The Contest on Mount Carmel

The Contest on Mount Carmel: A Biblical Model for Revival

BY: MAURICE MCCARTHY

Elijah was driven with a passion that his apostate nation returns to God. The contest on Mount Carmel provides a biblical model for revival both for us and for our nation.

There are 9 elements of the contest on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18 that jolted a nation back toward God. Those elements for a revival are:

1. Elijah prayed earnestly that it might not rain.
2.  Elijah caused them to realize there was no middle ground anymore.
3.  Elijah repaired the broken altar.
4.  Elijah reminded them of who they were prophetically supposed to be.
5.  Elijah methodically arranged the wood and the sacrifice
6.  Elijah filled the altar with water.
7. The fire came down.
8.  Sin was removed from the camp.
9.  Spiritual restoration leads to earthly and financial blessing.

1. Elijah prayed earnestly that it might not rain.

James 5:17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

The background of this story is that for 3 ½ years Elijah has been praying that it would not rain in Israel so that the people might realize they have sinned and brought God’s displeasure upon themselves.  The drought was to prepare the people to repent.  The drought was to awaken their sleeping conscience through the door of human need.  God often has to get our attention in the natural, before He can speak to us about the spiritual.  We begin to get a picture of man whose concern for Israel was so great that he didn’t care if they suffered in the natural, if it led to spiritual revival.  The text in James doesn’t simply say, "He prayed," but that he prayed, "Earnestly." He was so moved by their sinfulness that he earnestly asked God, "Do whatever it takes to get this people’s attention." 

2. Elijah caused them to realize there was no middle ground anymore.

1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, “How long halt ye between two opinions?  If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 

Watchman Nee said, "The same fire that melts wax, hardens clay." With such men there is no middle ground. Herod thought he could stay a middle course. He feared John the Baptist, knowing that he was a just and holy man.  He enjoyed hearing him preach, and did many things that John suggested, but he never repented of living with his brother’s wife, a sin which John confronted him about. Eventually Herod had to chose, and the man who heard John gladly and did many things, had to make a horrendous choice, murder John or lose his wife’s favour.  He wished he could have it both ways, listen to John and listen to his wife. God brought him to the place where he had to choose.  Instead of choosing life to his eternal shame and damnation he chose to murder the greatest minister of Christ that ever lived.  Even so God is in the process at this very moment of bringing and end to Herodian Christianity.  We see it in the church, where homosexuals are forcing denominations to perform same sex marriages (blessing services) or risk losing those adherents to a church that will.  When Elijah came to Mount Carmel that day, the middle ground disappeared.  When John challenged men to respond to God through repentance and the rite of Baptism, the middle ground disappeared.  When Jesus walked on earth and said you are either hot or cold the middle ground disappeared. I also believe that just prior to the coming of the Lord, the middle ground that many have been hiding in will also disappear. God said that everything that can be shaken will be shaken. 

You cannot be ambivalent about men like John and Elijah, the very nature of their ministry forces you to decide one way or another.  If you chose God you are blessed with the refreshing rain of heaven, if not your heart becomes hardened and you wind up committing sins you would have never dreamed possible.  As we approach the end of the age, God is going to destroy the middle ground, for He hates lukewarmness, and in fact prefers coldness to it! 2 One of the last verses of the Bible is hard to understand unless you realize that God will destroy the middle ground in the last days. Revelation 22:11 "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he who is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still."  He that is unjust let him be unjust still??!!! This thought is difficult to comprehend unless we put it in the context of the last days, you either take the mark of the beast, or you are murdered for nothing more than being a Christian. Though I believe in what’s called a pre-trip rapture I believe that this sifting and separating of men’s hearts is taking place right now before our very own eyes.  I am seeing the hot get hotter and the cold get colder.  Never has a generation been given over to a reprobate mind as much as this one is, and it is only going to get worse.  In my country (USA) Christian’s are called the "Extreme Right," and the simple fact is we haven’t changed our views on right and wrong, but the left has gone further and further left.  It is they who have moved further from the middle, and in fact what is today called the political middle ground in America, used to be called the far left. The middle has disappeared politically, morally and socially in my country, and I think it is probably true for the rest of the world as well.

