Background
Hi everyone. Before looking at this powerful man of God, Elijah, I need to give some brief background.
King Jeroboam
1 Kings 12:28-32 So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.
King Baasha
1 Kings 15:33, 34 In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel at Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel to sin.
King Elah
1 Kings 16:13 For all the sins of Elah...which he sinned...provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger.
King Zimri
1 Kings 16: 18, 19 And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house over him with fire and died, because of his sins that he committed, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin.
King Omri
1 Kings 16:25 Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him.
So after these 5 wicked kings, the kingdom of Israel is now lying in spiritual ruins.
AND YET THE 6TH KING WAS THE MOST WICKED OF THEM ALL: KING AHAB.
1 Kings 16:29-33 In the thirtieth year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel, and Ahab reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. Now Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him. And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshipped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal , which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image.
So the bible tells us that Ahab was more wicked than all the kings before him. What launched him into such wickedness is that he went to Zidon, the occult center of the Middle East at that time, and married Jezebel, the daughter of the King-Priest of Baal. Together Ahab and Jezebel brought her pagan religion to Israel.
Let's define their wickedness and the condition of Israel:
1 Jezebel built a temple to Baal and ushered in a flood of filth and idolatry into Israel like the nation
had never seen before.
2 Metal images of Baal were forged and set up upon all the mountains of Israel. The priests of Baal
would take the firstborn and sacrifice them in the iron belly of the Baal images.
3 Alongside child sacrifice, organized prostitution and homosexuality were sanctioned and
encouraged. The men of Israel consorted with prostitutes and homosexuals in acts of consecration to
Baal in drunken orgies in the mountains of Israel.
4 Jezebel began a reign of terror as she began to murder the true prophets of God.
(Let's take a deep breath: Wow!)
So, we can now see that after 6 wicked kings, Ahab being the very worst, the nation of Israel is lying in spiritual ruins. This devastation is so devastating that it is beyond all hope. History teaches us that no kingdom in all the earth has ever come back from such wickedness and ruin. If Israel is going to rise from the ashes, it is going to take an absolute miracle.
This miracle was named Elijah.
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