I Kings 18:17&18 states, “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him. Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in 1864, penned the words to the hymn, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Eight years later it was set to music by Jean Baptiste Calkin. Verses 3 & 4 speak of the great spiritual battle: “And in despair I bowed my head. ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said, ‘For hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men.’ Then peeled the bells more loud and deep: ‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men.’”
Even though we know God is greater than Satan, there is a real spiritual battle we live with. Elijah was a powerful man of God. In I Kings 17:1, Elijah told Ahab that there would be no rain until he said there would be. This was a powerful statement because Baal worshipers believed that Baal was the giver of rain. Less than 50 miles from Mt. Carmel was Caesarea Phillippi, where the cave that fed the Jordan River, known as “the gates of hell,” drew worshipers of the fertility gods. They believed that this cave was a gate to the underworld, where their gods resided, and when enticed by lewd activities would come out and cause “rain.”
Elijah was declaring to Ahab that the God of Israel, and not Baal, would determine when the rain would fall. Three years later, God told Elijah to go face Ahab, because He was ready to send rain (I Kings 18:1). God is the creator and the controller or rain—always has been, still is, and always will be. In the beginning God watered the garden with a mist (Genesis 2:6), and a river (V. 10). At the time of the flood, He opened up the springs of the earth and the windows of Heaven (Genesis. 7:11). God has withheld rain to cause famines, and given rain for blessing.
In our text we see Ahab blaming Elijah, the man of God, for troubling Israel, when it is he and his house who have not obeyed God’s commandments. Today many people blame God for all the earthquakes, hurricanes, and the wicked things people do to each other. “If there is a God why does he let these things happen?” In Romans 1 we see the the downhill slide from knowing God (V. 21), to not wanting to know God (V. 28).
The same Satan who entered the snake in the garden, also entered Ahab’s evil heart. By the time of the flood it looked like he was winning. Today, violence seems to be taking over the world. Elijah was able to face Ahab because he knew God. Elijah’s name means “Yahweh is God.”
The rock by the “gates of hell” was a place where many false religions competed. It was on this rock that Jesus said He would build His church (Matthew 16:18). We need not fear THE SPIRITUAL BATTLE!
