Between Glory and Ashes 3: Authorized Fire vs. Zeal - Episode 155

Carey Griffel: Welcome to Genesis Marks the Spot where we raid the ivory tower of biblical theology without ransacking our faith. My name is Carey Griffel, and I bet that you were thinking that we were gonna dig into Exodus and Leviticus in our fire series today. But actually I think we're gonna kind of skip them.

[00:00:30] Not that they're unimportant or that they don't have anything to do with the fire series, but because I have a lot of things to cover and basically everything that we're gonna be talking about in the fire series is centered in Exodus and Leviticus.

[00:00:49] So my approach is going to be to show it outside of those places so that when you go back and read Exodus and you read Leviticus, you will have the overall context. Not that we're reading later texts into earlier texts, because we don't wanna do that, remember. But the theme of fire and the theme of glory and the theme of worship and all of the things that are wrapped up in those are centered in Exodus and Leviticus, and they move forward from there. And nothing that we see later is going to contradict anything that we see in Exodus and Leviticus. So just know that everything we're doing here is read from the frame of the core of the Torah.

[00:01:37] But like I said, we have way too many topics and ideas and various frames to cover in the theme of fire and the theme of glory and the theme of holiness and all of that is connected to the idea of purity and ritual. So because we have too much to cover, we're gonna go ahead and expand our view.

[00:02:02] So today we're gonna talk about Elijah and the ethics of power. Now remember, because God is a consuming fire, and with that we're thinking jealous love, then his presence will guard, guide, purify, empower, or expose, depending on our posture and what God is calling us to do in the moment.

[00:02:30] So today is going to be very heavily in the context of the divine council worldview, but we're also gonna talk about how prophets prosecute lawsuits. That's right. A prophet serves as a kind of a lawyer.

[00:02:48] We're gonna talk about Mount Carmel and how that functions as evidence of the lawsuit that Elijah is bringing.

[00:02:57] Now, this is one of those passages that it's really easy to read it in isolation, and we don't wanna do that. We wanna be really careful not to read it in isolation from the rest of the story. Although I understand it's a really interesting, kind of a funny story and it really does highlight this reality and this concept of the divine council worldview.

[00:03:22] So we'll be talking about that, but we're gonna situate it in the context because have you noticed, when you're reading this section of scripture. Do you notice that we have this really big showy thing that happens, and yet when it comes to the impact on the people, it almost seems like nothing actually happened.

[00:03:48] How is that possible? Well, we're gonna talk about that today and we're gonna see why and how that would happen, and there's quite a few layers to uncover regarding that topic, but we're definitely going to be seating this right inside All of the other fire frames that we've talked about. The love that God has for his people is one that is jealous and that jealousy is not just an emotional reaction that God has. It's not just because God wants all of the glory for himself, but really this is in the setting of covenant fidelity that protects the relationship and the people in the relationship.

[00:04:32] So it's not about God showing his temper or anything like that. There's a much bigger picture that we need to see here, and that's why I'm going to bring in the concept of the prophetic lawsuit. This is God's covenant case enacted in public.

[00:04:49] So we're gonna see charges made. We're gonna see proof and evidence given, we're gonna see a verdict, and we're gonna see consequences that arise from this lawsuit.

[00:05:02] Within the concept of covenant fidelity as well as prophetic lawsuit, we wanna keep the idea in our minds of God's holiness, his otherness, and how you are going to gain access to God, just as we might expect in a royal household, there are some house rules that are associated with coming near to God.

[00:05:26] And all of this is gonna matter for us because we kind of need to recalibrate our expectations, sometimes. I think that there is a little bit of a strain in culture or apologetics, and sometimes this comes from atheists or agnostics, where we kind of expect God to act in really big ways so that everyone understands who he is.

[00:05:54] Well, we're gonna see that that really doesn't work It didn't work in the ancient world. It doesn't work today. Not to say that it can't work, that people don't come to God because of big spectacle. That does happen from time to time, but something big that happens is not going to convince everyone to go and follow God.

[00:06:19] Remember, it's not just about people believing that God exists. It's about people following God.

[00:06:29] So we're gonna talk about a few different passages today, and I want you to look for four separate points in each of these passages. First of all, there's an initial claim being made. Something like idolatry, arrogance, rejecting God, something like that.

[00:06:49] Then there's evidence. There's gonna be some sort of proof .

[00:06:54] There's going be a verdict that follows from the evidence.

[00:06:58] And there's going to be a sentence or a consequence that follows.

[00:07:03] Remember, just because God might show his power, that doesn't mean that everything or everyone will change.

