What Do You Know about Elijah?
In the Sunday Morning Adult Bible Class we are going over the “100 Bits of Bible History Everybody Should Know.” Many of us will recognize the events from our Sunday School days, but even then it may have been a while since we read them. Why is it important? Why are these events things that “everybody should know”? The answer is that because the Bible is such a wonderful – supernatural in fact – account of God in relation to man, and because it is so interwoven within itself, we really need to know all parts of it to begin to understand any part of it.
A good example of this is the way that the personality of Elijah overshadows these chapters of St. Luke. We have Jesus compared to Elijah, but greater. We have John the Baptist coming in the “spirit and power of Elijah,” and in today’s text we see the disciples trying to mimic Elijah. We can only recognize Elijah’s influence if we know what Elijah “looks like.”
While some of the memorable events of Elijah’s service as God’s prophet involve the violent destruction of some of his enemies, there is another theme that becomes clear when we look at the whole history together. That other theme is grace. The initial will of God is that all be saved, but only after persistent unbelief is it God’s will that destruction fall on the impenitent. We call that the consequent will of God. James and John didn’t understand that when they wanted to call down fire upon the awful anti-Christian Samaritans. But those same apostles would bring the gospel back to Samaria with the message of the risen Christ some years later, and some who turned their back on Jesus at this time would come to faith and salvation.
You can pick up the story of Elijah at 1 Kings 17. But don’t stop there; think about joining us at 9:00 on Sunday mornings. It can make the whole church thing more interesting!
