Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20061210.htm

THE PREINCARNATE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST
Part XVIII: Christ's Work With Elijah: Rebounding Grace
(1 Kings 19:1-18 with 17:8-10a and 2 Kings 1:3-17)
  1. Introduction
    1. The nineteenth century evangelist, Dwight L. Moody once said that God never sent a man to do a job in which he was doomed to fail. Any failure such a man suffered was due to the man's own unbelief in God.
    2. Elijah initially failed in his ministry due to his unbelief in God, but the grace of the Preincarnate Christ made him rebound in victory when Elijah repented, a great hope for all God's servants (as follows):
  2. Christ's Work With Elijah: Rebounding Grace, 1 Kings 19:1-18 with 17:8-10a and 2 Kings 1:3-17.
    1. The Preincarnate Christ Whom we have learned in this series appeared as "the Angel of the Lord" in the Old Testament appeared twice to Elijah: He appeared in 1 Kings 19:5-8 to strengthen him when Elijah faithlessly fled from Jezebel, and then again in 2 Kings 1:3-4 to direct him to face Jezebel's threatening son in victory over his initial flight from Jezebel! (Ryrie St. Bible, KJV , 1978 ed., ftn. to Genesis 16:10.
    2. This rebounding grace of the Preincarnate Christ is evident when we view these accounts in their setting:
      1. Elijah's flight from Jezebel occurred in the wake of her threatening his life after God used Elijah to call fire down from heaven and then slay Jezebel's false prophets of Baal, 1 Kings 18:37-40; 19:1-2, 3a.
      2. However, it was unnecessary for Elijah to have made this flight due to the preparatory work that God had done in previously teaching Elijah to trust His help particularly to protect him from Jezebel :
        1. God had originally sent Elijah to Ahab to announce there would be no rain until he gave the word, and then to go to the Brook Cherith across the Jordan to hide from Ahab, 1 Kings 17:1, 2-3; 18:10.
        2. After the Brook dried up from a lack of rain, God directed Elijah to move to Zarephath, a suburb of Sidon, and there to be sustained while staying with a widow and her son, 1 Kings 17:7-9.
        3. Well, Sidon was the hometown of Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon (1 Kings 16:31), so God was directing Elijah to stay in very dangerous territory, in evil, heartless Jezebel's homeland, and there of all places to be protected and sustained by the Lord, 1 Kings 17:9, 10b-16.
        4. Thus, as Jezebel later threatened to kill him for slaying her prophets, Elijah should have recalled God's precedent of safety provision at Zarephath so as NOT to have felt he had to flee from her!
      3. Even so, Elijah did not heed that past lesson, and fled from Jezebel in unbelief in God, 1 Kings 19:1-3.
      4. In the midst of this failure, Elijah admitted his unbelief to the Lord, so the Preincarnate Christ did not give up on him, but worked with him to see him rebound to ministry victory over his unbelief:
        1. While Elijah fled from Jezebel, he admitted his failure and wished to God to die (1 Kings 19:4), but the Preincarnate Christ graciously appeared to sustain and not kill him as he had asked, 19:5-8.
        2. At Horeb, God dealt gently with Elijah, revealing that His program was proceeding well regardless of Elijah's unbelief, 1 Kings 19:9-14, 18. Nevertheless, due to Elijah's persistent weakness in his unbelief, God told him to anoint another man for his office, the man Elisha, 1 Kings 19:15-17.
        3. Finally, the Preincarnate Christ, "the Angel of the Lord," again appeared to Elijah to direct him to face the son of Jezebel, king Ahaziah, with a message of judgment, 2 Kings 1:3-4. (1) However, instead of fleeing this time, when Ahaziah's soldiers came twice to threaten him, Elijah twice called fire down from heaven to destroy them, applying God's power through him at Mount Carmel where he had slain Jezebel's prophets, 2 Kings 1:5-12 with 1 Kings 18:37-39. (2) Only when a third group's leader approached Elijah in meekness so that the Angel of the Lord directed Elijah to go with him and not fear him did Elijah go and give his judgment message to Ahaziah, 2 Kings 1:13-16. (3) Thus, Jezebel's son died in accord with God's Word through Elijah in victory over Elijah's past faithless flight from Ahaziah's foreboding mother, wicked Jezebel, 2 Kings 1:17.
Lesson: The Preincarnate Christ TAUGHT Elijah at Zarephath successfully to face a threatening Jezebel by faith, and THOUGH Elijah initially FAILED to HEED that lesson, Christ kept working with him in grace due to Elijah's admission of sin so that he might gain VICTORY in FAITH in the end!

Application: If we like Elijah realize and then admit to God that we have failed to take advantage of a former lesson that the Lord has given us in our lives, may we HOPE in God's REBOUNDING GRACE, knowing the Lord is STILL willing to work WITH us to give us VICTORY over such past DEFEATS.