[00:07:14] There's another thing that passages like this that we're gonna look at today can sometimes mean for people. And in that I'm talking about what we might see as righteous zeal or something like that. Like look, God judges people and so that gives us the ability or the right to call down fire upon our enemies as well. Well we're see a little bit of restraint that needs to happen in that.

[00:07:45] All right, so let's set up our story here for a second. Talking about Mount Carmel. Mount. Carmel is in northern Israel. This is Ahab's realm. It's right at the edge of Samaria. It's a little bit close to Galilee. So this is a natural stage for the kind of thing we're gonna see in the passage, because we have Elijah who's going to be calling upon Yahweh, of course, and this is in a battle with Baal. Baal comes from the north. So it's kind of a pivotal location.

[00:08:22] So we have Mount Carmel and here this is Israel's Northern frontier. If you're standing on the mountain, you might be staring toward Phonecia, which is Baal's heartland. But you turn the other way and you see into the core of Israel. So this is a really good place to declare in public view, which storm fire rules the land.

[00:08:49] Now to remind everybody about the divine council worldview and how God allots the nations under different lower elohim. These are the national gods that Israel was surrounded by. These were deities that the people were actively worshiping and actively worshiping alongside Yahweh in a type of synchronistic worship.

[00:09:13] In Deuteronomy, God sets Israel's life with him under a covenant charter that makes the land itself responsive to their loyalty. The terms are plain. If Israel loves Yahweh and keeps his commandments, then the heavens will open and rain will come in its proper season and the land will be fertile.

[00:09:38] This isn't a prosperity gospel. This is just the way they were thinking of in terms of covenant blessings and covenant curse. So if and when they turn to other gods, the same heavens will shut. The skies will be like bronze. The earth will be like iron. They will experience drought and blight. So then we come to Elijah, and this is why he can declare drought and pray for rain, and that is in alignment with God's covenant as we'll see.

[00:10:15] Okay, I'm not gonna read all of One Kings 18, but I'll give you an overview of what is happening in this chapter.

[00:10:23] So Elijah is the prophet of God and Ahab is the king of Israel. In verse one, God tells Elijah to go show yourself to Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth. So Elijah goes, has an audience with Ahab and there's a famine. Now, Ahab had a wife. She is seen to be the main reason that Ahab decides to go and worship other deities. He's worshiping Jezebel's primary deity.

[00:10:58] Elijah meets Obadiah and Elijah tells Obediah to go tell Ahab that he's here to see him. And Obediah is like, why are you asking me to do this? When I go tell Ahab that you're around, he's going to kill me. And not only that, but I'm gonna go tell Ahab that you're there. I'm gonna get myself in trouble. You are gonna vanish and disappear into who knows where, and then I'm really gonna be in trouble.

[00:11:27] But then in verse 15, Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today. This is a vow that is really serious. And so Obadiah is like, okay, fine. I will go tell Ahab. But he's probably like mumbling under his breath and stuff because he knows that this is a dangerous situation.

[00:11:53] But Ahab actually goes out to meet Elijah instead of waiting for Elijah to come into him, he probably knows that Elijah would expect some sort of a trap or something. So Ahab goes out to meet Elijah and Ahab says, Is it you, you troubler of Israel? Of course, this is very ironic because who is it who is causing the trouble that Israel's experiencing?

[00:12:21] It's Ahab, of course, because Ahab has brought in false worship. So Elijah says, I haven't troubled Israel. You did. That's your fault and your father's fault because you've abandoned the commandments of Yahweh and you followed the Baals. And so Elijah tells him, how about you gather all of your prophets of Baal, all of the prophets of Ashera, let's go meet up at Mount Carmel, and by the way, bring all of Israel as well.

[00:12:56] So they all go to Mount Carmel. Israel is there to be a witness. Now, of course, it's probably not literally every person within Israel, but this is a really big show, right? So they all meet up at the mountain.

[00:13:14] So we all know about mountains and high places, right? This is the place of the gods. This is the place of worship.

[00:13:23] So then Elijah addresses all of the people. He is not talking to Ahab, but all of the people. and he says, How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.

[00:13:46] I want you to pay attention to that point in particular.

[00:13:50] Now, I've explained before that in the ancient Near East, broadly, people weren't expecting to only follow one God. Of course, the people of Israel should realize that they only have one God to follow. But they'd probably heard plenty of rhetoric about how you can worship Yahweh and you can worship Baal.

[00:14:13] So it's important to notice here that this isn't a contrast between one God that exists and another one that doesn't. The contrast and the really strange thing that people had to deal with was the fact that they only had one God and that they could trust in that one God fully for everything.

