{"id":1395,"date":"2021-03-14T12:54:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T11:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=1395"},"modified":"2021-03-14T12:54:05","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T11:54:05","slug":"jesus-and-elijah-1-kings-1822-39","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=1395","title":{"rendered":"Jesus and Elijah 1 Kings 18:22-39"},"content":{"rendered":"

Which people from the Old Testament do you think get the most mentions in the Four Gospels? Obviously top of the league is great King David with 39 appearances, closely followed by Moses at 38. Abraham is named 32 times. But the next might be a surprise to you. Not Jacob with 14 mentions or Isaac with just 7. It is the prophet Elijah, whose whole story only occupies 5 chapters in the Old Testament, who appears 26 times in the Gospels.
\nIf we are comparing people in the New Testament with those in the Old Testament, when we think of Elijah we would immediately think of John the Baptist. The Old Testament foretold that God would send a Messenger to prepare the way for the nation of Israel to welcome her Saviour the Messiah.
\nMalachi 4 5 \u2018See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.\u2019
\nSo the Jews were expecting God\u2019s Messenger to come, to prepare the way for the Saviour, and that the Messenger would be Elijah. Jesus actually identified John the Baptist as the fulfilment of those prophecies.
\nMatthew 11 14 \u2026 he is the Elijah who was to come.
\nJohn the Baptist was certainly Elijah returning to prepare the way for the Saviour and the day of salvation. But this morning I want us to make a different comparison and see the many ways in which Elijah also foreshadowed the life of Jesus himself.<\/p>\n

During Lent we have already thought about three individuals whose lives serve as types, or patterns, for the life of Jesus. Adam brought us condemnation but Jesus bought us salvation. As in Adam all die so in Christ all are made alive. Joseph was the physical saviour of the descendants of Abraham and of the whole region of Egypt. Jesus is the spiritual saviour of everybody who puts their trust in him. Last week we saw how Moses what the saviour of the Israelites, and more than that all the events of the Exodus give us a pattern for the wonderful salvation we received through Christ. Escape from slavery and death to freedom and eternal life \u2013 all through the death of Christ our Passover Lamb and the glorious miracle of his resurrection from the dead.
\nElijah foreshadowed John the Baptist but there were also many ways in which Elijah\u2019s life pointed forward to Jesus as well. Elijah was a type, or a pattern, of Christ. We can start by pointing out that during Jesus\u2019s ministry there were some people who did identify Jesus was Elijah.
\nWhile Jesus and his disciples were preaching throughout Galilee, we read this.
\nMark 6 14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus\u2019 name had become well known. Some were saying, \u201cJohn the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.\u201d
\n15 Others said, \u201cHe is Elijah.\u201d
\nAnd still others claimed, \u201cHe is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.\u201d
\nThe disciples reported the same.
\nMatthew 16 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, \u2018Who do people say the Son of Man is?\u2019
\n14 They replied, \u2018Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.\u2019
\nThe reason people were thinking that Jesus was Elijah was that<\/p>\n

BOTH JESUS AND ELIJAH WERE GREAT PROPHETS
\nBoth had an itinerant, travelling ministry.
\nMatthew 8 20 Jesus replied, \u201cFoxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Jesus and Elijah brought God\u2019s love and blessing to the poor and oppressed and even to those outside Israel.<\/p>\n

Both Jesus and Elijah were preaching God\u2019s righteousness, calling a nation who had rejected their God to repentance.<\/p>\n

Both were hated and feared by the King and by the nation\u2019s leaders, because the common people recognised them as prophets.<\/p>\n

Both Jesus and Elijah worked powerful miracles, signs and wonders.
\nThey fed the hungry. They healed the sick. They even raised dead people back to life again. One comparison is particularly significant. They each blessed poor widows in desperate situations. We know the story of Jesus feeding 5000 families with just five loaves and two fishes. But in Elijah\u2019s time, during a desperate famine, God worked a miracle with a jar of flour and a jar of oil which never ran out. A widow and her son were saved. When Jesus gave his first sermon and talked about taking God\u2019s blessings to outsiders, and to the poor and the needy, he compared his ministry to that of Elijah.
\nLuke 4 24 \u201cI tell you the truth,\u201d he continued, \u201cno prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah\u2019s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.<\/p>\n

Both Jesus and Elijah were despised and rejected by God\u2019s own people.<\/p>\n

Both Jesus and Elijah could well be described as \u201ca man of sorrows and acquainted with grief\u201d<\/p>\n

Being God\u2019s messenger always brings opposition and persecution and suffering. You might remember the story of how discouraged and depressed Elijah became, foreshadowing Jesus\u2019s experiences of rejection and suffering. How Elijah just wanted to die. Remember how God appeared to Elijah on Mount Horeb and comforted him, not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in the still small voice of calm. Elijah as one of the greatest Old Testament prophets pointed forward to Jesus as the greatest messenger from God. And Elijah\u2019s sufferings as a prophet foreshadowed Jesus\u2019s sufferings.<\/p>\n

