THE RIGHTS AND PATIENCE OF GOD IN TESTIMONY (2)
[p. 22] THE RIGHTS AND PATIENCE OF GOD IN TESTIMONY (2)
JT Our subject this afternoon is public service. Elijah had spoken to Ahab, according to verse 1 of chapter 17, saying, “As Jehovah the God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except by my word”. The position was thus made clear, it was one in which the word stood, an important principle in public ministry that the servant’s word stands; as it is said of Samuel that none of his words fell to the ground, 1 Samuel 3: 19. Jehovah saw to that, and the position being made clear, the servant has to go through certain experiences, so as to fit him for showing himself to Ahab; this time not merely to announce the mind of God, but to express it in power, so that we have “the word of Jehovah came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself to Ahab; and I will send rain upon the face of the earth”. The commission of the servant is thus accompanied by the assurance that the blessing is coming.
HB Do you think that the public service, by his showing himself, has not only the word of the Lord through the servant in view, but that there is to be the personal representation of what is in the mind of God?
JT That is what I was thinking, that the person himself enters into the testimony. So Luke calls attention to the Lord as in the synagogue, how they wondered at the words of grace that were coming out of His mouth, and every eye was fastened on Him; attention is called to the Vessel of grace. As we see in the type, the light was to shine over against the candlestick — meaning that the candlestick itself was to be in evidence. It says here, “Elijah went to shew himself to Ahab” — that is the point. Then there are other movements which enhance this, the movements of Ahab and Obadiah; they [p. 23] are occupied profitably with a view to positive good. That is to say, as the servant moves under divine direction, other conditions come into evidence ordered of God, which enhance the service. The enemy’s power is checked in that Ahab at the moment is occupied in looking for grass, with Obadiah, the steward of his house; that is to say, we are to take account of every movement in Christendom, that has good as its end, as so far in our favour.
Ques The position of hiding is now over when you speak of his showing himself to Ahab?
JT Quite so. We read in the New Testament of “the day of his showing to Israel”, Luke 1: 80. God indicates a suitable time when the servant is fit for it and the circumstances are ordered of God so as to make the service effective, so in serving God we are to have our eye abroad on the whole sphere of profession.
PL Is not the desire for food among the people of God the great opportunity for this kind of service?
JT I thought that, even although it is food of a very low order, it is still food. So that the circumstances are favourable, and it says that “Elijah went to shew himself”, and then in verse 6, “Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself”. It is well that they are separated for the purpose in view, so that it goes on to say, “as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him”. It was much more advantageous for the purpose in view that he should meet Obadiah first, Obadiah forming a link between Elijah and Ahab. There is thus a modification which is ordered of God between what is wholly of God and the opposite. God does not order sudden clashes, He brings in the principle of modification. “Obadiah was on the way”, it says, which is an expression having its own meaning in Scripture, beginning with the servant of Abraham, who said, “I being in the way ...” Genesis 24: 27. He was occupied under orders with a profitable end in view.
Rem Your point is that the Lord would gather up [p. 24] what is of Himself? The scripture records that “Obadiah feared Jehovah greatly”, and although he was occupied here with this menial gathering of food, still he fed the Lord’s prophets in a cave.
JT Yes, that is the thought. What is of God in the service, however insignificant it may appear, is to be taken account of as of God. Then the Spirit of God records what marked him; we are told, “now Obadiah feared Jehovah greatly; and it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and maintained them with bread and water”. The Holy Spirit tells us about it, to remind us that, if we are set to serve, He will put us in touch with the interested element, with what is of Himself, however small in measure.
Rem And the servant in touch with the Lord will be quick to detect that. Elijah standing in the presence of the Lord suggests alertness.
JT That is what I had in mind, that we might see the setting of service today, that we are not to serve in a corner but in relation to the whole area of christendom, to take account of what is of God. Even an Ahab if he is moving with a good end in view is not to be despised.
PL You referred to Revelation this morning; would the encouragement of the overcomer even in the darkest stage be an incentive to take account of what the Lord has everywhere?
JT I thought that. That is his first concern, to write to the assemblies; the whole area of christendom is in mind, so that we take account of what is good: the Lord does that in each address.
Ques Do you regard christendom as an area for the operations of God’s work?
