Encountering and Experiencing God
Elijah at Mount Horeb (Sinai)
Bible Text: 1 Kings 19:5-18
Preached on: Sunday, April 13, 2008, 6pm
Tabernacle Baptist Church
7020 Barrington Road
Hanover Park, Illinois 60133
Website: www.GodCentered.info
Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of 1 Kings 19:5-18. Have you had an encounter with God? To know God is the most satisfying experience a human being can have. Are you experiencing God? If you know Christ, the only thing that will keep you from being dragged down in the discouragement of this world are regular encounters and experiences with God. This is true whether you are new in the faith or whether you are a mature giant in the faith. We need to encounter God! Christianity is so much more than just a religion. It is a relationship of experiencing God.
We come to Elijah in 1 Kings 19, and he is presented to us in both Old and New Testament as someone who is intimately acquainted with God. We are going to see how he encountered God in 1 Kings 19:5-18.
Would you stand as we read our passage tonight? 1 Kings 19:5-18, “And as [Elijah] lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel [THE ANGEL OF THE LORD] touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. 6 And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. 7 And the Angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. 8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
9 ¶ And [ELIJAH] came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? 10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 14 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 15 And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. 17 And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. 18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him”.
After eating hot bread and drinking a jar of water prepared for Him by the Lord, we are told that Elijah traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. This is Mount Sinai where Moses was given the Law of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. In the Hebrew there is a definite article in front of the word "cave" – it is actually marked as a specific cave. It is almost as if the writer was referring to a specific cave known to his readers. What cave would that be? The only cave on Mount Horeb that the Bible tells us about is the "clift in the rock" from which Moses was allowed to glimpse God's glory found in Exodus 33:18-23. Turn over there. Moses was also discouraged. He had just come down with the Ten Commandments, and the people had made a golden calf. They were falling away from God. After all the miracles of the Exodus, the plagues and the Red Sea Crossing, these people’s hearts were still far from God. Moses wanted a direct encounter with God.
Look at Exodus 33:18, “And [MOSES] said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19 And [GOD] said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”
Just as Moses desperately needed encouragement to lead the nation from apostasy, so Elijah needed the same vision of God in His time of discouragement. When Elijah meets with God, the first thing that happens is God starts asking him questions!
I. The first phase in encountering and experiencing God is our own Self-Examination. Once Elijah is in the cave where Moses was, God starts probing with deep questions about the purpose for all that Elijah had been doing for God. Verse 9 tells us that “the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?” Now God doesn’t ask questions to find out information. God already knows everything. He knows our hearts perfectly. We need to always understand that when God asks questions, it is not to get information. God asks questions to help US to search our own hearts. So with this question the Lord began the deep probing of Elijah’s heart.
Application: This is so important for all of us to do. We ought to constantly reflect and inspect ourselves. We ought to say, What am I doing? Is this the very best I could be doing for God? How can I do better? Am I failing to see God rightly or trust Him fully?
God was probing Elijah for his own good. He needed to reflect and see ourselves in a truthful light.
Elijah’s answer reveals a heart that is steadfast, but perplexed at God’s plan. Elijah says in verse 10, “I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
Much of what Elijah believed was true, but we are going to find out that some of Elijah’s perception of reality was overly pessimistic and wrong. Elijah was not the only one left. There were 7,000 other faithful followers of the Lord in Israel. God wants to help Elijah understand that even though things are quite dark, God is still at work. God’s motive here is not to rebuke Elijah, but to encourage Him. “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14).
Elijah must have had some nagging questions in his mind. Elijah had expected a massive cleansing of leadership following the great revival at Mount Carmel. Why didn’t God strike Jezebel dead in his presence and then cause a great host of men to follow his spiritual leadership? The problem was not with Elijah’s faith. He had the faith to remove the mountain. But I believe there was a part of him that was impatient that God hadn’t done even more! He did not understand God’s ways. Why was there still apostasy in Israel?
Application: Let me ask you—have you ever been perplexed and confused at the work of God was doing in your life? You need to probe your heart and ask yourself the question, “Why am I here?” You may be in a confusing time in your life even though you’ve been faithful to the Lord. And your own understanding of the situation is not full and complete. You wouldn’t be confused if you could see the end from the beginning. We all “see through a glass, darkly” (1 Corinthians 13:12). So we need to “trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
You can never lean to your own understanding because you will never have a full grasp of the situation this side of eternity. At times you may think you can run the world better than God. You would do things differently. Whether we are talking about Job or Moses or Elijah, even the greatest saints of God have scratched their head because they were looking into the glass darkly. But we need to entrust ourselves to the God who “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11).
So before you start perplexing at what God is doing, inspect your heart and entrust your soul to the Lord. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
II. The second phase in encountering and experiencing God is Revelation. You only know as much about God as He will reveal to you. Now God had brought Elijah to this very special place for a reason. God delights in revealing Himself to His servants. Moses had asked many years earlier in Exodus 33:18, “Lord shew me thy glory!” Elijah had seen the glory of God to some extent in all the mighty miracle God had performed in his ministry. God shut the heavens of rain. He brought down fire from heaven. He then opened the rains of heaven on the earth. But God had brought Elijah to this place to reveal how God actually works in the hearts of men.