[00:14:36] So Elijah, still talking to the people, tells them he's the only prophet of Yahweh left, but Baal has 450 over there. I do find it interesting that he asks for 450 of Baal and the 400 of Ashera, but here he's only referencing the prophets of Baal. I expect that there's a reason for that and that reason connects with who Baal was and what Baal was supposedly in charge of.

[00:15:08] Okay. So then Elijah asks for two bulls to be given and he tells them that Baal's prophets can choose one of them, whichever one they want, and they put it on the altar and he says, I'm going to prepare the other bull for Yahweh. We're gonna put wood on the altar, we're gonna put the animal on the altar. But neither one of us is supposed to put any fire on it.

[00:15:34] And Elijah says, you can call upon your god. I'm gonna call upon Yahweh and we'll see who answers with fire. Whoever it is that responds with fire, that is the True God. Unlike what Elijah said earlier, the people actually answer him there and they say, yes, this is awesome. Let's do it.

[00:15:57] So they do it. The prophets of Baal are there calling out for Baal from morning until noon. They don't hear a voice. They don't hear any answers. The ESV says that they limped around the altar that they had made. It's probably means they were dancing or doing something like that, but Scripture describes them as limping.

[00:16:21] It doesn't say that Elijah called upon Yahweh all morning long like they did, but he mocks them. And yes, this is the part where a lot of people really like to bring out sometimes. Elijah says either he's sitting there contemplating or he's in the bathroom, or maybe he's on a journey, or maybe he's asleep and you have to wake him up.

[00:16:44] The prophets of Baal didn't seem to like that, so they started cutting themselves with swords and lances probably so the blood would gush out, likely they thought that that would make Baal do his thing.

[00:16:58] Now, in verse 29, it says that no one answered them and no one paid attention. This is a verse that people like to kind of glom onto and say, look. Baal didn't exist. But one of the things we have to keep in mind is that that's really not what the people were thinking at the time. Nobody was thinking, Hey, this god over there doesn't exist. That's just not their train of thought that they had at the time. So that's not the point of what this is saying.

[00:17:30] Now, what does Elijah do? Elijah tells all of the people, Come near to me. Well, that's interesting, right? He's saying, come on over, draw near Now this isn't the word draw near that we often have translated in that kind of formal cultic sense. But nonetheless, it is used in the same kinds of contexts. So the people come near and Elijah has to repair the altar of Yahweh because it had been thrown down. So there was a bunch of rubble around. Elijah took 12 stones, which were like the Israelite tribes. The text mentions Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be your name.

[00:18:19] Elijah builds the altar with these 12 stones, and then he does something interesting. He makes a trench around the altar. He cuts the bull in pieces and puts it on the wood, then he tells the people to fill jars with water and pour it all over the burnt offering and on the wood. But they do this not just one time. They do it three times. So then the trench that he made was filled with water.

[00:18:48] We also have to keep in mind that at the time water would be a precious resource. They were having drought, they were having a famine. This must have looked like a bit of a waste of water.

[00:19:01] Then Elijah addresses God. It says he came near and said, Oh Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your Word. Answer me, oh Lord, answer me that this people may know that you, oh Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.

[00:19:31] That's another really essential part of this. It's not just that they were going to know that Yahweh was the Lord God, but they were gonna know that it was Yahweh who's turning their hearts back. But we have to keep reading here. After he said that, the fire of the Lord falls and consumes the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and it licks up the water that is in the trench.

[00:20:02] The people are suitably impressed. They fall on their faces. They proclaim that the Lord is God. Elijah tells them to seize the prophets of Baal and then he brings them all down to the brook, Kishon, and slaughters them there. Then Elijah tells Ahab that he can celebrate because there is going to be rain that is going to come. They go back up to the mountain, and sure enough there is rain.

[00:20:33] Okay, so let's talk about this prophetic lawsuit. Here we have the claim that the people have broken covenant. There's idolatry, they are worshiping falsely.

[00:20:46] The evidence is the drought, the failed Baal response, and the response that God had with the fire that consumed not just the burnt offering, but everything around it.

[00:21:00] The verdict was given by the people themselves. They proclaimed that Yahweh was the Lord God.

[00:21:06] The sentence lies directly upon the prophets of Baal here, but if you read with a long view , there's going to be a whole lot more that will happen after this.

[00:21:17] But overall, I want you to pay attention to this covenant courtroom where God prosecutes his people and his people actually are going to give a good verdict here. Note the form of it. The people are summoned, the claim is made, evidence is given. A verdict is proclaimed and a sentence is carried out.

[00:21:41] Now let's take a little bit of a diversion away from One Kings 18 and compare it to Psalm 82. We have the same courtroom because God is still presiding over it, but there's different defendants here. Psalm 82 opens with God standing in the divine council to hold elohim to account.

