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In the name of Jesus, dear saints, the Old Testament reading appointed for today is one of great comfort, both for us and for the prophet Elijah, who was at a particularly low point in his prophetic ministry. And this account of God coming to him on Mount Horeb takes place just after he had confronted all the prophets of Baal, and it’s a truly incredible story.
In the chapter before, 1 Kings chapter 18, all 450 prophets of Baal are gathered together by King Ahab and. Elijah confronts the people of Israel and says, “How long will you go on limping between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, then worship Him. If Baal is God, then worship Him.” So he had an idea. He he presented it to the people of Israel and said, “How about this? You bring us two bulls for sacrifice. The prophets of Baal can they can have their pick. They can prepare it and sacrifice, and I’ll have the leftover bull, and I will prepare it and sacrifice, and we’ll see which God answers.” And the people of Israel said, “Sounds good.”
And so then, the prophets of Baal took their pick of the bulls. And all day long they prepare an altar, they sacrifice, they were cutting themselves all over, crying out, “Oh, Baal, answer us!” And of course nothing happened. And then Elijah—he’s really quite brutal in his mockery of them. He even says, “Well, maybe your God’s on the toilet and he can’t answer you right now.” It’s quite something.
And then he prepares the leftover bull for sacrifice. He even—he constructs the altar. He orders the servants pour water on it, and pour water on it again, and then pour water on it a third time. So this this bull, the altar is just soaking wet. He calls upon the name of the Lord, and fire from heaven consumes the whole thing—the burnt offering, the altar, the water—all of it gone. The people of Israel say, “Yahweh, He is God.”
And then Elijah slaughters all 450 prophets of Baal by the brook, according to the law of Moses. But then, but then Queen Jezebel—she gets wind of what’s happened. She hears about it, and she sends a message to Elijah and says, “May the gods do so to me and more also! If by this time tomorrow I have not made your life as one of theirs!” And it’s at this point that Elijah runs away, afraid and disheartened.
And eventually, he comes to the mountain of God, Mount Horeb, where Moses had come before him to receive the law. And on the way, he prayed that God would simply let him die. “It is enough, Lord,” he said, “just let me die.” But since the Lord didn’t permit that, here Elijah sits on a mountain, stewing over the state of affairs in Israel.
I think this reaction is really quite human. I mean, most of us would likewise, I think, be frustrated if we were faced with the reality that all of our life’s work was producing no perceivable results. And we know from previous stories of Elijah and his ministry that he’s not only a man of God; he’s also a man of action. He’s always traveling around, preaching to kings, rebuking them for their errors, raising the dead, slaying false prophets, and other such exciting ventures.
But here, after all of this exhausting work seems to have amounted to absolutely nothing, he is worn down to the point of despair. After all, all those Israelites who just witnessed God burning up the sacrifice that was offered didn’t seem too keen on intervening. And here, I think more than anywhere else, we see that Elijah is a man worn down and wearied by the world around him.
And it’s in this moment of despair that God comes to Elijah and strengthens him in an unexpected way. The Lord calls him out of the dingy cave he put himself in, and he puts on a show—probably significantly cooler than any fireworks you saw yesterday. First, there’s a great rushing wind, strong enough that it’s shattering the rocks on the mountain. Now I haven’t seen a wind like that, and I don’t know if you have either. That is a particularly powerful wind.
And after this comes an earthquake, shaking Mount Horub, which is followed by a blazing fire from the Lord. Now these signs in particular are meaningful on this particular mountain because it’s the same mountain that almost 600 years ago Moses had to come to. He led the people of Israel, and he received the law there. Remember, Horub is another name for Mount Sinai. It’s the same mountain.
And on that mountain at that time, God had been present in a great fire, a column of smoke, and an earthquake with a voice that sounded like the crack of thunder, prepared to destroy anyone but Moses who’d approach in sin as he handed down the law. But this time, the text makes clear that our Lord was not Himself present in these great feats of divine strength as He had been for Moses, and it seems as though Elijah is aware of this.
Now, in my imagination, this man of action is—not only just awestruck by the sheer majesty of God’s power. But also, he’s getting excited for the grand finale. I mean, if God isn’t present in the wind that tore the rocks, He’s not present in the earthquake, or He’s not present in the fire. Then what could be next? What What is the great sign that God is waiting for to reveal Himself in? Maybe a spontaneous volcano just shooting up out of the ground, or maybe a really cool meteor shower. He could totally outdo himself with something like a Sharknado.
But I think this Elijah is just sitting there, rubbing his hands together, wondering what grand display of power, judgment-themed power, that the Lord could finally ride it on. And as he sits there on the edge of his seat, anticipating something huge, he hears a whisper on the breeze. “What are you doing here, Elijah?” To which Elijah responds by giving an honest assessment of his ministry. “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 only I, am left, and they seek my life to take it away. In other words, I have spent my entire life proclaiming your word, walking around this country, and what have you done? You let everyone walk all over me and your holy name.
But it’s here after this response that we see that this whisper of the Lord comes not in judgment, but rather in peace and in comfort. See, this perhaps is not what Elijah expected or what he wanted, but it certainly is what he needed. God’s awesome displays of power on the mountain were given precisely to show Elijah that God does not desire to work in that way at this point.
