We know that Elijah disappeared from sight when God took him up in a whirlwind; however, the prophet himself had been a human whirlwind. The first mention of him is in 1 Kings 17:1. It tells us he came from the wilderness of Gilead, east of the Jordan River. Without any fanfare, he appears before King Ahab and announces there will be neither rain nor dew until he says so. The prophet then disappears from sight. The king’s court is unconcerned at his words – prophets are known for their dramatic appearances and passionate pronouncements.
If Elijah’s bold words amused King Ahab and his court, they really annoyed his wife, the over-cosmeticized Queen Jezebel. But since others didn’t take Elijah seriously, he and his words were dismissed. The words of a demented prophet from the desert clothed with camel hair were nothing to worry about…were they?
God sent Elijah to the isolated brook Cherith. In the mornings and evenings, ravens brought him meat and bread to eat. The prophet drank from the brook for eighteen months, while waiting for the brook to run dry. Its decreasing flow measured the effect of his prophecy. After eighteen months not a drop of rain had fallen, and the trickle of water in the brook indicated the increasing severity of the drought. Elijah had spoken words that sealed the sky, and now was able to measure their impact. Worse was yet to come.
Meanwhile, back at the palace, the words of the prophet came to mind every hot, dry, cloudless morning. “Do you think…?” “No, it’s just a coincidence!” “I’m sure you’re right. Still…” When the brook ran dry, God instructed the prophet to move to Zarepta, near Sidon, on the Mediterranean Coast – just beyond Israel’s border.
Zarepta was the hometown of Jezebel. Elijah’s food supply no longer came through ravens but through a daily miracle in the home of a widow. When Elijah arrived, she was gathering two sticks to cook a final meal for herself and her son, after which they would die, she said. Her food supply had literally reached the bottom of the barrel.
Elijah asked the woman for a drink of water, and as she turned to get it, he requested a morsel of grain. The woman told him she had no more than a handful of grain and a small amount of olive oil – enough for just one last meal. “Don’t be afraid,” said Elijah. “Go and prepare it. But first make me a little cake, and then one for you and your son. For the LORD says: The barrel of grain shall not empty, nor shall the jar of oil, until the day that He sends rain on the earth.” (1 Kings 17:14)
The woman did as she was told, and daily God renewed the supply of grain. Elijah lived there for eighteen months, the same length of time he had lived by the brook. But although the brook had failed, the grain in the barrel continued for six months after Elijah had left, until heavy rain at last broke the drought.
Three years was a long time to wait, but Elijah had been in no hurry. He knew that time would be passing very slowly in the drought-stricken kingdom of Israel. The now desperate King Ahab had begun an urgent search for water. At the extremity of his panic God instructed Elijah to show himself and then promise the king that the LORD was about to break the drought. The king’s response on meeting Elijah indicated his twisted thoughts. “Are you he that troubles the land?” How had Elijah done that? By speaking a few words? Yes. As God’s prophet, Elijah’s spoken words had locked the heavens and only he could reopen them.
We know what happened next: Elijah challenged the priests of Baal to a supernatural duel, mocked their powerless god and called down fire from heaven! In the end Elijah was the last man standing. That was the easy part. The hard part was reopening the heavens after it had been closed for three-and-a-half years.
The Epistle of James informs us that Elijah was every bit as human as we are, and yet his prayers – he prayed seven times – reopened the heavens and brought a downfall so heavy that it broke the drought (James 5:17, 18). James attributes the closing of the heavens to the prophet’s prayers, so it appears that when Elijah appeared before Ahab and told him it would not rain until he said so, the prophet had already prayed to that effect.
Elijah’s story is a pointer to the End of Days, a time in world affairs when God’s power will be seen in prophetic words and their stunning effects. In the Bible, three-and-a-half years, or forty-two months, or “a times time and half a time” is a significant marker of God’s dealings with humanity. Jesus himself ministered for three-and-a-half years, and the Roman army siege of Jerusalem lasted for exactly the same period of time and ended in AD70.
King Ahab represents morally-weak and corrupt power, and his wife Jezebel the false kind of religion that exploits weak leadership for evil purposes. The Jezebel spirit troubled a church 1,000 years after her death (Revelation 2:20-23).
A true prophet delivers God’s message and leaves the scene. Its fulfillment is up to God. Elijah’s time at the brook represents to us supernatural provision — the food delivered twice daily the super, and water from the brook the natural. But although the super remained consistent, the natural diminished slowly. The diminishing of the natural indicates the powerful effect of prophetic words, not only on the person or society to which it is spoken, but also on the prophet. While things worsen, as they must, what is natural fails and the prophet moves out from the picture. From then on — as pictured by the grain in the barrel — God’s daily provision for the prophet is then entirely supernatural.
Only when it became evident that the powers-that-were had no answer to the drought was the truth of the prophetic message accepted. The Apostle Paul had to endure a severe storm for two weeks before his words of warning were heeded. He had warned the captain not to sail at the outset, but being merely a captive in chains, he was disregarded. But two weeks later, the captain and everyone else on board the ship obeyed him without question (Acts 27).
Just as Moses represents the Law and Abraham represents Faith, so Elijah stands for God’s End Time intervention. The “two witnesses” of Revelation 11:3 prophesy for 1260 days, which is 42 months or three-and-a-half years. They have “the power to shut up heaven, so that it does not rain in the days of their prophecy…” This reminds us of Elijah. The other “witness” reminds us of Moses, and together they represent the Law and the Prophets.
Interpret this as you will, but the graphic picture in Revelation 17 of a “harlot” riding on the back of a “beast” reminds me of the evil Queen Jezebel’s rise to power through her domination of King Ahab. The spirit of Jezebel hates the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of prophecy is Jesus (Revelation 19:10). I apply the symbolic Book of Revelation to current and future world events, but if even if its prophecies have no literal application – and I am not saying that they do not – they have a spiritual application.
The effect of the prophecy on the prophet as he waits for it to be fulfilled turns the story of the drought itself becomes secondary. John the Baptist came “in the spirit and power of Elijah” in fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy (Malachi 4:5; Luke 1:17; Matthew 11:14; Mark 9:11-13). Elijah the person is now gone, but “the spirit of Elijah” – the power behind the person – well be evident in the days that lie ahead, as false religion finds common consort with political power, only to be challenged by those who speak boldly and prophetically for the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father (Ephesians 1:17).
Luke 4:24 records the message of Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth. In a Sabbath Day address, he speaks of Elijah’s time in Zarepta. He speaks of Elijah being sent to the home of a widow outside Israel rather than to one inside the nation. No prophet, he said, is honored by his own people. But when things go bad, really bad — so bad that things appear hopeless — look for a prophet with a timely message, one which addresses the problem – and listen to him. Even if he is known to you as a carpenter — a “tradie” — who, like the Jesus they knew so well but hardly knew at all.
He might well have a message that will change not only your town but also your nation.