[00:22:05] Now, Psalm 82 focuses on the responsibility of the divine council to execute justice. Their failure prompts God's public condemnation that they shall die like men. This is a stripping of divine privilege that is going to happen to the gods of the nations because of their lack of justice.

[00:22:29] The incident at Mount Carmel parallels this. Yahweh challenges and defeats the claims and the people of Baal and his prophets, which is really an enactment of the condemnation of unjust spiritual rulers that Psalm 82 gives. Both of the passages point to a meta narrative where Israel's covenantal struggles are tied to cosmic battles involving spiritual entities behind earthly powers. One Kings 18 reveals that the restoration of true worship is achieved through God's direct intervention among his council. And Psalm two reveals that God holds not only Israel, but all powers in heaven and on earth accountable for justice.

[00:23:22] You see, it's more than just an aspect of worship. The fact that they were having this synchronistic worship in Israel meant not just that God wasn't getting the glory that he wanted, but there was a real impact with the people. There was a lack of justice. There evil kings and things that were bad happening in the land directly.

[00:23:47] So reading both of these passages together in the context of the Divine Council worldview, we can see a multi-layered reading. We have Elijah's context, which is kind of a localized manifestation of Yahweh's universal authority, and that echoes the heavenly judgment and reordering found in Psalm 82.

[00:24:11] The showdown with Baal dramatizes Yahweh's verdict against rebellious spiritual rulers, and it fulfills the themes and warnings given in Psalm 82 and unveils God's ongoing battle to reassert justice in heaven and on earth. It's a parallel story. You have to have both themes, right, because in Psalm 82, we have the same kind of structure. We have a claim about judging unjustly, showing partiality to the wicked. In one Kings 18, Elijah said, how long will you limp between two opinions? In Psalm 82, the evidence is systemic injustice, and at Mount Carmel, it's Baal's failure, plus the covenant drought already in force, plus the glory fire from God.

[00:25:07] The people at Mount Carmel give the verdict. They proclaim that Yahweh is God and there is rain given, so God is agreeing with them and now giving them covenantal blessings. The interesting thing is that it's not something that lasts or that changes the whole nation. The whole nation does not change course, at least as far as its government, and yet rain is still given because the people were proclaiming Yahweh as God.

[00:25:41] Of course, in Psalm 82, God declares the verdict. He says that the elohim are gods, but they shall die like men.

[00:25:50] The sentence at Mount Carmel was that the prophets of Baal were purged, but then Elijah is also given commissions that will affect things later. Psalm 82 is a kind of eschatological poem, though. The Elohim are gonna fall like any man, and there is a petition again, Arise, oh God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all nations.

[00:26:18] So you see, we still have this covenant lawsuit, even proclaimed in the heavens.

[00:26:25] Deuteronomy 32 shows the allotment of the nations, and Mount Carmel again is a particular instance within God's own people. And it demonstrates wholeheartedly that those powers have no standing. They have no ability to do anything. And that's something to notice as well. It's not just that Baal is not showing up in Yahweh's own land. So both Psalm 82 and one Kings 18 demonstrate the ethics of power across both realms.

[00:27:01] But there's limits to something like a public spectacle that we see at Mount Carmel. It can do some things, but it can't do everything. It can enter the evidence. It can unmask the idols and the false of worship. It can validate the true prophet. And it can help to trigger covenantal rain because the people are declaring for God.

[00:27:29] But what it can't do is regenerate the hearts of everyone on command. It's not gonna get rid of Jezebel and her influence, and it's not gonna remove God's purposes in general. So just because there was a verdict that happened and even the people proclaimed God, and God gave them that covenantal blessing, it doesn't mean that the whole nation was converted, and it doesn't mean that there was any kind policy reform in the nation itself.

[00:28:01] So again, I want to touch at least a little bit on this magic versus covenant action here, because we might be tempted still to see an incident like this and think that it's in the realm of magic. After all, we have a prophet of God who says something or does something and then God does something in response to that. But the number one thing to see in that is that God is working within the covenant framework.

[00:28:32] Elijah is not implementing the incident at the altar and saying the words that he's saying as a magical incantation to get God to do something that he's previously decided he wants God to do.

[00:28:46] The reason he's Yahweh's prophet is because Yahweh is telling him things versus him trying to tell Yahweh things. So this is not an instance of compelling God to do something. We have technique versus obedience. Magic relies on techniques, words, gestures. They have to be done particular ways. They won't work if they aren't done right, but the Bible is relying on God's word and command and contains the human role of obedience as well. This is why we see the words, because the human is being obedient to God.