To be a Christian in the days ahead is to stick out like a sore thumb, but it is only Christians who are so courageous who will have the unction and anointing to help those who are bound by the great darkness of this age.  Satan is binding men with the thickest ropes he has ever used, let him do what he may, he could not stop Elijah’s anointing, he could not stop John’s anointing, he is not going to be able to stop the anointing that is on the church of the last days.  For it has already been written how we did, "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."3 We overcame him; he did not overcome us, Praise God!

3. Elijah repaired the broken altar

1 Kings 18:30 "And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down." Altars symbolize prayer, fellowship with God, dying to self, and yielding to the will of God. The fact that the altar was in a state of disrepair was a powerful symbol in and of itself of how far the people had gotten from God.  Our text says the altar was broken down, and I believe there were two reasons for this: satanic attack, and the law of entropy.  Satan hates prayer and attacks it more than anything else on this earth.  As it was in Elijah’s day so it is in our own. The national prayer altar has been broken down, in large part symbolized by the removal of prayer from our schools in 1963.  Even in Christian families there is very little of what could be called a family prayer altar. What little praying is done is more by the individual rather than a collective effort.  The family altar has been broken down. "My house shall be called a house of prayer", was Jesus’ declaration, but of how many churches is that true?  The personal altar has also been heavily under attack. I wonder if a snapshot could be taken from heaven’s point of view, what would most people’s personal prayer altar look like?  I think to our shame the word "broken" would be an accurate description of the state of affairs.  That Satan fights prayer more than almost anything else is readily proved by the fact that people find it easier to give money than they do to spend time in prayer. Money is the god of this world, and the root of all sorts of evils, and yet people find it easier to surrender it than they do to find time to pray.  This to me is evidence enough of the all out assault hell is placing on the altar of prayer.  Hell fears one prayer more than it does a thousand givers. (payers).

The second reason, I believe, for the broken altar is the law of entropy.  The law of entropy simply stated is that things left to them tend to break down.  A garden gets covered with weeds, metal rusts, and things just plain wear out.  I do not believe Christians have intentionally forsaken the place of prayer it is just that they have drifted away from it.  Weeds must be pulled, metal must be protected, and the prayer closet simply has to be kept up or it will break down as a natural consequence of neglect. .

Elijah as has been noted is a man of prayer; it is something that was of paramount importance in his life, and something that he recognized to be absolutely vital for the spiritual restoration of Israel.  Thus, the first thing he did was to repair the altar of the Lord that was broken down.  The text also states that he took 12 stones, one for each tribe of Israel. I believe that he did that to say that individually they have a call from God to the place of prayer and communion with God. Ephraim, God wants YOU to be a people of prayer, Gad, God wants YOU to be a people of prayer, Asher, God wants YOU to be a people of prayer, Judah, God wants YOU to be a people of prayer, Naphtali, God wants YOU to be a people of prayer, etc..

4. Elijah reminded them of who they were prophetically supposed to be.

1 Kings 18:31 "And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:"

1 Kings 18:36 "And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word."

There are no accidental words in scripture and I believe the use of the name Israel is very important to what Elijah is doing. Our first text speaks of the fact that God changed the name of Jacob to that of Israel.  People in the Old and New Testament were often given names that would be prophetic descriptions oftheir life. Moses means to draw out, so called by Pharaoh’s daughter because he was drawn out of the Nile by her.  But prophetically it foreshadowed his ministry of leading the people of Israel out of Egypt. Jacob means a supplanter or a cheater, an apt description of his early years, yet when he had an encounter with God his name is changed to Israel, which means prince with God. So Elijah is here drawing the attention of the Jewish people to the fact that they have a prophetic destiny to fulfil, not to live as heathen idol worshippers, but that they are a specially called and chosen people to be "princes" with God.  Elijah really tries to bring this thought home by the use of the phrase, "Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel," rather than the more common "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." By calling them the Israel of God repeatedly, Elijah was saying over and over again you have a destiny to fulfil, a high and holy calling. He caused them to remember something about them that sin had tried to bury and destroy, that they were a people of destiny, a people of purpose, a people with a calling. Revival is among other things calling people back to where they are supposed to be. Reminding people that God has a plan for them is a powerful tool in warming cold hearts towards God. 