He does not desire to come with judgments and flashes of His powerful anger, but rather in patience and love. And through quiet, humble means. See, Elijah’s zeal for the Lord was not without a touch of human anger. God is showing Elijah and us that it is that He is a God who is slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, delighting in mercy, in the repentance of every sinner.
Now, the desire of the prophet with his fiery zeal was to reform Israel with a tempest, shaking the foundations of society with true faith in the living God as he was preaching. But God showed him still a better way. Relying on the work of the Holy Spirit to sustain and build up His holy church throughout the troubles of this life, and so the prophet’s desire for fast-paced judgment was in fact at odds with God’s long-suffering mercy for sinners.
And God has come now in a whisper, not to come crashing down in judgment on Elijah or the people, but rather to give Elijah strength, hope, and peace. See, in directing Elijah to anoint Hazael and Jehu, God is setting up an earthly judgment that will eventually destroy the vile house of Ahab in the coming years. Thus assuring Elijah that there is indeed a judgment coming, but in God’s time and through His chosen means, not in the metaphysical light show that Elijah would have wanted to see.
In directing then Elijah to cast his mantle upon Elisha as his successor, God is promising him that the prophetic ministry will continue. And that it would not die with Elijah, who in fact would go on not to even die, but to be swept up bodily into heaven in a fiery chariot and what I think must be history’s greatest retirement plan. But true religion will not die with Elijah; it continues.
And God is giving hope in the future in this way, but there’s more. He’s also giving hope in the present time. See, Elijah was complaining that he alone was left as a faithful man of the Lord, and that the church was left essentially to just die. But God gives Elijah one of the greatest comforts of this entire passage, when he says to him, “Now there are seven thousand people who remained faithful, who did not bow the knee to Baal or kiss any of his idols, but they remain faithful to God alone.”
And this great hope I think also comes with a small dash of humility, because God reminded Elijah that it is in fact He who is Lord of His church and not Elijah, who did not even know about all the faithful people that God had preserved without His help, mind you. And so what a powerful Great God, Elijah the prophet has who preserved his church even in the time of Ahab and Jezebel, two of the worst monarchs in Israelite history.
And what a great God we have today, dear saints! That very same unchanging God who continues to preserve His church in the midst of every trouble. The gates of hell did not prevail against God’s church in the days of Elijah, nor does it today, nor shall it ever.
And so we read this passage, and we see that well, the very same warnings. And the very same comfort that God brought to Elijah, He also brings to us today. Now, when we read the Holy Scriptures, I think often it’s easy for us to stand with Elijah on on Mount Horeb. We hear about the great flood, where God judged the earth but preserved righteous Noah and his family. We hear about the Tower of Babel, how God stooped down to confuse the language of all the peoples of the earth to prevent greater sin.
And then we hear about the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, where God rained down fire and sulfur on these unrepentant cities. We hear about God’s awesome display of holiness on Mount Sinai, in His giving of the law and fire and storm and thunder. And how often do we read about these judgments or hear about these judgments of old and wish to see them in our day?
I think in our impatience, we can be too quick to call down God’s wrath on sinners, forgetting that it should rightly be directed first at us. Now there is a place for judgment. There certainly is. God will judge all things in awful majesty on the last day. Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. This is sure, but He will do that in His time.
And so we, with Elijah, are better off not seeking comfort and hope in God’s wrath towards sin, but rather seeking comfort and hope in His mercy, which is given in the gospel. And that gospel does not come to us in wind or earthquake or firestorm, but with—or not with fear and trembling as the law does—but in the unexpectedly soft whisper that rides in on the east wind.
The little voice of a baby boy born in Bethlehem. This baby comes in meekness, lowly, having salvation as he. And this voice, this humble voice, does not promise vengeance, but rather grace, love, hope, and forgiveness of all of your sins. Because instead of giving to us the hellfire and punishment that we deserve, God has instead given His Son, our Lord Jesus, to die in our place.
Uttering again in that soft, rasping voice from another mountain, it is finished. And this is the good news that the church has been given to proclaim. And your God desires that you would have all of that comfort and joy that He brings in the gospel.
And God continues to come to you in that soft, comforting voice in His church through the word as it’s read and preached, through the absolution that’s pronounced over you by men who are called to stand in the stead and by the command of their Lord Jesus. And then, by the use, the continual use of the sacraments to strengthen and keep you in the true faith.
And what is more, God continues every day to uphold His holy church in a world that hates it, just as He did in the days of Elijah. Now, to be sure, after this episode on the mountain, Ahab and Jezebel continued to work against Elijah. In fact, so did most of the people of Israel and all of the surrounding nations. God did not make His job much easier.
In fact, the entire world thinks it’s incredibly foolish that God would work salvation or any good thing through such simple and quiet means as sending His Son into our flesh. But God showed Elijah two things: first, that His holy judgment is good and just, but that it comes in His time and by His means, and that we are better off submitting our impatient wills to the God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Second. That our comfort and hope are not to be found in God’s wrath towards sinners, but in His great mercy for them. And this mercy He lavishes upon you every day on account of His Son, who came in meekness and humility in order that we might receive the love of God—not in wrath, not in fire, not in storm or earthquake—but in the joyful voice of our heavenly Father, who smiles at every one of you and says, “You are my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased.”
So may God grant that we, with Elijah, rest always in the great hope that we have in the soft voice of the gospel, which proclaims Christ crucified for sinners. Christ crucified for you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.