[00:29:28] They're not manipulating God. They're trusting in him. The Bible presents the fear of the Lord, and there is the idea of repentance and humility, and we can contrast Elijah's prayer and the way that he acted in contrast to the prophets of Baal, and how ecstatic they were. They were trying to get their god to respond to them via technique.

[00:29:57] Another difference is in the self advantage versus covenant fidelity. Who is the core here? Is the core aimed at God?

[00:30:08] And of course for the ancient Near Eastern person, worship was kind of an open market idea. Anybody could practice any kind of ritual they wanted, anywhere. It didn't really functionally matter. But for the Bible, we have covenant jurisdiction. Yahweh acts on his turf , in his purposes, and rivals have no standing in Israel whatsoever.

[00:30:35] Okay, so I want to take a moment to explain why Carmel doesn't disprove existence. And I'll just briefly touch on a few points here, because this could be a whole episode just in and of itself. But first of all, let's take a moment to clarify categories. An idol is not a god. They're associated with one another in the ancient world. The god would be seen as dwelling within the idol, but the idol, the statue itself, and the elohim behind that statue are not the same thing.

[00:31:15] And so the Bible can do things like mock idols as being manmade because they literally are. They really can't speak, they really can't see. But that doesn't mean that the Bible is saying something against the existence of spiritual beings behind those nation's cults. Even though the idol can do nothing itself, there's a spiritual loyalty that the people can have that is very real and that was attached to the deity.

[00:31:46] A point I've kind of made already is that the situation is within Israel, which is Yahweh's portion. Carmel is a covenant court on Yahweh's turf. So Baal has no standing to act within Israel's covenant domain. The fact that he was silent doesn't have to map onto ontological non-existence, but it does demonstrate lack of jurisdiction and authorization, certainly.

[00:32:19] Another point that should be really obvious is that God can restrain rival powers whenever he wants at his will . Exodus frames the plagues as judgment on the gods of Egypt and the magicians of Egypt actually produced things that while it didn't rival what Yahweh produced, we still have to understand that they were doing something. So the important thing to notice is Yahweh's supremacy, not a metaphysical census of beings that don't exist somehow.

[00:32:56] Another point is that this is very polemic. The point is to dethrone Baal not to deny his existence. Baal's claims were exposed by God's fire, and Baal was seen as a storm or a lightning or a fertility deity. So this was very ironic.

[00:33:17] Obviously, the priests of Baal weren't able to undo Yahweh's drought. But we should not presume that the people never saw the priests of Baal do nothing. Like why are they even priests of Baal if they've never seen any results whatsoever? And of course, as we've been talking about in the prophetic lawsuit, this is legal evidence about the covenant of God and Yahweh's supremacy. Yahweh alone authorizes worship and weather in Israel. And then Israel keeps seeking after Baal, even after Carmel. Why would they do that if nothing was going on at all?

[00:34:01] So I would just caution us to not try to solve this weird passage by flattening the text and flattening the unseen realm. Let the text teach the intended point, which is exclusive covenantal allegiance. Yahweh wins jurisdictional claims in Israel and ultimately everywhere.

[00:34:25] And so Israel, and we must worship this God in the way he wants us to worship him. It's not because all of the other spiritual beings are imaginary. But because Yahweh alone is the Most High. Yahweh alone is our covenantal head.

[00:34:48] Let's jump to another passage. We're gonna look at one Kings 1911 through 18. This is of course after Carmel and the sentence that had to do with the prophets of Baal. But now we've changed location. We're now at Horeb, or Mount Sinai.

[00:35:09] I'm gonna go ahead and read one Kings 1911 through 18, quote, " And he said, go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, the sound of a low whisper, and when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah?

[00:36:00] " He said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. And I even, I only am left and they seek my life to take it away. And the Lord said to him, go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu, the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be king over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shafat of Abel-mehola, you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, shall Jehu put to death and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, shall Elisha put to death.

[00:36:53] " Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him."

[00:37:03] Okay, so this happened after Elijah's running away because Jezebel is really mad. He just killed all of her prophets and she is going to do the same to him if she can. And even though all of the people proclaimed God's name, obviously this wasn't something that was going to change everything for them immediately.

[00:37:26] But there's a remnant that's preserved. And note that the remnant that's preserved have not bowed to Baal. So they were probably already faithful even before the incident at Mount Carmel.

[00:37:41] And this is not the only place we ever see in Scripture, and certainly throughout the Old Testament, as we keep reading, we're gonna see a lot of emphasis on God pursuing people's hearts and desiring their change internally. So it wasn't just about the sacrifice. It was about capturing the hearts of the people in true covenant relationship.

