Please stand again with me to 1 Kings chapter 17. By the grace of God, we'll be looking at verses 1 to 7 this evening of 1 Kings chapter 17. And as we consider these verses, we'll be looking at God's care for Elijah by Ravens. God's care for Elijah by Ravens. Already that speaks of the miraculous, doesn't it? God caring for his servant, using birds, ravens, to take care of his servant. Ehab is king. His queen is Jezebel. Baal worship is established in Israel. The attempt to destroy The prophets and the followers of the Lord Jehovah is almost complete, at least it is in full gear at this point in time. The apostasy of Israel has peaked, got to the highest level, perhaps, that it will get to. And then the rebuilding of Jericho is presented to us here in scripture as an example Of the general disregard of the word of the living God in Israel and a general disregard of all the judgments that the Lord has threatened for any violation of his word or any disregard of his word. So the society at the time of Ahab is perhaps like our society today. Everything goes. A good is considered to be evil. When you try to live a righteous life in this society, you are the odd one out. And evil is considered good in our society even today. So the land of Israel at this point in time, just like our nation is and most of the world is today, the land was ripe for judgment. The land was ripe for God's judgment. But God is long-suffering. And the long-suffering God that we know and love and have come to serve, the long-suffering God who waited in the days of Noah, again waits in the days of Ahab. The nation is ripe for his judgment, but God is lonesome. He still delays his judgment upon Israel. And as the preacher of righteousness, Noah, warned of the coming judgment in his day, even so God raises Elijah and Elijah comes and he warns Ahab and he warns Israel of the coming judgment of the Lord. If they do not desist from their ways, especially from following Baal and from worshiping Baal, So that on the one side we have Ahab, we have his wife Jezebel, we have Baal, the introduced god, the foreign god that has been introduced in the nation of Israel, and we have Israel as a nation, at least perhaps majority of the people. On the other side we have the Lord. here, as it were, represented by his servant, even Elijah, who was an embodiment of the divine power. This is how Elijah counts. This is how he's presented here in scripture for us. And the context now, between Ahab and his group, and the Lord represented by his servant, Elijah, the context will not be decided by words. It will have to be decided by deeds. It will have to be decided by action. And the Lord was going to manifest his power and his irresistible greatness to all in a way that he hadn't done before. The Lord was going to do that. And he has raised his servant, his man, even Elijah, who comes in the name So as we think of God's care for Elijah by Ravens tonight, I want us to consider, first of all, Elijah's sudden appearance. And then secondly, we'll look at the absence of God's word. And then thirdly, we'll consider God's strange ways. God's strange ways. So let's begin then with Elijah's sudden appearance. the sudden appearance of Elijah. And when you think of Elijah, of his early life, we know little because little is given to us here in scripture. The manner and the suddenness of his appearance, this first appearance of Elijah, the manner and the suddenness in which he appears, actually it was a reflection of what was to follow in his life. and what we're going to see and consider concerning the life of Elijah. It was just a tester, if you like, of that which was to follow. And generally, received and the most likely view is that Elijah was born in the Tishbi, which was in the upper Galilee, and that was within the territory of Naphtali. This is the generally understood beginning of Elijah. Born in Tishbi, that's why it's referred to as the Tishbite. Tishvi there in Upper Galilee in the territory of Naftali. And that for some uncertain reason, he had migrated into Gilead and had settled there in Gilead as one of the inhabitants of the region of Gilead. And this is what If Elijah's scripture conveys to us by the expression that we have here in verse one of 1 Kings chapter 17, that Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead, Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead, of the inhabitants means of the strangers who were dwelling in Gilead. That's what the word means. He was of the strangers who were dwelling in Gilead. So he appeared with the same or even perhaps more startling unexpectedness than that of John the Baptist when he appeared on the scene there in the wilderness of Judea. In Mark's gospel, and there in chapter 1 and in verses 1 and 3 to 6 of Mark's gospel, this is what we read concerning the appearance of John the Baptist. Mark chapter 1, 3 to 6, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Now, John was clothed with camel's head and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. When you think of the appearance of Elijah, this gives us a picture of how he suddenly appeared on the scene Here he was in Samaria, and he comes to Ehab. And he came precisely with the same object as John the Baptist appeared. He came to warn the people to repent of their sins or to face the coming judgment of the Lord. That was what John the Baptist came to do, to warn them of their sins. that they might