JT Well, it is different from heathendom; we do not encounter demon power in christendom — there is a certain advantage. The testimony really now is to those who are professedly christian, so there is no need [p. 25] of miracles and the like. Ahab and Obadiah are in movement before Elijah shows himself. He does not show himself to Ahab first, but to Obadiah, and it was when Obadiah was in the way.
PL Would this principle be found with the eunuch? Philip is hidden in the desert and then he is called to show himself to an element that is enquiring, and, in principle, in the way.
JT I think that is right. The eunuch was reading the Scriptures, and Philip was enjoined by the Spirit to join himself to the chariot, which is really more than what you get here. Elijah would not join himself to Obadiah in what he was doing, but he was doing something; he was working under the orders of Ahab, and Elijah says “thy lord”, referring to Ahab. Ahab was not Elijah’s lord in that sense. The Holy Spirit tells us about Obadiah, he was a remarkable man; God will love to bring into evidence the fruit of His own work, even though it was in a false setting. A man who hid fifty prophets in a cave from Jezebel’s wrath is not one to be despised.
Ques You would say that Obadiah was a good man, but hampered by the fear of men.
JT Just so. Whatever was good with him God would bring into evidence. Obadiah, I think, in what he says, in his anxieties, represents that weakness of faith that marks those who are the subjects of the work of God in these circumstances, that is, it is the work of God in a set of circumstances that is inimical to it, but still it is the work of God, and God loves to bring out His own work.
PL So that separating “the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth” (Jeremiah 15: 19), is seen with Elijah here.
JT I think so.
Ques What would be involved in “Shew thyself”, at the present time, referring to christendom?
JT It is a question of what is of God. There is [p. 26] that in us of which God is not ashamed, and, especially in His service, there is that to which He commits Himself. I think it is seen in chapter 17; a man who can bring a boy back from the dead, with all the exercises that are depicted, is, you might say, full of Christ — that is what is to be shown.
Ques Would you say that Obadiah was not positionally righteous, for “the righteous is as bold as a lion”?
JT Yes. He was in circumstances that weakened his faith. We all know what it is, as we come in contact with persons in whom the work of God is, but who are in circumstances that are foreign to it, how weak their faith is, and how uncertain such people are. You are conscious you have darkness to deal with in their settings. To get them out of those settings is very largely the work God would commit to those who have the light. You will observe how uncertain Obadiah is, how he feared Ahab, who represents the ruling religious class, whoever it may be — how people fear it!
Rem Obadiah’s name means, Servant of the Lord. Do you think the Lord has His servants even in positions that we might not regard very favourably?
JT That is the point we are at. He is really in circumstances that are wholly inimical to his progress as a believer, and people in such circumstances have to be delivered. How are you to deliver a man like this? He was true to his convictions; there is assembly material in this man, he will divide the saints up into a number that can be handled profitably, hiding them fifty in a cave: he is in keeping with the character of the day, the time of hiding. Large meetings are contrary to that; the principle is this — fifty in a cave. He is conversant with the movements of Elijah.
Rem This man had an assembly principle which some of us in Belfast need — fifty in a cave.
JT That is right. That is a principle many have not accepted, and he is in keeping, to that extent, with the idea of hiding — smallness.
[p. 27] Ques Would that indicate the number that it would be suitable to feed?
JT Quite so. It is carried out in the Lord’s own case — “Make them sit down in companies by fifties”. This is a company that can come under an administrative hand. You may speak to any number, but when it comes to the administrative side, you need to have a manageable company. Fifty are easily managed — we know each other.
PL One of Elijah’s last acts was to save a company of fifty, 2 Kings 1 — The captain of the fifty “fell on his knees”.
JT Yes, due to the state of the captain, that is, the leading brother. It shows how the saints may be saved by the leading brother being in the right spirit. He died for the company, you might say; that is, he surrendered his dignity as a captain and saved his fifty. This choice of a cave belongs to faith — the “dens and caverns of the earth” are not man-built, they are God’s doing. They are formations and have their own voice, something God has prepared in His creation that faith employs. God provides in nature things that faith appropriates. The more you think on that line, the more you will see how the creatorial thought enters into redemption, for what God is in creation He is in redemption, only redemption is the intensification of it.
PL Would you say that redemption and creation are brought together in chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation as following on this?