[00:38:09] It's almost as if there's no shortcut to that kind of thing. You can have all of the showy enactments you want, and that's not gonna change everyone. You can't legislate hearts or force true obedience.

[00:38:24] And this is really the core of the prophetic vocation entirely. We do have dramatic confrontation and we have some weird stories sometimes, but a lot of the heart of it is demonstrating the patient administration of God's word. And he is patient.

[00:38:44] So let's jump to 2 Kings 1, 9 through 15. Here's another use of ethics of power. The backdrop to this story is that we have Ahaziah, who is Ahab's son. He's injured. He sends messengers to Baalzebulb to inquire about what needs to happen in order for him to be healed. This is obviously an explicit covenant breach because he's seeking a foreign god. Elijah intercepts those messengers with Yahweh's word, and he says, Is it because there is no God in Israel?

[00:39:26] The king tries to seize the prophet, but it doesn't really go as planned.

[00:39:32] I won't read this whole section, but the king sends a captain of 50 men who goes up to Elijah, who's sitting on the top of a hill. The captain says, Oh man of God, the king says, come down. And Elijah says, well, if I'm a man of God, then let fire come from heaven and consume you and your 50.

[00:39:58] And that happens. So the king sends another captain with another 50 men. That captain also says, Oh man of God, this is the king's order come down quickly. So he is increasing the command from the king. But Elijah again says, If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from and consume you and your 50. And of course that happened.

[00:40:29] So then there is a third captain sent with another 50 men and the third captain comes in instead of demanding like the other two captains did, he falls on his knees before Elijah and in treats him. He asks nicely. Oh man of God, please let my life and the life of these 50 servants of yours be precious in your sight.

[00:40:56] He basically is begging for his life. The angel of the Lord says to Elijah, All right, you can go with him now. You don't have to be afraid. So instead of calling down fire, Elijah goes with this captain.

[00:41:11] Now, an interesting contrast to this story is that earlier, even before the incident at Mount Carmel, they had hidden away prophets of God and those prophets that were hidden away numbered to a hundred. So I just have to wonder, I haven't looked at this exactly explicitly, but it does seem like this is a contrast or maybe a kind of payback for the earlier prophets of God.

[00:41:41] But anyway, so Elijah comes down, he goes over to the king and he says, Thus says the Lord, because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baalzebulb, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore, you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die. Then he dies according to the word of the Lord that Elijah has spoken.

[00:42:11] So again, we have more lawsuit logic here. There is an implied claim. The royal arrogance resists Yahweh's verdict and attempts to command God's prophet. The evidence and the verdict are fire from heaven that falls twice in answer to the prideful commanders, but the third captain's humility elicits mercy from God.

[00:42:39] The sentence is tempered a bit. The angel of the Lord, authorizes Elijah to go down with the captain, but there's still judgment against the king. The king still dies.

[00:42:53] Now, a couple of things I want to particularly point out. Elijah himself is not the owner of the flame. He's not a freelancer out here doing his thing, calling fire from heaven. He calls fire in the context of the covenant office that he holds with divine authorization, and he stands down when the Angel tells him to go with the man.

[00:43:18] So posture and authorization are what is going to govern the outcomes.

[00:43:25] There can be a different result because the human approach was different. And so God authorized something different in response.

[00:43:36] Another important thing to note is that royal power is not ultimate. The king cannot compel God's word or control God's messenger. But even within that, note that humility can still find a safe path. The third captain's humble posture is kind of a fit state that survives nearness to holy fire.

[00:44:04] Again, we have jurisdictional enforcement. Yahweh's messenger is going to outrank the king's officers. So even when fire is an available thing that could be used, the posture of approach can change the outcome of that.

[00:44:23] So now we're going to jump up into the New Testament and we're gonna see Jesus takes up the Elijah script and reorients zeal under his authority.

[00:44:36] Let's look at Luke 9 51 through 56. Jesus is going to go to Jerusalem and he gets to a Samaritan village that refuses hospitality because, well, Jesus is just going to Jerusalem, right?

[00:44:53] Luke 9 51 through 56 says, quote, " When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem and he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? But he turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village." End quote.

[00:45:36] So this is another form of a lawsuit. There's a claim. The village rejects the messenger, rejects Jesus himself. And so the disciples cite the Elijah precedent. Do you want us to call down fire from heaven?

[00:45:54] The evidence is that the people had rejected them, but the verdict is actually rebuke. There's no fire that goes and consumes the village. But instead James and John are rebuked. So Jesus, let's make no mistake of that here, he is the judge. He withholds punitive measures here. Now, that doesn't mean that there is no judgment, but we can see that Jesus is holding authority, not just authority, but the timing of things.

