Here is a picture of us driving up Mt Carmel...its soo beautiful (minus the reflection in the window...I was still perfecting my take-pictures-as-we-ride-in-the-bus technique!!)
We were greeted by a statue of Elijah...
Geography of Mount Carmel....(sadly the day was hazy and the visibility wasn't ideal)
Mt Tabor and Nazareth are towards the east (and a little bit south)
squint and you can see Mt Tabor in the distance!!
Megiddo is towards the southeast
Samaria/Samaria Mtns lie south of Megiddo
Megiddo is down below...with the Samarian mtns in the distance!
The Lord Jesus would have spent about 27 years of His life in Nazareth and when He headed towards Jerusalem, He chose to go through Samaria--"...as He went to Jerusalem..He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee..." Luke 17:11. It was there that He encountered the ten lepers with only one returning to give thanks.
I Kings 18 describes a time when Samaria was under a great famine. Ahab and Jezebel ruled during this time, in the area of Megiddo and Jezreel. Ahab blames Elijah for the drought and so Elijah challenges him to bring his prophets of Baal to Mt Carmel. The children of Israel gathered and the prophets of Baal numbered 450. They each prepared their altars and put no fire under it. The prophets of Baal cried out to their gods...at noon Elijah mocked them, telling them to call out louder..perhaps their gods were sleeping. They continued to cry out, dancing and cutting themselves with knives until evening.
Then Elijah prepared an altar to the Lord. He placed 12 stones upon it to represent the tribes of the sons of Jacob...and then he had 4 pots, filled with water, poured upon the alter...repeated 3 times. It is thought that they may have gone to the Mediterranean Sea to get the water. The altar and trench surrounding it were filled with water and then Elijah called out to the Lord. He called out and the Lord answered with fire from heaven that consumed the offering, altar, stones and licked up all the water. And the people fell on their faces and said "The Lord, He is God!"
As I stood on Mt Carmel and heard the account of this event, I couldn't help but look up and wonder what it must have been like to see the fire come down and consume the altar in its entirety! The people reacted by falling on their faces. They obviously recognized that Elijah served the true and living God. And yet, we know, that Ahab and Jezebel never repented of their ways. They never turned their hearts towards the living God. How is that possible after seeing such an awesome act of God!?
It reminded me of a passage in Revelation 9 where the fifth trumpet is described. The locusts and scorpions from the bottomless pit are given power. They are commanded to harm "only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for 5 months...in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die and death will flee from them." Revelation 9:4-6
What a horrid place to find mankind! A place of despair beyond measure...and yet we read that they, "with the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands...they did not repent." Revelation 9:20-21 They will turn away from the One who can give them Life and turn towards the very one who caused such pain, agony, despair! They refuse to repent of their ways, just like Ahab and Jezebel and the prophets of Baal.
And then I turned to look at my own heart. How often do I allow my own fleshly desires to rule rather than recognizing the power of the living God in my own life? I am thankful that our God has been patient and merciful with me. He could rain down fire from heaven and consume me and yet He patiently guides and directs me, helping me to see the error of my ways. May I look back on Mt Carmel and be reminded that my God is great and powerful, that He is the same God Who I serve today. May my heart bow to Him, "The Lord, He is God!"
No comments:
Post a Comment