READING FOR OCTOBER 23, 2025: 1 KINGS 18, HEBREWS 6, PSALM 110 1 KINGS 18 This writer had an extensive email exchange last week with a pastor from another church on the topic of miracles. This excellent man of God took the position that although miracles have happened in the past and are still possible, they were really meant to establish the first-century church and are not normative today. This writer took the position that the Bible doesn’t say miracles have ceased, and in fact it hints that they will be ongoing until Jesus returns (see 1 Cor. 13). As in most of these cases, no minds were changed on the subject...yet.
This chapter tells the story of a miracle every bit as dramatic as the crossing of the Red Sea. (Remember Charlton Heston?) The story begins when God told Elijah to tell Ahab it will rain again. Elijah obeys. Ever won- der what makes a person great? It’s when God says to do something and a person does it. Doesn’t seem hard, but failure to do this has caused all the world’s problems from the very beginning until this present moment!
On the way, he meets Obediah, the King’s head of household and secret believer in God. By the way, God still has his people sprinkled strategically throughout the world, as Paul noted: “All God’s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household” (Phil. 4:22). Obediah was like Oskar Shindler in that he was hiding 100 prophets from the evil Queen Jezebel who had already murdered many. Elijah told Obediah to inform the King that he, Elijah, is here. After some initial misgivings, Obediah did. At their summit
meeting, Ahab accused Elijah of causing Israel’s drought. Elijah responded that the root cause was the King’s abandonment of God’s commandments and adoption of Jezebel’s Baal worship (vs. 18). Once again, we see that, when God’s people ignore God’s word and embrace ways of the surrounding culture, disaster follows.
Amazingly Elijah orders King Ahab to set up a demonstration at Mt. Carmel for him and 450 of Jezebel’s pro- phets of Baal. Even more amazing is that Ahab did it; he was surely desperate for rain. At the event, Elijah told all the people that they must choose between God or Baal. They cannot stay on the fence, and neither can we. He explained the rules of the contest, which met with everyone’s approval. Then he let the Baal prophets go first. Despite their wild display of histrionics, they were unable to create fire to burn an oxen sacrifice. They continued throughout the day while they were being badgered by Elijah’s merciless trash talk (vs. 27-28). He is a rather brash prophet but can back it up because of his great faith in an almighty God. After they failed, Elijah motioned the crowd to come closer, doused the altar repeatedly with water, and prayed that God would reveal Himself to the people. “Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and the stones and the dust; and it licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God!” The people seized the Baal prophets whom Elijah then slaughtered.
Elijah then told the King to have dinner and prepare for rain. Meanwhile, Elijah went up the mountain, con- torted himself into a ball, and asked his servant to check the sky. The servant only saw blue skies, until on his seventh check when he saw a microscopic cloud. That was enough for Elijah, who told Ahab to leave before the storm hit full force. Both of them then left to see Queen Jezebel, Ahab on a chariot and Elijah on foot. Elijah, being a decidedly competitive prophet, got there first. Can we learn anything from a man like Elijah? Jesus’s half-brother James thought so: “A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit” (James 5:16-18).
READINGS FOR OCTOBER 23, 2025 (CONTINUED): HEBREWS 6, PSALM 110
Hebrews 6 Hebrews 5:12 is an often-quoted scripture: “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” (NIV) The idea here is that as Christians, we should be working toward being a mature Christian. Just as a child matures, they go from milk to solid food, as Christians we should be growing our faith deeper and more intimate with God.
Verses 4:4-8 often brings up the question: can a true Christian “lose” their salvation. The issue is that is the wrong question to ask. Salvation is the free gift of God. It is not ours to be “won” or “lost”. It is ours to be accepted as a gift. The deeper question is can a Christian “fall away” from the grace of God. People who read this chapter tend to answer in one of two ways. First, that if a person falls away then they did not really accept God’s grace in the first place. On the outside, by their actions, they look like they were Christians. But, in their heart, they had not truly accept the gift of God’s salvation.
Second, the answer is yes. If you are in the Wesleyan Arminian theological “camp”, we believe that it is possible to fall away (which is where Methodists find themselves). John Wesley has a sermon and a “treatise” where he delves deeply into this possibility.
Predestination Calmly Considered: https://evangelicalarminians.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Wesley.-PREDESTINATION-CALMLY-CONSIDERED.pdf
“Serious Thoughts Upon the Perseverance of the Saints” (1754) https://wesleyscholar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Serious-Thoughts-on-Perseverance-of-Saints-1751.pdf
In Predestination Calmly Considered, Wesley has this to say about these verses:
Must not every unprejudiced person see, the expressions here used are so strong and clear, that they cannot, without gross and palpable wrestling, be understood of any but true believers?
Although it is does not happen often, because we believe in free will, we believe that it is possible for a person to distance themselves so far from the will of God that they have fallen away from any semblance of religion at all.
Psalm 110 Psalm 110 contains two prophecies concerning the Messiah. Specifically, as Jesus’ role as the king-priest. Of course, the triumph over his enemies will take place when Christ re- turns. However, his place at the right hand of God occurred upon Jesus’ ascension to Heaven.
- Verses 1-3 – The first prophecy concerns the power of the Messiah as the King of kings. Jesus will sit at the right hand of God (the position of authority). God will make all of God’s enemies bow down in honor of the Messiah (enemies a footstool implies a posture of submission.
- Verses 4-6 – The Messiah will be a priest in the order of Melchizedek (see comments on Heb. 7 Oct. 25th – tomorrow). God will be at the Messiahs’s right hand assisting in his overcoming the world.