prepare their ways because the coming Lord was coming and judgment was going, as it were, to come with him. And in the same manner, Elijah came with a similar message. And his message to the king was abrupt. His message to the king was to the point, just as the situation required. Came straight, precisely to the point. He simply announced the judgment that the Lord had promised if the nation got into the condition in which Israel was at that point in time. In Deuteronomy chapter 11, there in verses 16 and 17 of Deuteronomy chapter 11, verses 16 and 17, Deuteronomy 11, there we read, take heed Moses speaking to the people of God. He says, take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. Verse 17, lest the Lord's anger be aroused against you, and he shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord has given you. So Elijah came. Suddenly, his message was abrupt, concise, and straight to the point, simply the announcement of the judgment that the Lord had promised whenever the nation got into the situation in which Israel was at that point in time. But he pronounced this judgment that the Lord had promised with the addition that the drought The judgment itself, which was that of drought, will only stop by his word. This was the addition. That drought will only stop by his word. And in saying that, he emphasized the importance of Baal, and all the prophets of Baal, and all who served him. He was emphasizing the inability of Baal to do anything against the word of the Lord. And so he says, until the word is given, not even Baal, none of his prophets can change the judgment of the Lord. There will be no rain, and your Baal can do nothing about it. This is what he wanted them to see and to understand, that rain will only return at the word of the Lord. Elijah's sudden appearance. Second, absence of God's word. Absence of God's word. Now, the chapter's theme, this 1 Kings 17, the chapter's theme is actually the word of the Lord. And it is just as Elijah hints right from the beginning in verse one, when he warns Ahab that there shall not be dew nor rain this year except by my word. And since Elijah stands before the Lord, of course, his word is surely the word of the Lord. It is the word of the Lord upon which he stands. And it is the word of the Lord that he's referring to. It is the Lord that sent him with that message that there shall not be rain. And it is only when he is given the Lord's word for the rain to return, it shall not return. And this word of the Lord comes to him in verse two. here of 1 Kings 17. Then the word of the Lord came to him. And also in verse three, it directs him. In verse five, he obeys the word. And we'll see more as we continue in this chapter 17. So that the main thing is clearly the word of the Lord. There we have throughout the chapter, the word of the Lord. So now God says to Elijah in verse three, get away from here. It comes to him as we have seen in verse two, then the word of the Lord came to him saying, and in verse three, it says to him, get away from here and turn eastward and hide by the brook Cherub, which flows into the Jordan. And naturally, when we read that, the natural assumption is that if Jezebel was massacring prophets, as we'll see in chapter 18 and verse four, for so it was while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord that Obadiah had taken 100 prophets and hidden them, 50 to a cave and had fled and had fed them, with bread and water." So Jezebel is massacring and killing and destroying the prophets of the Lord. So the natural assumption here is the Lord says to Elijah to get away from there, having delivered his message, to go and hide at the brook sheriff in order to protect him from Jezebel. That is the natural understanding of this command that he receives. We think of it as God's way of protecting Elijah from the wrath of Jezebel and perhaps that of Ahab as well. But actually, safety from the royal rage does not explain it all. Even if that was part of the reason for this command, It doesn't explain it all, but we must remember, just as the Lord sent him and protected him and brought him to Ahab, and he delivered the message, the Lord is able to protect him and keep him there if he so wished. We need to remember that and understand that. But that may only be part of the reason to protect him from the wrath of Jezebel and perhaps that of Ahab as well. We need to note here that Elijah functions in his capacity as the bearer of the word of the Lord. He is the one that brings the word of the word of the Lord. He is the bringer, if you like, of the word of the Lord. And when Elijah leads Ahab at God's direction, remember it is the bringer of God's word. the bearer of God's word. It is him now who is withdrawing from the Lord's people. It is the bearer of the Lord's word that is withdrawing from the Lord's people. He is the one that is going away from the people of the Lord. And it's going away, of course, with the world. of the Lord. He is withdrawing with the word of the Lord. So that Elijah's disappearance, when he leaves at the command of the Lord, when he disappears, when he leaves and goes and hides there at the brook Cherith, that disappearance actually spells or speaks of the absence of God's word from Israel. That is what it speaks of. That is what it tells us even here. The judgment of Israel is not only the drought of rain, it is also the drought of the word of the Lord. There will be no rain, no dew. But as the bearer of the Lord's word goes away, the word of the Lord goes with him. So it is also the drought of the word of the Lord. So what we have here is Elijah withdrawing. Drought will come. Rain will be withheld. But in addition to that, the word of the Lord will be withheld as well. There will be an absence of the word of the Lord. They will not have the word of the Lord while he's away from them. The Bible always treats the withdrawal of God's word and his voice as a judgment against his people. And it is a very painful judgment for the people of God. When God withdraws his presence from a people, when he withdraws his word from a people, the Bible always shows that it is a very serious and a very painful judgment upon the people. Look at 1 Samuel 28. 