Jesus is like Elijah because
\nBOTH JESUS AND ELIJAH WON GREAT VICTORIES OVER EVIL.<\/p>\n

In the contest on Mount Carmel against the prophets of Baal, God demonstrated his superiority over the false gods of the surrounding nations.
\n36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: \u2018LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.\u2019
\n38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
\n39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, \u2018The LORD\u2014he is God! The LORD\u2014he is God!\u2019
\nThe contest on Mount Carmel was a decisive victory over the false gods who were leading the people away from God.
\nThroughout his ministry Jesus was defeating the powers of evil.
\n1 John 3 8 The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil\u2019s work.
\nWe thought about this in our evening Zoom Church last week. Jesus did not only come to save human beings from death. At the same time he came to set the world free from the grip of the devil. A large part of that was his ministry of driving out demons, setting free those who were imprisoned by evil.
\nMatthew 12 28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
\n29 \u201cOr again, how can anyone enter a strong man\u2019s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.
\nIn that little parable of disarming the strong man, the strong man represents the devil and Jesus is represented by the person plundering his possessions which is a picture of Jesus driving out demons. Jesus was able to command the demons because he had already \u201ctied up\u201d the devil. And Jesus accomplished that at the very beginning of His ministry when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Jesus was tempted. But He did not give in to temptation. Jesus was the first human being ever who did not give in to the devil\u2019s temptations. He proved there that He was stronger than the devil. It was there in the wilderness that Jesus \u201cbound the strong man\u201d. From that point on, the battle was won. Demons would have to obey Jesus every time!
\nJesus came to release the prisoners and set the captives free \u2013 to set people free from evil by driving out demons. But the decisive victory over the devil and all the powers of evil was won on the cross. Just a few days before he died Jesus said this.
\nJohn 12 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.\u201d
\nThe hour has arrived. The hour which Jesus had been anticipating every day of his life was getting very close indeed. It would be a vital hour not just for Jesus but for the whole world, the whole of humanity in every age. Jesus would be glorified \u2013 but that would be through his death. The judgment and the salvation of the whole world would hang on that one hour. For Jesus it would be the hour of his departure \u2013 the hour Jesus had to leave the world in death. But that be the hour when the devil was finally defeated and the grip of evil on the world would be broken for good. On the cross Christ not only paid the penalty for our sin. He also won the victory over the devil and all the powers of evil.
\nColossians 2 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
\nIt was by the sacrifice of his death on the cross that Jesus set human beings free from the grip which the devil has over us all. We were slaves of sin \u2013 Jesus\u2019s death sets us free.
\nHebrews 2 14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death\u2014that is, the devil\u2014 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
\nBoth Elijah and Jesus went into battle with evil. Just as Elijah won that decisive victory over the prophets of the false god Baal on Mount Carmel, even more so on the cross Jesus defeated the devil and set us free. As we put our trust in Jesus, we share in the benefits of his victory. We have overcome, because he has overcome.
\nAnd there is just one more way in which the life of Elijah foreshadowed the life of the Jesus.
\nSPOILER ALERT! If you don\u2019t want to know how the story of Easter ends, look away now.<\/p>\n

Jesus is like Elijah because
\nBOTH JESUS AND ELIJAH LIVE ON FOREVER
\nThis is how the life of Elijah ends.
\n2 Kings 2 11 As (Elijah and Elisha) were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, \u2018My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!\u2019 And Elisha saw him no more.
\nElijah was one of the two people who the Old Testament tells us went straight to heaven without dying. His life had a very happy ending. He was still alive!
\nIn contrast, Jesus was not spared death. But the Bible tells us that his life had an even more glorious end. The tomb was empty. Jesus rose from the dead, never more to die. Elijah foreshadows Jesus because both are alive forever,
\nAnd after his resurrection, just as Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind, we read in Acts 1 that Jesus ascended to heaven.
\n9 After (Jesus) said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
\n10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 \u2018Men of Galilee,\u2019 they said, \u2018why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.\u2019
\nJesus and Elijah. Mighty prophets, bringing God\u2019s message of judgment and salvation and calling God\u2019s people to repentance. Working miracles, feeding the hungry, healing the sick and even raising the dead. Defeating the powers of evil. And finally triumphing over death, alive forevermore.
\nJesus asked in Matthew 16:13 \u2026 , \u2018Who do people say the Son of Man is?\u2019
\n14 They replied, \u2018Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.\u2019
\n15 \u2018But what about you?\u2019 he asked. \u2018Who do you say I am?\u2019
\n16 Simon Peter answered, \u2018You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Which people from the Old Testament do you think get the most mentions in the Four Gospels? Obviously top of the league is great…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,91],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1396,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395\/revisions\/1396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}