Firstly, Elijah
is introduced to us or first mentioned in 1 Kings 17:1 at the time of the reign
of King Ahab, the king of Israel who was married to Jezebel. Both the king and
his wife were worshippers of Baal (the pagan god of many other gods) and had
influenced a large majority of Israel to follow in the same pagan worship.
In order to
glorify His name and turn the hearts of Israel back to the truth, God
instrumentally calls upon His faithful servant Elijah who demonstrates his
great faith through the many miracles he performs in the name of the Lord, such
as:
Raising the
dead
The first
mention of the miracle of raising the dead in the Bible is performed by Elijah when
he calls on the name of the Lord God to raise a dead boy to life:
“Then Elijah
cried out to the Lord and said, “Woe is me, O Lord! The witness of the widow
with whom I lodge, you have embittered her by killing her son.” Then he
stretched himself out on the child three times, and called on the Lord and
said, “O Lord my God, let the soul of this child come back to him.” So it
happened, and the child cried out. (1
Kings 17:20-22)
We see a
meaningful significance in the way Elijah is lead to stretch himself over the
dead boy three times; for the number three is a sacred number that points to
the blessed Holy Trinity.
Feeding the
poor
Elijah again gives
glory to God by quoting to the poor widow the Godly words that were spoken to
him; “For thus says the Lord;
‘The bin of
flour shall not be used up, and the jar of oil shall not run dry, until the day
the Lord sends rain on the earth.’
The bin of flour
was not used up, and the jar of oil did not run dry, according to the word of
the Lord spoken by Elijah (1 Kings 17:16).
Through these
works in the name of the Lord the widow who witnessed these, acknowledged
Elijah as a true man of God and the words spoken to her from his mouth were
true [as if from God Himself] (1 Kings 17:24).
Proving there
is only one true God
A well-known
miracle that Elijah is characterized by is the infamous calling down of fire
from the heavens. In order to prove to the king and the prophets of Baal that
their faith in these idols was in vain, the prophet calls on the name of the
Lord again to prove the worthlessness of the idols and display the mighty
strength of the one true God (1 Kings 18:20-40).
Elijah cried out
to heaven and said, “O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, answer me,
O Lord, answer me this day with fire, and let this people know You are the God
of Israel, and I am Your servant; and for Your sake I do all these works.”(1
Kings 18:36)
In witnessing
the might of God as performed through the word of Elijah, the people fell on
their faces and they said, “Truly, the Lord is God; He is God.” (1 Kings
18:39) And again, Elijah proved true to his mission in serving the Lord through
glorifying His name.
Separating the
waters
When Elijah and
Elisha stood at the bank of the Jordan River, Elijah took his mantle, rolled it
up, and struck the water. The water was divided in two streams and allowed both
men to walk across.(2 Kings 2:8) Afterwards, when Elisha was left with Elijah’s
mantle, he tried to divide the waters in the same way, but it was not until
Elisha called on the name of the Lord that the waters were divided (2 Kings 2:13-14).
God rewards Elijah for the faithful acts performed in His name by:
Providing for
his needs
When the Lord
commissioned Elijah to start his journey at the commencement of the drought, He
provided ravens to bring Elijah bread and meat to eat, and a brook to draw
water from (1 Kings 17:3-6).
The Lord lead
Elijah to the poor widow who provided him with water to drink and bread to eat
before Elijah showed her God’s providence through the miracles performed in her
house. (1 Kings 17:8-9)
When Elijah fled
from Jezebel and entered the wilderness, the angel of the Lord continually
provided him with cakes of wheat and water to sustain him for forty days and
forty nights. (1 Kings 19:4-9)
When God found
Elijah afraid and alone after fleeing from the pagan worshippers, He comforted
the faithful and zealous prophet by providing him with His holy presence and
revealed Himself to the prophet in the sound of a gentle breeze (1 Kings 19:11-13).
Finally, we see
Elijah, who was favoured by God unlike any other prophet, was spared the
physical death and was taken up into heaven by a chariot of fire (2 Kings2:10-11).
Today, as
faithful Christians of the Church and lovers of Christ, we too should look not
only to the example of the prophets like Elijah and faithful forefathers before
us, but to the glorious example of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. He came
into the world to glorify the Father by leading people to know Him through His
words and deeds and commands us, His followers to do the same;
“In the same way, let your light shine
before others, that they may see
your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew
5:16
St. John
Chrysostom expounds on Elijah’s works and draws a great parallel for us to
observe:
“For Elijah
left a sheepskin (mantle) to his disciple, but the Son of God ascending left to
us His own flesh! Elijah indeed, cast off his mantle, before he went up; but
Christ left it behind for our sakes; and yet retained it when He ascended. Let
us not lament, nor fear the difficulty of the times, for He who did not refuse
to pour out His blood for all, and has suffered us to partake in His flesh and
of His blood again, what will He refuse to do for our safety?”
Let us remember,
that just as the prophet Elijah left his mantle (sheepskin) for Elisha to
continue in the faithful works for the Lord, so too we have been entrusted with
the duty that has been handed down to us through the apostles; to work for the
Lord by making His name known to the world. We have the assurance in knowing
that He has provided for our needs through His grace dispensed to us through
the sacraments, and we trust that He will continue to provide for us in the same
way he provided for the prophet Elijah when we call upon His mighty name.
“Your Name” – Paul Baloche and Glenn
Packiam