1 Samuel chapter 28. Example there of Saul. In 1 Samuel chapter 28 in verses six and 15. First in verse six, and when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him either by dreams or by urine or by the prophets. And then in verse 15, of 1 Samuel 28. Now Samuel said to Saul, why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? And Saul answered, I am deeply distressed for the Philistines make war against me. And God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore, I have called you. that you may reveal to me what I should do. Why have you done this, say, somewhere?" And Saul says, the reason is simple. God has withdrawn himself. His word is gone. It's absent from us. It's absent from me, whether it is by his prophets or even by dreams. The word of God is gone. What shall I do? I need to know. And the Word of God expresses the distress in which Saul cries out even to Samuel at this point in time. He is deeply distressed. If you look at Amos, Amos chapter eight. Hosea, Joel, Amos over there, Amos chapter eight. verses 11 and 12. Amos chapter 8, 11 and 12. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east. They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it. This is the Lord's permission to punish his people, to judge them for their sinful actions, sinful behavior, by withdrawing himself and withdrawing his word. And the withdrawal of the word of the Lord, of the presence of the Lord amongst his people has always been seen as a very severe judgment upon the people of God. And this is the case here. The absence of God's word. When the servant of the Lord is told to withdraw and to go and hide himself by the brook cherries. So absence of God's word. So we have already seen Elijah's sudden appearance, we have seen the absence of God's word. Thirdly, we'll look at God's strange ways. God's strange ways. Now with the drought in Israel, Elijah was told he was to drink from the brook cherry. And the Lord had commanded the ravens to feed him there. 1 Kings 17, verse four. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. And in verse five, Elijah is obedient. He's obedient to the word of the Lord. And he go. And in verse six, the ravens kept bringing him bread and meat, And the meat here literally means flesh. So the ravens kept bringing him bread and flesh, meat. Brought it in the morning, and they brought the same in the evening, and he drank from the brook. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Verse six. And the birds were consistent. They kept bringing him bread and meat. They were consistent throughout, but the brook failed in verse seven. But we read there, and it happened after a while that the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. The brook failed, however, however, The word of the Lord is always sufficient. The word of the Lord never fails. And the word of the Lord was sufficient even for this new development. When the brook fells in verse eight of 1 Kings 17, then the word of the Lord came to him saying, The brook may fail, but the word of the Lord never. It comes to him again in verse eight. I want to think ahead of the believing remnant that we are told of in chapter 19 and in verse 18. In chapter 19, And verse 18, it says, yet, this is the Lord speaking to his servant. Yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not vowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him. With all that was going on with Jezebel of the Queen, with the establishment of the worship of Baal, there was still a believing remnant in Israel. And at the time of this judgment, when the drought of rain and the drought of the word of God was imposed upon the land as punishment by the Lord, the Bolivian remnant was there. And they were suffering under this drought with the rest of Israel. They were not being fed by any rains. They were suffering with all the others in Israel. went through the same difficulties. While the servant of the Lord, even Elijah, was being cared for by ravens, by the group of cherubs. You see, God had work for Elijah to do. And that work was not yet completed. And until his work was done, God was going to see to it that he was preserved. And God will always preserve his servant for whom he has a work to do. And until that work is done, he is immortal, even as Judge Whitfield said. But I want you to also note the means, the means that God used to preserve Elijah's life. He used ravens. birds. They were birds of prey, of course, but they were themselves unclean birds. They were unclean birds. In Leviticus chapter 11, and there in verse 15 of Leviticus chapter 11, Here we have a mention of animals, meats, that