This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, Let the Fire Fall.
America is sick unto death, and unless America is born again, she will join the graveyard of the nations. We need to pray for a revival that will glorify God and sweep billions into the kingdom of God.
But there can be no revivals in America until there is revival in the Church.
There were dark days in Israel. The Bible says that of all the kings before King Ahab, none were so evil. The people were beginning to worship Baal, a false Canaanite god.
God sent judgment upon the land. For three and a half years, they had no rain.
And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken” (1 Kings 18:21-24).
The prophets of Baal went through their incantations. They cut themselves and pleaded with Baal on Mount Carmel. All day long—no answer.
But then Elijah prayed, and the fire of God fell.
This is more than just a story. The enemies, the elements, and the evidences of revival are all delineated in this chapter.
Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals” (1 Kings 18:17-18).
The corrupt are out there, who hate God, hate Christ, hate the Bible, hate revival, and hate you Christians. Do not expect to be loved and flattered by this world.
But all of the Ahabs and Jezebels in this world cannot stop the Spirit of God. Do not be intimidated. Do not lose sleep over them. We ought to give them insomnia.
There was Yahweh, Jehovah God. There was Baal, the filthy Canaanite god. Elijah challenged the crowd: “Make up your mind. Get off the fence.”
People want to live in moral ambivalence. But Jesus is the only Way to God. There is a fixed standard of right and wrong.
Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD…” (1 Kings 18:22a).
Bible-believing Christians are always in the minority. We will find ourselves against the tide most of the time.
These prophets of Baal were demon-possessed. Today, too, the devil is having a revival with occultism, witchcraft, and humanism. There is a competition for the souls of your boys and girls—but God has given you authority over all the power of the enemy.
What are the elements of Church revival, and how is it going to come about?
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down (1 Kings 18:30).
God wants unity in His Church. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1)
Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed (1 Kings 18:32).
That trench was highly symbolic. It was a demarcation. “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:17).
Is your life holy? Or do you do the same things on the Lord’s Day, and every other day for that matter, that others do? “Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4b).
And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood… (1 Kings 18:33a).
Every Old Testament sacrifice pointed to Calvary. If you do not understand that, you will not understand the Bible.
When Jesus died, He said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out” (John 12:31). That was 2,000 years ago. Satan rules a doomed domain. We must pray in the authority of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water (1 Kings 18:33-35).
Remember, this was a contest. The god who answered by fire was to be the True God. Have you ever started a fire with water?
Water is a symbol of the precious Holy Spirit of the Lord. Elijah was showing that when God’s fire falls, it is not spontaneous combustion; it is supernatural.
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 Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again” (1 Kings 18:36-37).
His prayer was powerful, pointed, and precise. It was not for Israel’s sake, nor for his own sake, but for the glory of God.
Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!” (1 Kings 18:38-39).
This is not false fire, but the fire of the Holy Ghost.
Remember; that sacrifice was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is your substitute. The fire of God consumes. The Spirit of God will fall in judgment, or in convicting power.
When they saw this fire fall, the crowd could not explain it. They cried out, “Yahweh is God!” The prophets of Baal were put to shame, Almighty God was glorified, and people got off the fence and gave their hearts to God.
Don’t you long to see that happen?
1 Kings 18:1-39; Psalm 133:1; 2 Corinthians 6:17; James 4:4; John 12:31
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. But My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels. Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries (Psalm 81:10-14).
Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear….”The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the LORD (Isaiah 59:1-2).
