incoherently. Elijah prays simply and fervently, asking God to show His superiority over Baal, that Israel may be led to turn to Him.

No sooner is the prayer of Elijah ended than flames of fire, like brilliant flashes of lightning, descend from heaven upon the upreared altar, consuming the sacrifice, licking up the water in the trench, and consuming even the stones of the altar.

The people on the mount prostrate themselves in awe before the unseen God. They dare not continue to look upon the Heaven-sent fire. They fear that they themselves will be consumed; and, convicted of their duty to acknowledge the God of Elijah as the God of their fathers, to whom they owe allegiance, they cry out together as with one voice, “The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God.” With startling distinctness the cry resounds over the mountain and echoes in the plain below.

At last Israel is aroused, undeceived, penitent. The character of Baal worship, in contrast with the reasonable service required by the true God, stands fully revealed. The people recognize God’s justice and mercy. They are ready now to admit that the God of Elijah is above every idol.

Adapted from Prophets & Kings by Ellen G. White, chapter 11