JT That is very good: chapter 4 is creation and chapter 5 redemption. It is to bring out an important testimony which God would centre in suitable vessels, in order to bring out all that is good in the realm of profession. We have to view ourselves in relation to creation. The celebration of praise in chapter 4 is in connection with creation — “for thy will they were and they have been created”; then chapter 5 is redemption.
Rem “They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins ... [p. 28] and in dens and caverns of the earth”, Hebrews 11: 37 - 38. That was a period of faith.
Ques Why does God regard Ahab at all?
JT To bring out that He recognised the responsible element in the profession: He never loses sight of that. So, “thou permittest the woman Jezebel ...” is said to the responsible element — the angel of the assembly. God recognises that to bring out how patient He is, but never failing to judge the wickedness that is there. The intelligent Christian understands that the Romish system as represented in Jezebel is definitely set aside. The remnant is called out, and that is the moral setting aside of that system. “I cast her into a bed ... her children will I kill with death”. She is definitely dealt with judicially. In the latter part of the Revelation, Babylon is fallen, and has become the cage of every foul and hateful bird. Morally it has been dealt with.
Rem As we move, as Elijah did, to show ourselves in a right way, the sympathetic element will come to light.
JT That is what comes about, and we know it has been so in the history of the revival. As God raised up His servants, He also worked and brought in a sympathetic element, at least, an element He worked with, like Obadiah.
Rem I wondered whether this would work out in our localities, whether we could not count on something sympathetic coming to light under God’s hand.
JT I think that is what marks the work of God that He brings to light what He has been doing in others, so that the prayer was, “Let thy work appear unto thy servants”. We have the record of the movements of Ahab and Obadiah; then that Obadiah was in the way when Elijah met him. He did not meet Elijah, Elijah met him; as the Lord says in the gospels, “A man shall meet you carrying a pitcher of water”, Mark 14: 13. We must recognise that God works, and even Elijah would have to recognise that God worked without him,
[p. 29] but then He would bring His work into the view of Elijah, and that is what we see in the chapter. “Let thy work appear unto thy servants ... And let the beauty of Jehovah our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it”, Psalm 90.
Ques What does Elijah recognise in Ahab?
JT The great general thought of the responsible element. The pope is responsible, the hierarchy of Rome is responsible. So is that of protestantism, and God will recognise any element of good there may be in any one of them. It is a great thing to recognise what there is, what God is doing.
PL Obadiah was one of the seven thousand who had not bowed to Baal.
JT Exactly; Elijah missed that, Obadiah should have reminded him.
Rem “The firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The Lord knows those that are his”, 2 Timothy 2: 19.
Rem In speaking even to a Romish priest, we have to remember that there is an element of responsibility to be recognised there.
JT A great dignitary of the Roman Catholic church, set over against an apostate movement in Germany, recently said, ‘There is no blood of any importance but the blood of Jesus’ — a man who says that is not to be despised.
Ques Do you mean such persons belong to the assembly?
JT Not exactly: a man might say that and not be a Christian; those who belong to the assembly must have the Spirit.
Rem Ahab said a good thing a little later on.
JT Yes. It is to enlarge our view as to what God is doing. We come to see that God has one thing in His mind, and that is the little cake that Elijah spoke of,
[p. 30] and we see here the twelve tribes of Israel — that is what He is thinking of.
Ques Do you not think we need this collective aspect in view of our attitude towards those who do not walk with us?
JT I think we do, but we should have in mind that we are to hate “the garment spotted by the flesh”, and with fear to pull “out of the fire” some who are believers, Jude 23.
Rem While we stand aside from all the systems, through mercy, we would appreciate anything that belongs to the Lord wherever it is.
JT That is it, to get the gold. Gold is alluded to in Genesis 2, and it runs right through. Gold is gold wherever it is, but it is not useful if it is in the mines, it has to be separated from its surroundings.
Ques Ought we not all to be concerned that the written ministry should be circulated as widely as possible amongst believers, in the systems?
JT Well, it is for them: it is for the poor of the flock, it is for all.
Ques Does Obadiah, as subject to the word of the Lord, now become the link with Ahab?
JT That is how it is introduced. He establishes a link with Ahab, modifying the distance, as it were, so as to prevent a breach. Had Elijah come into direct contact with Ahab at the beginning, there might have been a definite breach and what we have here would not have resulted. But there is a modification, so it says, “Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him”; “And Ahab went to meet Elijah”. Now that is a great matter: you have Ahab going to meet Elijah, that is a great advantage.
