Elijah had witnessed the good confession before 1-,the wicked king, the false prophets and the idolatrous nation; now he is called to face the opposition of a very different character, that of the wicked Jezebel. The king was selfish and indolent, seeking only the gratification of his lusts and pleasures and quite indifferent to religion. Jezebel, on the contrary, was a woman of intense energy, a religious fanatic, pursuing idolatry with untiring zeal, protecting the priests of Baal, and persecuting the servants of the Lord. In order to attain her religious ends she sought to wield the secular and regal power of her weak husband.
For this reason Jezebel is used by the Spirit of God as the impersonation of a corrupt religious system, energized by Satan, pursuing its way with intense and persistent zeal, always persecuting or endeavoring to seduce the servants of God, and seeking to wield the secular power for its own ends. And just as Jezebel sought to gratify the whims and lusts of Ahab in order to bring him completely under her power, so the papal system, for which Jezebel stands, has sought throughout the centuries to gratify the lusts of kings and statesmen, as well as the mass of men, pandering to their avarice, vanity, and pride, in order to bring both States and individuals under its power. Just as the alliance of Ahab with this wicked woman wrought such trouble in Israel, so, too, the union of Church and State has wrought ruin in that which professes to be the Church of God on earth today (Rev. 2:20-2320Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 21And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 22Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:20‑23)).
It was the persecuting zeal of this terrible woman, that Elijah had now to meet. His courage failed before the threat of her vengeance, and he fled for his life. Passing through the land of Judah he came to Beersheba, in the extreme south, on the edge of the wilderness. Hitherto he had moved at the word of the Lord, as indeed he could say on Mount Carmel, " I have done all these things at Thy word." On this journey, however, he was moved by no directing word from the Lord, but rather by a threatening word from a woman. For the moment Elijah had allowed the wicked and powerful Jezebel to come between himself and God. Thus it comes to pass that the man who had stood for God before the king, the false prophet and all Israel, now flees before the threat of a woman. Truly James may say he was a man of like passions with ourselves. In all this Elijah is not thinking of God, or the people of God, but simply of himself. God had led Elijah into the place of public testimony, but for the moment his faith quailed before the opposition that the place entailed. He abandons the path of faith and walks by sight. We read, " When he saw that, he arose, and went for his life." Hitherto Elijah had been sustained in the great dramas in which he had taken part, by faith's clear vision of the living God, but under this fresh trial his failing faith loses sight of the living God and he sees only a violent woman. In the presence of her murderous threat, the God that had led and preserved him, the meal that never wasted, the oil that never failed, the power of God that had raised the dead, that brought down the fire from heaven, and that sent the rain, entirely pass from his mind. All is in a moment forgotten, and the prophet can only see an enraged woman and the immediate prospect of a violent death. " And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life." Peter in his day, " when he saw the wind boisterous, was afraid," and began to sink. Walking by sight the greatest of the apostles sinks, and the greatest of prophets flees. Looking at things seen, the man of God is weaker than the man of the world. Only as we walk by faith that sees Him that is invisible, shall we endure amidst the increasing difficulties and the terrifying circumstances of the day in which we live.
" He went for his life." It was not for his God, or for the people of God, or for the testimony of God-but for his life he went. Having only himself in view he fled as far as possible from the place of testimony. He leaves the land of promise, turns his back on the people of God, and flees to Beersheba.
Alas! in the presence of a trial, how quickly we, too, can forget all that the Lord has been for us in the past. The way He has led us, the grace that has preserved us, the heart that has loved us, the hand that has held us, the word that has directed us, all are forgotten in the presence of a trial that is so very real to sight and sense. We see the trial, we lose sight of God. Instead of standing before the living God we flee before some passing trial. We seek to escape the trial, rather than seek the grace of God to sustain in the trial, and to learn God's mind through it.
Arrived at Beersheba, Elijah left his servant and went a day's journey into the wilderness. In this solitary place he betakes himself to prayer. But how different this prayer from his former requests. Before, he had prayed for the glory of God and the blessing of the nation; now " he requested for himself." And what a request! He cries out, " It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers." He has only himself before his eyes. His flight from Jezebel, and his prayer in the wilderness, are full of self. It is " his life " for which he fled, it is " himself " for whom he prays.