the children of God were not at all to eat. In Leviticus 11 verse 13, it says, and this you shall regard as an abomination among the birds. And then in verse 15, it says, every raven after its time. So ravens were an abomination to the children of Israel. But it is this raven that the Lord chooses to use to preserve the life of his servant. God's strength was. in Deuteronomy chapter 14 and there in verse 14 we have it again mentioned in verse 14 we have again said in a similar way every raven after its time these are those that are an abomination to the children of Israel but you notice there that unlike Peter in Acts chapter 10 you see in Acts chapter 10 And there in verse 14 of Acts chapter 10, this is what we'll read concerning Peter. Acts 10, 14. And a voice in verse 13, and a voice came to him, rise Peter, kill and eat. The Lord had lowered, as it were, a table with different kinds of animals. And by the time he gets down, In it, verse 12, were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And then a voice came to him and said, rise, Peter, kill and eat. He knew it was the voice of the Lord. But in verse 14, but Peter said, not so, Lord. who have never eaten anything common or unclean. And then it is after that that the boys spoke to him again the second time and said, what God has cleansed, you must not call common. So here, unlike Peter, Elijah did not say, lo, ravens, an abomination. I'm a Jew, I'm a Niseralite, have you forgotten? No, he didn't dare to remind God. Elijah did not object to God's decision to use unclean birds. If God chose to use them, so be it. He simply adored the Lord for his strange ways, for the ways he moves, mysterious ways in which he moves, in order to take care of his servant. That's what Elijah did. Let's make two applications. as we close even this evening. We've seen that sudden appearance of Elijah. And we've seen that that sudden appearance of Elijah actually foreshadowed the sudden appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because when he came, Israel was not prepared for him. When the Lord came, when he was born, when he appeared, as it were, on the scene, even the religious leaders and King Herod missed him. They were not expecting him. They were not prepared for him. And the religious leaders, the guides of the people, missed the coming of the Lord. But here we notice that the appearance of Elijah was startling, it was strange, it was bold. He came confronting the king and the people there in their beautiful city of Samaria. Here he came. Remember the picture of John the Baptist there with his skin, clothing and belt girded around him and everything. The prophet of the Lord comes into his beautiful city of Samaria and he goes up to Ahab the king and he confronts him and he confronts him and he gives him his message. His message was incredible and it was in contrast to everything that was out there. Everything that was going on was completely at odds with the message that the prophet brought to King Amphitryon. The unexpected mention of the name of Jehovah in Samaria at this time, that name had disappeared. That name had gone. There was the name. But Elijah comes. as the Lord God, and there he's saying, as Jehovah lives, before whom I stand. This unexpected mention of the name of Jehovah at such a place was a shock to everybody. Who is this strange man? Why does he come in this name that had become strange to them at this point in time? But it is in that name that he comes. The unexpected mention of the name of the Lord. The authority that he pleads. It is the authority of the Lord. The power that he claimed is the power of the Lord before whom he stands, before whom he serves. And then the terms that he gives to air and to people. There shall be no end, except at my word. No dew, no rain, except at my word. That was his message. As the Lord God of Israel lived before whom I stand, there shall not be dew, no rain this year, except at my word. No wonder Ahab's answer, if at all he gave any, his answer is not recorded for us. We're not told. The impression it made on him, on the people, we're not told. They are not noted. They are insignificant. They are not important. And they are not mentioned here in Scripture. But the prophet must now withdraw, and he must withdraw suddenly, just as suddenly as they appear. And that's exactly what happened. He must hide from human sight. from question or answer. This is what he must do. He must hide away from human rights, away from questions and from answers. And he must let God do his work alone on sin before powerless Baal and his followers. And as we have noted, he said, there will be no dew, no rain, except as my word, and that word was the word of the Lord, because it was on the word of the Lord that he stood. So he was to go, he was to let the Lord do his work on sin before all, so that the glory does not go to anybody else, but to the Lord alone. And there the powerlessness of Baal and his prophets were going to be proven. before all the people. And this was what happened. In the second place, the church today may think that God cannot withdraw his word since we have the Bible anyway. We have the Bible, which is God's word. We always have it. We do not depend upon a prophet's word. We have God's word. So perhaps that does not apply to us. God will not withdraw from us. He's already given us his word and we have it. But you can have many Bibles. You can use many Bible