Title: The Revival of Elijah
Contents
▒▒▒ 1 Kings 18:30~46
The 2,000-year history of Christianity is the history of revival in one word. You can say At the time of Jesus, Rome ruled the world. Rome was heavily influenced by Greece. The Romans accepted the gods that the Greeks worshiped as they are, and they worshiped the emperor. Those who did not worship the Roman emperor as a god were even put to death. In the midst of such persecution, Constantine the Great accepted Christianity through the early church members in 313 AD.
On October 31, 1517, the Reformation was triggered by Martin Luther's 95 theses refutation placed on the front door of the University of Wittenberg or church.
The importance of the Reformation is the first, "We are saved through faith in Jesus Christ." This basic doctrine has been reaffirmed.
Second, anyone can read the Word of God and understand it.
Thirdly, Martin Luther made it possible for all members of the church to sing hymns. As such, the Reformation changed civilization in the Middle Ages. The Reformation is the revival of the soul, and it is the Reformation that brings change in our lives and social change.
Elijah was a prophet in the time of King Ahab. King Ahab was the seventh king of northern Israel from 869 to 850 BC. 1 Kings 16:30 says, “Ahab was a more wicked king than any other king that had ever been before.” is saying Among the kings of Israel, one of the most guilty was Jeroboam the son of Nebat. However, the Bible says in verse 31, “Ahab took the sin that Jeroboam the son of Nebat had done lightly and committed a greater sin than that.” Says. Looking at the sin Ahab committed, he married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon, named Ethbaal, and built sanctuaries in Bethel and Dan. In Samaria, he set up a statue of Baal and an Asherah pole.
In Joshua 13-22, there is a scene in which the land of Canaan is distributed to the twelve tribes. “Do not sell or buy the land that you have been given to God.” It prohibits trading. This is because at some point when the sale starts, the land is concentrated on only a few people, and most of the remaining people are reduced to poor people without land.
But Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, came in and broke the law. So, forcibly taking Naboth's vineyard and taking the land of the weak were common in the days of Ahab. Therefore, for the first time in Ahab's time, the poor and beggars came to Israel in groups.
At this time, he commanded Elijah the Tishphite living in Gilead, saying, “God is angry with idolatry, and it will not rain on this land until the word of God is spoken again on this land.” prophesying the word of God.
However, Ahab, who created and killed an innocent man named Naboth, did not stand still when he heard the nameless Elijah. So Elijah preached the word and started running away.
Martin Luther also hid from the Pope during the Reformation in 1517. There are 384 hymns written while hiding. “My lord is a strong city. He becomes your shield and your weapon.” The basis of this hymn is Psalm 46:1. “God is our refuge and strength, a great help in trouble.”
As Elijah flees from the blade of King Ahab, he realizes that God is the God who provides everything.
Brothers and sisters, the revival of the soul and the reformation of faith begin when we surrender our bodies to God, who is our refuge. A revival and reformation of faith cannot happen unless we surrender our bodies to God. “I confess to God every morning, God, today I offer myself as a sacrifice to God.” I pray for you. Please remember that when we surrender ourselves to God, the revival of our souls and the blessing of experiencing God's power and power take place.
After experiencing the power of God, Elijah goes to King Ahab and prophesies the second word of God. And we suggest that we go to Mount Carmel with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah to find out who the true god is. No matter how much the prophet Asherah, the prophet of Baal, who climbed Mount Carmel, shouted, there was no sign in heaven all day. Now it was Elijah's turn. Elijah tells him to take the twelve stones and build the altar. Building an altar with twelve stones has the meaning of an altar that remembers God's grace and blessings. Reformation of faith is the return to the original faith in this way.
Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that you will return wholeheartedly to our God. When we repented, a cloud the size of a palm appeared in the eastern sky, and it began to rain rain on the dry fields for three years.
Brothers and sisters, when we worship God, we take refuge in God, who is our refuge, honestly repent of our sins that we have lived apart from God, and confess with our mouths that there is only one Lord God in heaven and earth. , I believe that the rain of blessing and the rain of the Holy Spirit will pour on us.
2009-11-06 10:37:03