All this speaks of the intense despondency of the prophet. He had seen the magnificent display of the power of Jehovah on Mount Carmel, he had seen the people with their faces bowed to the earth owning " the Lord, He is the God." He had executed judgment on the prophets of Baal, he had seen the coming of the rain in answer to his prayer, and doubtless he had expected a great revival of the worship of Jehovah and blessing to Israel, through his ministry. Apparently it had all come to nothing. Elijah was not prepared for this. He had thought that he was better than his fathers, and that under his powerful ministry there would be a true and widespread turning to the Lord, but such was not the case. The years of famine, the destruction of the prophets of Baal, the rain from heaven, all appear to be in vain; so much in vain, indeed, that Elijah—the man that has stood for God—has to flee for his life. Poor Elijah, he could face the king, the prophets of Baal, and all Israel, but he was not prepared to face the failure of his mission. His supreme effort to recall the people to God had been in vain. There was nothing further to be done, his life was a failure. The happiest thing, therefore, would be to die. Thus might he find some rest from fruitless toil and hopeless conflict.
How good to turn from the servant to the perfect Master, and to see His infinite perfection shining out in the day of His rejection. After all His miracles of grace, His words of love, His acts of power, He is despised and rejected, called a gluttonous man and a winebibber, and counsel taken to kill Him. In that moment of utter rejection and the apparent failure of all His ministry, He turns to the Father and can say, " I thank thee, O Father... even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight."
Elijah did not die, and never has died. God had another plan for His beloved servant. It was no part of that plan to let His servant pass from this world a disappointed man, under a cloud of depression, dying in some lonely desert. His passage to heaven shall be very different. God's chariot is waiting God's due time to carry him to heaven with glory and honor. In the meantime he is the object of God's tender care. He giveth his beloved sleep; angels shall wait upon him; food shall be provided for him, and his thirst shall be quenched.
In the day of faith, the ravens can feed him, and the widow sustain him; in the day of his depression angels wait upon him and God Himself shall feed him. What a God we have to care for us. " His compassions fail not." " Though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies " (Lam. 3:22,3222It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (Lamentations 3:22)
32But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. (Lamentations 3:32)). And this was Elijah's experience; awakened by the angel " he looked and behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head." Moreover, Jehovah of Elijah's day is Jesus of the gospel day, and in like circumstances the wandering disciples may turn aside to fish all night and catch nothing, only to find in the morning the Lord of glory waiting on the needs of His failing servants with the fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, and bread, and a loving invitation to " come and dine."
Thus, too, it is with ourselves. Our faith may grow dim; we may be downcast by reason of the apparent failure of all our service, and in our moments of depression and disappointment we may lose heart and think bitter thoughts, pray unadvisedly, and even murmur at our hard lot, yet God's tender care never ceases; His mercies never fail. Well may we sing:
"O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall how kind Thou art,
How good to those who seek!"
Having refreshed His servant with sleep and food, the Lord gives him fresh directions. He learns that he is on a journey, but, says the Lord, " the journey is too great for thee." What a journey was Elijah's through this world. Cherith, Zarephath, Carmel, Horeb, mark the stages of his journey, and the chariot of fire is ready to end it in power and glory, but every stage was " too great " for Elijah. The power displayed, the courage demanded, the faith required, the opposition to be encountered, the privations to be endured—all were too great for a man of like passions with ourselves. If for one moment Elijah loses sight of the living God; if he fails to walk in daily dependence upon God, immediately he will find that he is no better than his fathers and that the journey is " too great " for him.
It is good for us, as Christians, when we see that our rest is not here. We, too, are on a journey that ends in glory, but a journey in which there are trials to meet, difficulties to overcome, testimony to be borne, and opposition to be faced. For ourselves, also, we may say the journey is " too great " and we are too small for the journey.
But if the journey was too great for Elijah, it was not too great for Elijah's God. In tender love God provides for the need of His servant; and " in the strength of that meat "—the meat that God had provided—he went on his journey of forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
With God all things are possible. As we view the greatness of the journey and our own littleness, we may well cry out, " Who is sufficient for these things?" But at once the answer comes, " My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." And so, if all the grace and power of the risen Christ are at our disposal we may well press on " STRONG IN THE GRACE THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS " (2 Tim. 2:11Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 2:1)).