Ques I wondered whether it came about through the exercises of subjection on the part of Obadiah to the word of Elijah.
JT I think Elijah showed him that he could rely on what he was saying, and he secured a movement in [p. 31] Ahab — Ahab went to meet Elijah. It is something if you get any of these great men in the systems coming to meet one who has the word of God. They do not want to hear you much now, but if one comes to meet you, that is something. Ahab comes to meet him; he has a hard word for him, but it is remarkable that Ahab does what Elijah tells him to do. Ahab calls him a troubler of Israel first, and Elijah says, “I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah, and thou hast followed the Baals. And now send, gather to me all Israel to mount Carmel”. That is, Elijah has selected the meeting place, it is not to be in a cathedral: it is not on Ahab’s terms.
PL Or in the plain of Ono (Nehemiah 6: 2).
JT No, mount Carmel has its own meaning: it means fruitfulness, and it certainly was fruitful at this time. The meeting place is dictated by Elijah. He slays the prophets at the brook Kishon, not at Carmel.
PL Would the fact that the prophet knows exactly how many false prophets there are suggest that he had measured out all that sorrow with God? He is not indifferent to what is transpiring, as we might say, in christendom today.
JT What a company he had to meet, but he did not under-estimate it.
Ques Would you say that the wisdom of Elijah’s movement resulted in the testimony gaining a place with Ahab?
JT That is how it stands; Ahab came under his direction. We may act in such a narrow legal way as to preclude any thought of getting influence over others. It is very striking that Ahab comes under the direction of Elijah and does exactly what he wishes him to do. It was no small undertaking to gather them all there. Chapter 16 tells us that Ahab is the wickedest man; added to that he has taken Jezebel: yet God deals with him in this way, so that our hearts should be impressed [p. 32] with the grace and the patience of God in dealing with christendom.
Rem Jezebel was the great supporter of the false prophets and the destroyer of the prophets of the Lord. Is not God today protecting what is of Himself amongst us, and promoting what is spiritual, in spite of Jezebel?
JT That is what comes out here. It says, “Ahab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel”. That is a remarkable moral triumph; no one else could have done it. They would not have come at Elijah’s bidding. So that God can use a man or an element like this.
PL This warrior of God has the great advantage of. So to speak, choosing his own battlefield, and he takes the initiative all the time till victory is assured. The priests of Baal would be on very foreign territory at mount Carmel.
JT They would; they would have been at a disadvantage at once. Now the point is, what will the people do? What effect will it have on the people? If you cannot get the people, the end is not reached. So it says, “Then Elijah drew near to all the people, and said, How long do ye halt between two opinions? if Jehovah be God, follow him; and if Baal, follow him. And the people answered him not a word”. Well, he is left to divine what they think, they are not saying anything; but the hand of God is, as it were, passed over them and they are not opposed; it portends good that they say nothing. Then it says, when Elijah makes his proposal as to the two bullocks, that one was to be offered by the prophets of Baal and one by himself, that “all the people answered and said, The word is good”. If we get the people to say that, we have got something. You have to reach the people, to speak to the people, and that is what he does here. He had been speaking to Ahab and to Obadiah; now he speaks to the people for God: he has them in his mind.
Rem He does not wait till the people come [p. 33] to him,
he drew near to them: he had an evangelical heart.
JT Quite. Then the next thing is the great power that he had so as to become ironical: he is like Jehovah sitting in the heavens laughing at them. It is the power God gives His servants as they proceed on this line, they can mock the enemy — “The virgin-daughter of Zion despiseth thee, laugheth thee to scorn”, that is, the Assyrian, Isaiah 37: 22.
Rem That was the effect of choosing his ground and his means of testimony. If they had chosen themselves they would have chosen something that would have given them the advantage.
JT Yes, they would. In moving towards our brethren who are in the systems, we are not true if we allow them to take up things on their terms; they must be on God’s terms.
PL Does the bullock suggest that the prophet takes account of the greatness of the Person?
JT That is what comes out. He even proposes bullocks — large offerings.
Ques Would the light in Elijah’s soul be shown in the fact that he refers to Jehovah of hosts? Would that help us in the gospel?
