Elijah and the Showdown

It was October 29, 1974. 60,000 spectators gathered in Kinshasa, Zaire, for the most anticipated showdown of the year. Boxing legends Mohammed Ali and George Foreman met to determine the next heavy weight champion of the world! 

This fight was known as the Rumble in the Jungle. I wasn’t alive in 1974 but I’ve heard the name plenty of times. I can imagine the utter mayhem that ensued as Ali knocked Foreman out at the end of the eighth round to claim the heavy weight championship. It was definitely a fight for the ages. 

As we jump into Part 3 of the life and times of Elijah, the prophet, we too are going to experience a showdown (click here for Part 1, and here for Part 2). But in this case, it isn’t about who is the strongest fighter, but rather which god is the true god. It is not a championship at stake, but the allegiance of an entire nation.

When Elijah first met with Ahab, the king of Israel, he told him that God would hold back the rain because of the evil that Ahab was doing. Not even Baal, the god of fertility would be able to make it rain again. Ahab was forced to test the reliability of Baal and had to question whether or not Baal could actually provide for life. If Ahab would have come to his senses and acknowledged that Yahweh (God) was the only god, things would have changed. But instead of inquiring of God, King Ahab started looking for Elijah.

In 1 Kings 18, Ahab met Elijah and demanded answers. He called Elijah a “troubler of Israel,” but Elijah reminded Ahab that it was Ahab who caused the problems since he rejected the covenant and commands of God and followed idols instead. Neither Ahab nor Elijah conceded, so they came up with a plan to put their gods to the test.

Israel had already seen that God had control over the rain, and no matter how much they prayed and sacrificed to Baal, no rain came. For the Israelites, this showdown would cement the fact that there was only one true God. Forget about the Rumble in the Jungle - things were about to get epic.

Elijah told Ahab to gather 450 prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel along with all the people of Israel. Once they were all together, Elijah challenged them:

“How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” (1 Kings 18:21)

The challenge was set. Elijah gave the people the choice to follow whichever God was actually real. Now it was time for the showdown. They brought two bulls and built two altars. The challenge was simple. The prophets of Baal would pray to Baal to bring fire from heaven to burn their offering, and Elijah would do the same thing with Yaweh. Whichever altar actually burned, that god would be known to be the true God.

The prophets of Baal went first. They prayed, shouted, and danced. They slashed themselves with swords. But no one answered. No one listened. No fire came down from heaven. Elijah taunted them as they continued. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” (1 King 18:27)

Interestingly, old inscriptions of Baal picture him as holding lightning bolts in his hands. He was believed to be the god of fertility - in control of the skies. But when the prophets cried out, instead of fire from heaven, they got silence.

Then it was Elijah’s turn, but he raised the stakes by covering his altar completely in water until there was a trench filled around it. Everything was soaked so that no one could claim that Elijah was performing a trick. He prepared the sacrifice and simply prayed that God would reveal Himself to the people.

And it happened right away - 1 Kings 18:38 tells us that “the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.”

The showdown was over! The battle was won! It was clear without a doubt that the Lord God was the only true God, the creator of the universe and the giver of life. Yahweh actually showed up. Baal didn’t because the truth was that Baal never existed. That was the whole point of the showdown, and the people of Israel got it. 

The people of Israel cried out in verse 39 - “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” They knew who the winner was, but in all fairness, it wasn’t even a fair fight. This wasn’t the Rumble in the Jungle where two heavy weights went head to head. The battle that was being fought was not between two gods in order to determine who was better because God actually had no opponent. It was the battle for the human heart to acknowledge the one and only God of the universe. When the people realized this and turned back to God, He brought the rain back on the land.

“There’s only one God who’s worth worshipping with all that we are.”

Scripture is clear. There’s only one God who’s worth worshipping with all that we are. Sometimes, just like the people of Israel, we lose sight of who that God is. There are so many things today calling for our allegiance and attention, and it’s quite easy to start worshipping other gods instead of the God of the Bible.

But Yahweh doesn’t enjoy sharing our allegiance with idols that are products of our own design. Our God made us, gave us life, and showed us the way to life. He calls us into relationship with Him by reconciling us through His Son, Jesus. And when we accept Jesus, we too will know that God is real. The question is: Do we know this God?

Even though the showdown was over and the battle was won, Elijah was about to face a whole other challenge. We continue that story in the next blog post.