[00:46:31] Shortly after this passage I just read, in Luke 10, 10 through 12, it says, quote, " But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near. I tell you, it would be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town." End quote.

[00:47:04] So even though these towns and villages are not getting burned up immediately because they reject God's messengers, there is still a judgment coming.

[00:47:15] Acts 1730 through 31 says, quote, " The times of ignorance God overlooked. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." End quote.

[00:47:43] Now what can we say about what's going on here in these New Testament passages? Well, at minimum, the kingdom's next phase will not advance by retaliation, but by the proclaimed word and Spirit empowered witness. This is in the realm of mission logic. The rejection doesn't immediately trigger a scorched earth.

[00:48:10] It triggers continued mission elsewhere, and so they're abandoned. The first village was not given the blessing of Jesus staying there and imagine what a blessing that would be. To have Jesus in your midst and they rejected that. Simply not having Jesus there is a kind of a judgment, first of all.

[00:48:35] But any fire is going to be authorized and called from Jesus. Even when the disciples are rejected from their towns, they're still giving the people a chance and telling them about the kingdom of God. So they're to preach. Quite often we see healings and exorcisms, but they will shake the dust from their feet if and where needed. But there is gonna be a coming judgment and that coming judgment will be even worse than that of Sodom.

[00:49:10] Now we can loop this back into our story in One Kings 18, and we can loop it back into Psalm 82. The Most High's verdict runs through Jesus. Jurisdictional authority is within the person of Jesus in the incarnation as he's going around telling the people about the kingdom of God.

[00:49:34] Jesus didn't have to die and get resurrected in order to tell people these things. He already had that authorization. He decides when judgment signs are going to occur. It is under his authority when judgment is going to come.

[00:49:52] So if we look at this whole arc, and there's many more stories we could set within it, I'm sure, we have Mount Carmel: authorized fire vindicates worship in a right way and burns away false worship.

[00:50:08] We have the story of the captain who was humble versus the captains who were not. The posture and authorization are going to govern that enforcement. Humility actually matters.

[00:50:22] Then we come into the New Testament and Jesus, the Son of God, reserves enforcement. The disciples are assigned to be witnesses to what's going on. If the disciples brush off the dust from their feet and leave, that's going to be judgment upon the people. So, it's not just Jesus, but the disciples and the people who are following Jesus are going to be witnesses of God's judgment. The disciples are going to play a part as witnesses in the divine courtroom.

[00:51:01] It's not like people aren't gonna be judged, but that judgment is delayed and it's relocated to the person of Jesus. First in the incarnation, and then it will ultimately be the second coming of Jesus .

[00:51:17] Okay, so let's look at a bit of a broader picture here, because we wanna end on a note of application and thinking about this for ourselves. What do these stories mean about our world today and how we should be worshiping God, interacting with the world, and even understanding the spiritual realm?

[00:51:40] It's really tempting to look at the New Testament and think that it's all about passivism, sometimes.

[00:51:47] In James one 19 through 21, for instance, it says, quote, " Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls." End quote.

[00:52:17] Now, is this passage about being passive and is meek just about not fighting back when you need to fight back or something like that? I don't think it has to be. James is contrasting human anger as a motivation and a driver versus God's word as the guide. So they're to be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

[00:52:46] It doesn't say don't get angry, but it's about pace and posture. You're supposed to receive the implanted word first so that whatever we do next actually produces God's righteousness rather than venting our own self-righteousness. Meekness isn't about weakness or being passive. It's strength under authority, I would say. Scripture constantly calls for active obedience and courageous action, but it's not supposed to be hotheaded action.

[00:53:22] We have passages that command restorative confrontation. Matthew 18. Pastor correction in two Timothy two. Decisive rebuke when needed in Titus one. Advocacy for the vulnerable. We see that all over the place. And doing justice is more than just one thing. It's multiple types of things that you have to do in order to perform justice.

[00:53:51] Even when we have passages like in the Ephesians four where it says to be angry and do not sin, you can be angry, but it shouldn't be the thing that is going to drive you and steer the ship.

[00:54:05] Our zeal needs to be checked by adherence and obedience to the word of God before we act. It's about the source of what we should be drawing upon, which is God's word and God's power. We do it in God's way. We do it in holy and sober ways, and the idea of being meek I don't think it's about being passive, but we might say it's about not being spiteful or vengeful just because somebody else has hurt you. God will act on our behalf when there is injustice.