Elijah was surely perplexed that the revival didn’t produce a complete turn around in the leadership of Israel. Surely the natural disasters like this three and a half year drought would turn people’s hearts to the Lord!
But God proceeds to show Elijah the limitations in dealing with men through even great judgments and natural disasters. We read in verses 11-12, “And [GOD] said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice”. Great winds, earthquakes, and fires can quickly destroy men’s lives, but only by the “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit can men be regenerated by the careful and patient teaching of God’s Word.
2 Timothy 2:23 tells us that the only way to “recover [PEOPLE] out of the snare of the devil” is through the patient, gentle teaching of the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. The still small voice of the Holy Spirit draws men out of this world and calls them to know God on an intimate level. It was this way in Elijah’s day, and it is this way today.
Elijah was shown the same glory that Moses had seen. The horrendous wind lashed the mountain. A great earthquake shook the ground. There was fire, perhaps an electrical storm that struck trees with fire. All of this would have been fascinating and truly awesome for Elijah. But then came a soft and gentle whisper. I don’t know what the voice said. Perhaps God whispered Elijah’s name. The natural phenomena were like trumpets announcing the King’s arrival. But the “still small voice” is how God encounters man.
Elijah is ready to talk face to face with God. So we find out in verse 13, we find out that Elijah covers his face in his mantle and steps to the opening of the cave. “Elijah …wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him”, and God again asks the question, “What doest thou here, Elijah?”
God repeats the same question to draw attention to two problems that Elijah and most Christians find quite discouraging. Here they are:
· Loneliness
· Apostasy & compromise
Elijah says in verse 14, “I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away”. Elijah was dealing with the apostasy of Israel and his own loneliness.
If you are a true Christian you will at times like Elijah be discouraged that so many are doing wrong and there are so few Christians that are on fire for God.
When we encounter God there is a great introspection of self and a great revelation of God.
III. The third phase in encountering and experiencing God is understanding God’s Retribution. Certainly Elijah was wondering God didn’t strike Ahab and Jezebel dead and bring in a new reign of godly spiritual leadership in Israel. What we find out next while Elijah is in the cleft of the rock is that God will judge the wicked. But He’s not going to do it through Elijah.
In verses 15-17, Elijah is commissioned to anoint Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha to wipe out the wickedness of the day. Elijah needed to understand that God will judge the wicked—in His own time and way. Romans 12:19, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
And God would have vengeance on those who would not respond to His constant arms of mercy. Look at verse 15-17, “And the LORD said unto [ELIJAH], Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. 17 And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay”.
Application: Now Elijah wanted to see the countryside wiped clean of wickedness. He thought God would do it through him. But God has his people that he is drawing to Himself, and he will judge the rest. We need to leave the work of God with God. You cannot save anyone. Elijah wanted to impact and transform the culture and the countryside. That would come in time. There would be cleansing under Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha. There would be revivals later under Josiah. God works in His own time and His own way.
Encountering and experiencing God means that you leave mercy and justice up to Him! God is not only merciful and gracious, but He is also righteous, and He by no means “acquit the wicked”.
As long as you are on this earth, you need to understand that God will judge people in His own time and way.
Listen to Luke 6:37, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven”.
We read in 1 Peter 2:23 that Christ, “when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously”.
Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”
Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:38-39, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
It’s hard to see evil going on. Entrust your soul to God. God will visit the ungodly either with mercy by saving their souls or with justice!
IV. The final phase in encountering and experiencing God is understanding God’s Compassion. Here’s what Elijah needed to understand in his encounter with God at Horeb (Sinai) in the cleft of the rock where God revealed His glory and person to Moses and now to Elijah. God is compassionate. Verse 18, God says, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him”. So it has been since Adam until now. There is always as Romans 11:5 says “a remnant according to the election of grace”. Sometimes it is shocking that the remnant of true believers is so small. Our Lord said the gate to eternal life is narrow and “few there be that find” eternal life (Matthew 7:14). And yet at the end of the age, we will see that it will still be an amazing multitude of people that God has saved, as Revelation 7:9 says, “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues”.
God saves the most unlikely of people. I don’t know who was numbered in that 7,000 of Elijah’s day, but surely “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:27).
Conclusion: If you are perplexed at what God is doing in your life, you need to increase your experience and encounters with God. In those encounters, you will do some self examination. God will reveal Himself as a God of justice and also a God of compassion. Stay faithful as Elijah did, but understand that God is sovereign and He knows what is best. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding! We don’t know the end from the beginning. God wants to work in and through you to first and foremost help you to KNOW God and experience and encounter him! Are you encountering God on a daily basis?
Let me close with this. There were two people that God called back from heaven to come down to earth and meet with Peter, James, and John at the Mount of Transfiguration. They were the two that had been in the cleft of that Rock on Mount Sinai. Moses and Elijah came down with Jesus. Moses spoke of Christ. Elijah had the power of Christ upon Him.
How about you? Are you hidden in the cleft of our Great Rock, who is Jesus Christ? Is your life “hid with God in Christ”? (Colossians 3:1-3). Ask God tonight, “Shew me thy Glory!” He will show you yourself as you are. He will show you Himself as He is. And he will show you His justice and His mercy! Yield yourself to God to be salt and light to this world. You will only be salt and light as you encounter and experience Him!