1 kings 17 and 18

Read 1 Kings 17 and 18 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

1 Kin 17:1 {s} Elijah said to Ahab, There shall be no rain except at my word
1 Kin 17:2-7 {s} YHVH provided for Elijah supernaturally at the Brook Cherith until it dried up
1 Kin 17: 8-16 {p} YHVH sent Elijah to a widow of Zarephath who provided for him supernaturally
1 Kin 17:17-24 {p} When the widow’s son died, Elijah prayed for him, and God raised him back to life
1 Kin 18:1-14 {s} Elijah meets Obadiah, who hid the Lord’s prophets when Jezebel massacred them
1 Kin 18:15-19:14 {s} …

The strong themes:

1 Kin 16:29-17:16 {sx3+p} Ahab king over Israel, did great evil/ Elijah the prophet commands drought
1 Kin 17:17-24 {p} Elijah prayed for the widow’s son + God raised him back to life

The chiastic structure:

1a) 1 Kin 17:1-24 {s+s+sp+p} No rain except at Elijah’s word;

1b) 1 Kin 18:1-14 {s} Prophets of YHVH executed;

1c) 1 Kin 18:16-24, The God who answers by fire, He is God;

1d) 1 Kin 18:25-29, The vain supplication of the prophets of Baal;

central axis) 1 Kin 18:30-35, Elijah repaired the altar of the LORD + drenched it with water;

2d) 1 Kin 18:36-37, The effective supplication of Elijah the prophet of YHVH;

2c) 1 Kin 18:38-39, God answers by fire, the people declare He is God;

2b) 1 Kin 18:40, Prophets of Baal executed;

2a) 1 Kin 18:41-46, Rain at the word of Elijah.

What spoke to me today, is that when a man who was great in evil rose up to trouble Israel, as Ahab was great in evil, more than all who were on the throne before him, the Lord raised up a prophet, just as great in faith and in the Spirit of God to confront him and to restore the nation.

Elijah is the first prophet called since Moses (and Joshua), who performed supernatural signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God. Elijah appeared with Moses, in fact, when Jesus was transfigured on the mount (Mat 17:3). Jesus said of John the Baptist, that he was Elijah come (Mat 11:14), and that Elijah would come again before the end (Mat 17:11).

If John the Baptist was Elijah come, to prepare the way for the first advent of Messiah, then what was the ministry of the Spirit in which he walked? Like Elijah, he confronted the sin of the nation and called them to repentance. He immersed in water, just as Elijah drenched the bull on the altar. The ministry of the Spirit is to convict concerning sin and righteousness (Joh 16:8).

I believe that conviction concerning sin and righteousness will happen and is happening now before the second advent of Messiah. The Spirit of God is calling those who have ears to hear, to repent of lawlessness and to return to the LORD and His ways. The prophecy of Elijah, then, is that it is the Spirit who calls forth repentance from lawlessness:

I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Eze 36:27

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Mat 7:21-23

Also the Spirit of God is characterized by supernatural signs and wonders, and it is prophesied that in the latter days, the LORD would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, with supernatural signs and wonders following (Joe 2:28, Luk 3:16, Mar 16:17-18, Act 2).

We can expect to see a great move of the Spirit accompanying believers who embrace obedience to Torah then, characterized by prophecies, visions, dreams, and signs and wonders following. Traditionally the two camps of believers, of the Word/ Torah, and the Spirit, have been separate, but God is calling them to unite. He is calling the obedient to embrace the gifts of the Spirit if they have formerly disavowed them, and He is calling the Spirit- filled to walk in obedience to His ways expressed by the commandments of Torah, if they have formerly disavowed them. For the Law and the Spirit are one as God is one; His Law was breathed forth by His Spirit (2 Tim 3:16-17); and when both the Law (Moses) and the Spirit (Elijah) are present in His body, then Yeshua our Messiah will be revealed in the glory of His kingdom!