[00:54:43] But the whole narrative of the Old Testament and the New Testament is that God works through people. Yes, he can call down the holy fire and he can make spectacles happen. But more often than not, God acts through his people. So if justice is gonna happen, if advocacy for the vulnerable is gonna happen, if any of these things are gonna happen, it's because we are doing God's work as his hands and feet.

[00:55:16] Now, I'm not saying that has to look a particular way. I'm not trying to set anything like that out for you, but I am saying that we are part of that process.

[00:55:27] Anger can be a holy kind of righteous anger that is in alignment with what God is thinking. But God is patient. God is merciful, but in the end there is still judgment. There is never any suggestion that there is no judgment, but ultimately that's in the hands of God.

[00:55:47] We still have to act in the places that we are because we are God's hands and feet, everything that we do should be ordered within His word and should be under his authority. And sometimes we might be a little bit overly zealous and God might have to call us back. He might have to rebuke us for it, but that doesn't make us any less his disciples.

[00:56:14] And as for the reality of the gods and all of these things, well, the way that you see it is going to be highly dependent on the way you read Scripture in general. The way that you take evidence, the authority that you put on certain things, and you can go through a lot of my old podcast episodes about that, especially where I talk about Walton versus Heiser. You can take a more minimalistic perspective on the reality of all those things, or you can take a more maximalist perspective.

[00:56:49] But I think in the context of Scripture itself, it is presenting a dual reality where the heavens and the earth mirror each other and they relate to each other and they impact each other.

[00:57:03] And whether you are in the heavens or on the Earth, you are under God's jurisdiction and he can call up these judicial proceedings against us. We see over and over that God is merciful, that he is patient but that doesn't mean his patience and his mercy have to last forever.

[00:57:27] You know, I've heard many times people complaining about the idea that God can be merciful. Well, God just can't forgive without punishment, and I'm sorry, but I think he can. It's the very idea of mercy and forgiveness. That does not mean there is no retribution. It does not mean there's no wrath.

[00:57:50] It is just so fascinating to me that we can take the story in One Kings 18, and if you just pluck it out, you think, wow, what a amazing spectacle that God put on. And everyone declared Yahweh's name, and that's true in the story, but Elijah still had to run away. He still feared for his life.

[00:58:13] There were no governmental reforms. It almost seems like it didn't matter. But that's mostly because we're missing that context of the prophetic lawsuit. If you see it in that perspective, then certainly what happened was a victory of God. And I'm sure it provided a resource for the remnant to remain faithful and to see God's power and to be comforted in that. But for those who weren't already in that relationship and in that perspective, it may not have worked like that. It may not have made an impact.

[00:58:51] And that's fascinating because personally, it tells me that what we get is going to depend on our attitude. We tend to think that it's all about God showing himself and God demonstrating his power. God, you have to prove yourself. But really we kind of have to prove ourselves to God. We have to approach him in humility because if we don't, we're pretty much out of luck.

[00:59:20] I'm not trying to make some firm line in the stand here. I'm sure there's plenty of times where God knocks people off their little pedestals in spite of themselves, but I don't think people will accept God without that kernel of humility and realization of who we are in relation to God.

[00:59:41] You know, when I talk about holiness and understanding God in that way, I'm not saying that we can actually understand it. You know, sometimes you see people who are like, oh, you have to understand God's holiness and what they mean by that is a particular set of things you have to understand. And I'm kind of saying that because we kind of have to understand that holiness is God's otherness and separateness and just greatness in comparison to us, and that his holiness is going to act like a fire in all of these various ways that we've talked about.

[01:00:17] But I'm not saying it's understandable, okay. I think there's a reason that we have so many frames of glory because it's something that we can't really wrap our minds around in one thing. It's just not gonna lend itself to that.

[01:00:36] At any rate, I'm gonna go ahead and wrap up the episode. I hope you guys enjoyed it and I hope you can take what I've set up for you in the context of the prophetic lawsuit, and you can go find places in Scripture where that shows up time and time again, and I think that will be an interesting study for those who are interested in doing it.

[01:01:00] Thanks for following along. I have a whole bunch of fire episodes to come. I'm still trying to decide whether I'll break those up with other topics or not. but I think it's a pretty neat theme. So I hope you guys do as well, and I will invite you over to my biblical theology community, or we can talk about more over there. I'll leave a link to it in the show notes. It's called On This Rock, and I would love to have you guys over there to talk more about all of this stuff.

[01:01:33] Thank you guys for sharing the episodes. Thank you for supporting me, and a special shout out to my Patreon and PayPal supporters. And all of you guys who are supporting me over at On This Rock, you guys are awesome and I deeply appreciate it. But at any, that is it for this week and I wish you a blessed week and we will see you later.