Join us as we read the scriptures and a daily devotion written by Don Crisp. We pray these messages will bless us all at this time.
Fri 24th July – 1 Kings 18:25-29
Categories: Don’s Daily Devotions
Fri 24th July – Read 1 Kings 18:25-29
V25: Elijah gives the prophets of Baal ” first go.” Let them choose their bull, prepare it, but light no fire. Rather, let them call on Baal to vindicate himself!
V26: So they do, and Elijah lets them carry on ” from morning to noon” – we don’t know when they began, but clearly some hours. With understated irony, Scripture says ” There was no voice, and no-one answered “. Of course not, they call on a non-existent being! When we are told they “limp”, there is an anticipation of v28, clearly this awful practice has begun!
V27: Elijah mocks them – in very down-to-earth terms – suggesting their god is too occupied with “other things” to hear them. Should we ” mock” falsehood? At the least, we should surely be more robust in rebuking error and defending truth than we so often are.
V28: They abuse and lacerate their own bodies, presumably believing their blood will satisfy their god. Remember that the NT tells us that behind all false religions, though their “gods” are non-existent, stand Satan and his powers. ( See 1 Corinthians 10 v20.) Our trust in total contrast to all man-centred thinking, is in the shed blood of God’s own son, which covers and washes away our sin.( 1 John 1:7; Ephesians 1:7.)
V29: Elijah lets them ” rave on” for further hours – no doubt continuing to mock their empty cries – until the time of the evening sacrifice ( “the oblation”) according to the law of God for the true worship of His people. Effectively, Elijah has given them the whole day, knowing this will only demonstrate the emptiness of their religion, the impotence of their “god.”