Text:
1 Kings 18:41-46:
41 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.
42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,
43 And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.
44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.
45 And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.
46 And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
Theme:
Like A Man’s Hand
Introduction:
- The text comes from the Books of the Kings, also known as 1st and 2nd
- The Books of the Kings were originally one book in the Hebrew scriptures. They were first separated into two books when they were combined with the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel in the Vulgate.
- The authorship is uncertain with certain portions glaringly parallel to Jeremiah
- Covers a period of 453 years from the ascension of Solomon to the subjugation of the kingdom by the Babylonians.
- Contains similar information to the books of Chronicles, but:
- Books of Chronicles are more comprehensive
- Kings gives prominence to the kingly…Chronicles gives prominence to the Levitical order.
- At this point in the First of the Books of the Kings, the prophet Elijah had faced the King Ahab and the prophets of Baal on top of Mount Carmel.
- Elijah stood up against the King, Queen Jezebel, and the prophets of the grove to with a challenge that rang through the annals of time:
1Kings 18:24, “ if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him”
- To show the people what they were dealing with, Elijah made a deal with them.
1Kings 18:24, “And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.”
- The result of the deal was DIVINE
1Kings 18:38-39, “Then the fire of the LORD fell….And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.”
- The result of the deal was also FATAL.
1Kings 18:40, “And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.”
- There was the looming issue of famine in the land of Samaria. God had spoken to Elijah concerning this famine.
- God made a promise to Elijah à 1Kings 18:1, “Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.”
- After the slaying of the prophets of Baal, Elijah had yet held on to the promise that God had made to him that rain would come à 1 Kings 18:41-42, “And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain…..And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees”
- Although it seemed to not happen, Elijah was persistent in his seeking God’s response/answer à 1Kings 18:43, “And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.”
- At this point, at the seventh time, the servant had a different report
1 Kings 18:44, “And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, LIKE A MAN’S HAND.”
Body:
- The FIRST sign of God’s response/answer for Elijah was the report of a “LITTLE cloud out of the SEA, like a MAN’S HAND” è Three Characteristics of the FIRST sign of God’s answering our prayer!
- “LITTLE” à It’s not always the SIZE that we expect!
- He starts small!
- Later Elijah got another example of this in 1 Kings 19:12 when he said he witnessed, “And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”
- “SEA” à It’s not always from the LOCATION that we expect!
- They needed the rain on the land and the cloud was seen as coming from over the sea!
- Sometimes our blessing doesn’t come from where we expect.
- People during Jesus’ time witnessed this as expressed when Nathaneal said in John 1:46, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
- They needed the rain on the land and the cloud was seen as coming from over the sea!
- “MAN’S HAND” à It’s not always of the APPEARANCE that we expect!
- The entire land was suffering from famine and drought and all he saw was a little cloud the size of a man’s hand.
- It didn’t look the way that he expected it to look. Can it be the answer?
- This causes us to know that it has be GodJ
- It didn’t look the way that he expected it to look. Can it be the answer?
- The ministry of the forerunner of Jesus, the Christ, John the Baptist, witnesses of this truth. John the Baptist did not look the prominence of the role that he served.
- Mark 1:6, “And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey”
- The entire land was suffering from famine and drought and all he saw was a little cloud the size of a man’s hand.
- “LITTLE” à It’s not always the SIZE that we expect!
Conclusion:
- Regardless of the size, location or appearance, the text tells us that IT WAS GOD!!
- 1 Kings 18:45, “And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.”
- The SMALL cloud became a GREAT RAIN.
- What was out of the SEA now filled the HEAVENS.
- What looked like a MAN’S HAND now was a sky BLACK WITH CLOUDS AND WIND.
- 1 Kings 18:45, “And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.”
- Don’t let your senses fool you, God’s not like us!
- Isaiah 55:8, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.”
- Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
It may be LIKE A MAN’S HAND, but know when IT IS GOD!!
#326