helps, all the commentaries in the world, you can use them and do whatever you need to do, but you can still suffer from the absence of God's word. The word of the Lord can still withdraw from you. where you do not have the spirit of the word, you can never have the word. Walter Kaiser, he tells of when a renowned professor in a top US university was holding a special seminar on the origins of Christianity. Kaiser went, And during the special seminar, some people, some in the seminar, some students, they sidetracked the professor. And they sidetracked him into discussing his understanding of Romans chapters one to five. They got him to that. And Caesar says, he carefully and eloquently explained it in the text. He underscored the sinfulness of all who were present there for the seminar, the need to believe in God's son's sacrifice for their sins so as to be accepted by God. And he went on and on, Kaiser said. And Kaiser said, he had rarely, very rarely, heard such a bold and fair treatment of that text. The professor was excellent. It really heard such a bold and fair treatment of the text. Then a Jewish student or some Jewish students asked if the professor believed all that stuff that he had said. And the professor scoffed at the student. He scoffed at him. Who said anything about believing? I'm just arguing that this is what Paul said. The professor had Romans. He understood Romans. He explained Romans. But Romans was withdrawn from him. He didn't have Romans. He didn't have the grace in Romans. He didn't have the faith in Romans. He didn't have the salvation of God in Romans. Romans had withdrawn from him. The word of God had withdrawn from him. And it is a very scary thing. A very scary thing. Mosul, if you're not even aware of the fact that the word had withdrawn from him, You might know the word. You might have it in your head. You might be able to explain it. You might be the best expositor. But then it's not in your heart. It doesn't touch. No, it is just in the brain, in the head. That's all. The word may be close to you, but it's withdrawn from you. You may know all that needs to be known, but you do not have it. It's not living. withdrawn from the burden and finally, although Elijah was told to go to the brook Cherith. And we see God's marvelous provision through ravens, ravens, strange animals. But that is part of God's strange ways. He uses strange ways and he has strange animals, ravens, to take care of his servants. God provided for his servant through ravens, but the brook cherished him, and the servant dried up. And it's important that we note this. Walking in God's way does not always mean everything will be easy. It doesn't mean that life will be easy. Yes, When problems come, even when you're walking in the way of the Lord, it is not because you're not walking in God's way. No, it's simply because walking in God's way does not always mean that life is going to be easy, everything is going to be easy. But it does mean, it does mean that the Lord will always be with you. And his word will always direct you. his word would yet direct you. As we saw in verse 8, when the group dried up, the word of the Lord came again to his servant Elijah and directed him. If he was out of God's way, the word would have been far from him. The word would not have come to him. So even when working in God's way, there will be difficulties, there will be challenges. It is the way that the Lord has said we should go, but he hasn't said it's going to be easy. No, but he has said one thing, I will never leave, nor forsake you. I will always be with you. I will be with you there in all your troubles, and it's important that we remember that. Also, When God's work for us on earth is not yet done, as was the case with Elijah, God will preserve us. God will sustain us. He will meet us at every point of our need. George Whitfield found that out, as I mentioned earlier. But in times of God's judgment, or in times of pandemic like this, most of us, like the remnant there in chapter 19 and verse 18, Most of us will suffer just like everybody else. Most of us will go through it just like everybody else. And some of us may even die, like others who are dying. It's important to remember that. But if we are walking in God's way, we know that he is with us. He never leaves us. He will always be with us. And when we die, what do we do? We go to be with the Lord, which is far better. That's what we must remember. Death for the believer is not a fearsome thing. It is but the gate. It is but the entrance into the presence of his majesty. It's but the call that we wait as servants of the Lord here on earth serving him. And when it comes, Like the apostle Paul says, it is far better. While we are here in the flesh, with all the pains and the aches and the fears that we have because of our sinful nature. Of course, we fear death like every other person, but it ought not to be. Because for the believer, death should not be a fearful thing. No, we should be reminded it's but our door, our channel, our entrance into the presence of our Lord and our God. May the Lord give us all the grace that we need. All the power that we need to always walk in his way, no matter how hard, no matter how difficult, and to remember that he is always with us. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. No matter what may happen, ultimately, everything is working for the good of the tribe. Amen. Let us pray.