5. Elijah methodically arranged the wood and the sacrifice; 

1 Kings 18:33 "And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood..."

Elijah made preparation for the fire to come down. There are those who think revivals are totally sovereign moves of God that man has nothing to do, God will do it all. I believe sacred history shows otherwise.  Yes there is a sovereign element to all moves of God, but God has already decreed that man can help to bring about a move of God.  For example, "If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."4 And again, And Joshua said unto the people, sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.5 Today’s sanctification produces tomorrow’s wonders.  If we pray in secret He will reward us in public. If we ask we will receive. The list goes on and on. There is a biblical way to prepare for revival and when that pattern is followed people can expect God to move.  Elijah prepared the altar, the wood, and the sacrifice, in a methodical orderly manner. He had also prepared the people with 3 ½ years of his prayers, a drought, and a calling of them together before the Lord.  There is an intelligent way to prepare for revival.  Elijah was simply following what he believed to be a proper pattern of behaviour.  Where there is no altar, there is no fire. Preparation is not optional it is essential.

6. He filled the altar with water; 

1 Kings 18:32 "...and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed." 1 Kings 18:33b-35 "...and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water."

Elijah made it absolutely impossible for anything to happen other than what God alone could do.  You don’t put water on a sacrifice you want to burn; it just does not work that way.  Some revivals are flesh revivals; some so called moves of God are nothing more than human emotionalism.  Elijah had the goods, he had the genuine article, and he was a real man of God.  He had no fear that a little water would stop a genuine move of God.  In fact he viewed the water as an asset and an ally that would prove the move of God was genuine and not something of human production alone. 

7. The fire came down; 

1 Kings 18:38 "Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench."

Revival is not the fire falling, but that which causes God to respond by sending the fire.  Revival is brokenness that God responds to with acceptance.  Revival is the fire of God coming down on broken and contrite hearts.  When the conditions are right, God will always respond with the fire of His presence. 

8. Sin was removed from the camp; 

1 Kings 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."

The fire fell and there was a purging in the camp.  The fire had a direct and dramatic impact on those under its influence - they forsook their sin!  Chains were broken, scales fell off men’s eyes, and strongholds were torn down. What Satan had spent a lifetime building up was pulled down in a few moments through a man who was consecrated to God, and living in holiness.  Today’s preachers would want to write a book about, "The day the fire fell." Or they would want to make a TV special out of it, at a minimum they would put glossy photos of the day the fire fell all over their newsletter while asking for funds to keep their ministry going.  For Elijah fire was not a means of self-promotion, fundraising, or a photo-op, for him it was a catalyst for men and women to repent and be broken before God.  It was a means that sin could be purged from the camp.

9.      Spiritual restoration lead to earthly and financial blessing; 

1 Kings 18:41 "And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain."

Because of sin there had been no rain for 3½ years.  Imagine the devastation caused by poverty, famine, unemployment, sickness, emaciation but all that was about to change.  When we go 1 inch in God’s direction we find He has already come 10 miles in ours.  With the repentance came the rain of God, for man and beast alike, and the curse was lifted off of the earth.  Prophets do not bring just the dire judgments of God, if their words are heeded; they bring the sweetest blessings of the heaven above and the earth below. When men seek first the kingdom of heaven, all these other things will be added to them.

With the coming of the rain, crops were restored, granaries were filled and prosperity and economic recovery came again to Israel.

Closing:  

God has a destiny that He wants you to fulfil, that destiny requires that you leave the middle ground, repair your broken altar, and turn from sin, and when you do so God will respond by sending both the heavenly rain of His presence, and the earthly rain that He has withheld to get your attention