#18 The Lord, He Is God

Published by Ben Stahl on April 15, 2020April 15, 2020

April 15, 2020           I Kings 18:39

“And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God.”

What is your response to reading of God’s creating all things of nothing in the space of six days and all very good? What is your response to two million Israelites pressed against the Red Sea with the Egyptian army at their heels when the Lord parted the Red Sea, led His people across on dry land, and destroyed Pharaoh’s army? What is your response to the falling walls of Jericho; Gideon and his 300 defeating the Midianites; Samson cutting down 1,000 Philistines with a jawbone; David killing Goliath with a sling and stone; and the widow’s son being raised from the dead?

When God sent the fire from heaven for all Israel* to see, most people responded by falling down on their faces before Jehovah God and confessing with their mouths, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.”**

This was the message Elijah had preached for many years. It was the message that Elisha would preach after Elijah. This is the message of every faithful minister of the gospel and the confession of every child of the Lord: “The Lord, He is God.” This declaration should remind us of Peter’s good confession of Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”; the centurion’s confession at the death of Jesus, “Truly this man was the Son of God”; that which every tongue will confess, “Jesus Christ is Lord”; and the words of the herald angel, “There has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Instead of consuming the sinful people with fire on Mount Carmel, God, who is rich in mercy and abundant in grace, consumed the sacrifice with fire and brought many people to salvation. You and I should have suffered and died for our sins, but God sent His own Son to die in our place so that we might be saved.

Some have pointed out that Israel did not at this point confess the Lord as “their” God. Nor did they confess that the Lord is the “only” God. However, given Elijah’s challenge of vs. 23, the clear implication was that the God who sent fire was God alone. Keil and Delitzsch note in their commentary that the meaning of the Hebrew is “Jehovah is the true or real God,” in comparison to Baal and all other gods. They are fake, they are false, Jehovah God is God alone. Certainly on that day there were those confessing falsely and those (Ahab and the prophets of Baal) who did not confess at all. To them the demonstration of God’s power was a ministry of judgment. But to the many others who that day were converted, the power of God was ministered to their salvation.

Yesterday we saw the miracle of the fire falling from heaven. Today we see the miracle of dead men given new life. Many Israelites believed on Mount Carmel because they saw the power of God with their eyes. You and I see the power of God by faith as we read the Word of God and He testifies of it to us by His Spirit. Blessed are you who have not seen with your eyes and yet have believed. From this day and forever may we confess that the Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God!

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*The great fire from heaven was unlike anything seen in that generation. God chose to reveal His glory and might on a mountain in the northern part of Israel bordering the Mediterranean Sea.  It is likely that in addition to Israel, the residents of Tyre and Sidon could have seen the fire. Perhaps even the widow and her son in Zarephath could see the fire, along with sailors from many different nations who would have been on the Mediterranean Sea. As one reader noted yesterday, even Jezebel may have seen the fire from her home in Jezreel. Great was the revelation of the Lord on that day.

**When Moses and Aaron offered the sin, burnt, and peace offerings in Leviticus 9:22-24, they went into the tabernacle and the Lord sent fire from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. The people saw it, shouted, and responded by falling on their faces in worship.