JT I am sure it would — the greatness of God. I believe the Lord has been helping the brethren in calling attention to the Deity, what He is in the absolute, and what He is creationally, and what He is in redemption. The great background is what He is in absoluteness. The greater place the Lord has in your soul, the more power you will have with men. Many christians have a very poor estimate of God, and a very poor estimate of Christ. Elijah is impressed here with the greatness of God. The offering of the bullocks and all that ensued would be to detach the people from Ahab and Jezebel, it is the greatness of God brought in. So the result in verse 39 is, “all the people saw it, and they fell on their faces and said, Jehovah, he is God! Jehovah, he is God!” That is, God is in their souls now, but He was in Elijah’s soul first: it is the minister that conveys this, so that the people get it.
PL “The Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”, Galatians 2: 20. Is that the thought of the bullock — the glory of the Person, all to detach the Galatians from those who troubled them, whom Paul wished would cut themselves off like the priests of Baal?
JT Just so.
Rem We see the possibilities that are with God.
JT That is what comes out. So Elijah now allows the prophets of Baal to do their utmost, and what an exposure! All day long, there they are in their wretched efforts to bring in power; and no power, no answer, comes. What an exposure! Then in verse 30, “Elijah said to all the people, Draw near to me”: he had drawn near to them, now he says, “Draw near to me”. You are impressed with the manner of the truth as it is stated here — “Draw near to me”, that has a gathering power.
Rem I suppose spiritual power in ministry lies in access to God. In the ministry of the prophets of Baal there was no access to God or spiritual power: we see the contrary in Elijah.
JT Yes, that is the way it stands. The jugglery of these men, their deceptiveness, is all set aside: they are exposed in the withering irony of Elijah. It is God’s way to wither up opposition by irony, and now he says, “Draw near to me”. That is, the enemy is already defeated in this exposure, but the power of God has not come in yet. We are now coming on to what God can do in the way of power.
PL So that the Lord exposes all the cities of the plain, coming under apostate influences as they have done, and then He says, “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened”.
JT Quite so. It is very beautiful — “Draw near to me”, here, and Jesus says, “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened”. Elijah is typical of the Lord here; he is someone to come to, he is gradually gaining power, and it says, “he repaired the altar of Jehovah which was broken down”. He is now approaching the idea of worship; worship is to be on God’s terms and it is His own altar; broken down though it be, it is the altar of God, it is not a new one, there is only one, and God will accept it. And it says, “Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Jehovah came saying, Israel shall be thy name”. We were speaking of the cumulativeness of the testimony; we are on spiritual ground now, the Israel of God: a great thought in a dark day like ours — “the Israel of God”, the tribes coming into evidence, meaning the saints viewed as formed in love, the work of the hand of God. You can see how we are getting on to moral elevation here. The corrupt system is withered away by the irony of God, there is nothing of it in the presence of all this. We ought to see the magnitude of the position — the twelve tribes, the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of God came — “Israel shall be thy name”. It is the Israel of God; it is not the natural, it is of God.
PL “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise”. All the wisdom of man is ridiculed and brought to nothing. It is at the time of the evening sacrifice: would you say a little as to that?
JT It was an advantageous time. If anything could be done for the prophets of Baal it would be done then. The time of the evening sacrifice means that you are as powerful in the evening as you are in the morning.
PL “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening oblation”, Psalm 141: 2 — it is Christ really.
JT Quite. It is the idea of continuance in your soul. What God especially values is that a man is as powerful in the evening as in the morning; the heat of the day has not damaged him.
Ques What about the twelve stones here? Is the [p. 36] altar to be permanent now? Does that show he was on the ground of counsel and faith?
JT Yes, I think God is showing us the end now. The number twelve is never seen more concretely than in the heavenly city; that is the view now, involving love. Twelve allows for the manipulation of love — love can understand.
Rem “The Lord knows those that are his” — does that cover the twelve?
JT Well, the twelve goes beyond that, it is the great thought of counsel; it is the saints viewed as one whole answering to the mind of God, not simply every saint. We come down now to Elijah’s direction as to the altar. He is not wishing to make his position easy. The altar is built, and he puts the wood in order, cuts the bullock in pieces, and he says, “Fill four pitchers with water”, so that now we are in the presence of the power of death: it is not minimised, but Christ is in it — the bullock is there. That is, it is the great fact of the power of God, testified to, operating in Christ. Everything is consumed, licked up, although the trench is dug according to measure and filled, yet the power of God is equal to all that; taking Christ out of death, the “surpassing greatness of his power”. The people arrive at the great truth — “Jehovah, he is God”. Israel’s covenant God is the only God, there is no other — that is the meaning of it. He is God, God is one.
