Expectations vs Reality - A Prophetic Profile of Elijah
Download MP3Are you ever reading your Bible when God suddenly just stops you and says, “look at this”?
Well, that happened to me earlier this summer. I was reading through I Kings and I got to chapter 19 where God gives Elijah some instructions. God says to Elijah
In verse 15
“Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.
Verse 16
And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.”
So that’s well and clear. Anoint Hazael and Jehu and Elisha. Cool.
But then verse 19 says this:
So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him,
Wait, what? He skipped the first two and went straight to Elisha.
In fact, Elijah didn’t anoint Hazael at all. He never anoints Jehu either. He just anointed one of the three, and totally ignored God’s command about the first two guys.
And so my question as I read this was: did Elijah sin in this chapter?
And if so, why?
And what were the ramifications of all this?
And if Elijah did sin, then why does God take him on up to heaven in a fiery chariot without dying just a few chapters later?
What we’re going to find is that Elijah was supposed to learn a lesson in this chapter, and he failed to get it. He was so busy feeling sorry for himself that it went right over his head.
But if you listen all the way to the end, we’ll answer all those questions I laid out, and maybe you and I can receive what Elijah missed. You’ll get all of that today on the God and His Prophets podcast.
Well, that happened to me earlier this summer. I was reading through I Kings and I got to chapter 19 where God gives Elijah some instructions. God says to Elijah
In verse 15
“Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.
Verse 16
And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.”
So that’s well and clear. Anoint Hazael and Jehu and Elisha. Cool.
But then verse 19 says this:
So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him,
Wait, what? He skipped the first two and went straight to Elisha.
In fact, Elijah didn’t anoint Hazael at all. He never anoints Jehu either. He just anointed one of the three, and totally ignored God’s command about the first two guys.
And so my question as I read this was: did Elijah sin in this chapter?
And if so, why?
And what were the ramifications of all this?
And if Elijah did sin, then why does God take him on up to heaven in a fiery chariot without dying just a few chapters later?
What we’re going to find is that Elijah was supposed to learn a lesson in this chapter, and he failed to get it. He was so busy feeling sorry for himself that it went right over his head.
But if you listen all the way to the end, we’ll answer all those questions I laid out, and maybe you and I can receive what Elijah missed. You’ll get all of that today on the God and His Prophets podcast.