Rem You have twelve suggested again in the four pitchers filled three times.
JT Yes, it goes beyond. The power of death is seen in its fulness — not three but four — four goes beyond full testimony. As it says of Lazarus, he was four days dead.
Rem In the light of Ephesians 1 it is possible to conceive of saints being for God’s pleasure, the power for it is set forth in Christ.
JT Well, that is the setting of it, the chapter brings us on to that ground. We have the whole truth in that [p. 37] chapter: we reach here the ground of Ephesians 1 typically in regard of power, the exceeding greatness of God’s power, God known in that way. It is an Ephesian saint who can bear testimony properly, “The power which works in us”, what a fine point that is to reach, and that is seen here in that Elijah would have the trench full, “Fill four pitchers with water, and pour it on the burnt-offering and on the wood” — “Do it the second time” — “Do it the third time”. Four pitchers every time!
PL You referred to Ephesians; “even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour” (chapter 5: 2). Is that the time of the evening sacrifice? You move in the savour of that now.
JT Exactly. The priests of Baal had that advantage; it was the time of the offering of the evening oblation. It says, “The water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. And it came to pass at the time of the offering up of the oblation, that Elijah the prophet drew near and said, Jehovah, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel ... . And the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt-offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench”. It is a remarkable type of the power of God taking Christ out of death.
PL This answer to the fervent prayer of Elijah is a little like the bowed knees of Paul.
JT Quite so. It really enters into Christ’s agony in the garden: He is heard from the horns of the unicorns.
Ques What is the thought of a torrent?
JT Water coming to you of itself, is what we have in the torrent Cherith. Here we have a different idea in the torrent. Kishon is a river or torrent in a place of great combats; it is where Sisera was destroyed in the days of the Judges and Deborah — the ancient river of Kishon (see Judges 4: 7, 13; Judges 5: 21; and Psalm 83: 9).
[p. 38] It refers to the judgment of God; yet it dries up entirely sometimes, as the judgment of God works out, but it comes back in power, and carries away the enemy. The suggestion here that the prophets were taken down to that torrent and slain is the overwhelming judgment of God.
Finally Ahab is spoken to kindly, for there is going to be rain. What a word it is to the sinner! How the grace of God rises above the sins of men: even an Ahab is told there is a sound of rain; the word indeed is, “there is a sound of abundance of rain”, “And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink”. It seems to me there is remarkable grace in that, this is the present moment, this dispensation and it is not changed. Evil will not be passed over, but the responsible element is dealt with in grace — “Go up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain”. But then how is it to come? Ahab does not agonise over it; Elijah does, he puts his face between his knees on mount Carmel. Carmel is the place.
Rem It shows what faith he had, he hears the sound of abundance of rain before he prays.
JT He does not forget to pray; we must pray. He told his servant to “look toward the sea”: the sea refers to divine resources which are unlimited; the servant says, “There is nothing”. “And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, Behold, there is a cloud, small as a man’s hand, arising out of the sea. And he said, Go up, say to Ahab, Harness and go down, that the pour of rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heavens became black with clouds and wind, and there was a great pour of rain”. That is the end of it; that is the end of the two prayers of Elijah. In between there is all this evidence of the power of God operating for us.
Rem A little like Paul speaking of the unsearchable riches of the Christ.
JT [p. 39] I think it is. It is a full thought, plenty of it, abundance of it — the riches of His grace.
Ques Does not this show the importance of our persevering in prayer until God comes in in this way, and watching in the same with thanksgiving? His head was between his knees.
JT Putting the head between our knees would save us from intellectualism in our ministry. A very good place to put your head if in need of power.
Ques What about the little cloud? You spoke this morning of the little cake.
JT It is the beginning of the thing. The thought of sympathy is suggested in “a man’s hand”, what began so small yet becomes enlarged.
PL Does running before suggest that the servant does not rest on his oars in relation to past success, but buckles on his armour for the next spiritual exploit? “He girded up his loins and ran”.
JT He outran Ahab: the servant of God has more agility than all the great men of christendom. Obadiah understood that Elijah’s movements were spiritual, it is to his credit that he understood that (see 1 Kings 18: 12).