Let there be FIRE

I was sitting at work on Friday evening, reading my Bible and listening to a worship song I haven't heard for a minute.  The song talks about a fresh fire and how we should desire our lives to burn with the fire of God. While I sat and listened, focusing on the words of the song, I was struck by a thought.  Please allow me the process of thought as I'm writing this.

I am a certified volunteer firefighter, no longer active, but went through the training.  Through this training, I had to learn what it took to start a fire: heat, fuel and oxygen.  You can have one or two of these elements together but you cannot start a fire without all three of them being together within the right parameters. What parameters? Well, you can have every element in place but if the fuel (what is to be burned) is packed too tightly, is wet, or too green you will not get fire to start.  You can have heat and fuel, but remove the air by placing it inside of a vacuum and the fire will not burn. You can have the fuel and the oxygen but without a spark (heat) there will be no fire. 

As I have pondered this, I have had story after story from the Word come to my mind. Back in Genesis during creation, He had to breathe into the nostrils of Adam to give life. I thought of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. I thought of John the Baptist and his cry in the wilderness saying there was One coming that would baptize you with the Holy Ghost and Fire. I thought of the 120 gathered in that upper room with an expectancy of a promise that they had only been told about until they experienced it on the day of Pentecost. I want to really dive into one of these stories for a moment though.

In 1 Kings 18:20-40  a story is tood, that to look at it, goes against everything I said earlier in the ignition process of a fire. The verses prior to this has been a back and forth between Elijah and Ahab which resulted in Elijah telling Ahab to gather ALL of Israel to Mt. Carmel, the 450 prophets of Baal and also the 400 prophets of the groves (Asherah, a Cannonite goddess). From there we read, "So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken. And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded."

In these first 10 verses, we see that everything which was needed to start a fire was present except for the heat.  The wood was laid out into an altar with the bullock arranged upon it. There was air (oxygen) all around as they were up on the mountain. And by the worship and sacrifice of these prophets of Baal, they were to call down the fire to consume their sacrifice.  They spent the better part of the day whopping and a hollering trying to provoke their god to move. Elijah even mocked them a bit, telling them to yell louder that he may be asleep or on a journey somewhere. But let's notice what happens in the next 10 verses.

"And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there."

From the outset of these 10 verses, you can already sense that something is going to happen.  The previous group had been at it all day, scripture says until the time of the evening sacrifice. Elijah did not try to build something new but says that he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been broken down, then set up twelve stones as an altar unto the Lord, one that had not been defined.  These twelve stones represented the 12 tribes of Israel.  Around the altar, he made a trench deep enough to hold what was said as two measures of seed. Then the wood was put into order, cut the bullock in pieces and placed it up on the wood, and then Elijah throws a curve ball.

His very next words were to fill four (4) barrels of water and pour it up on the sacrifice and upon the wood. I don't know about you but I've never had any luck trying to get anything that was wet to burn.  But it didn't stop there. He called for the barrels a second time and even a third time.  This left a very soggy, water-logged mess. But unlike all the rambunctiousness of those that came before him in the day, what came next was the key.

In verse 36, it said when the time for offering of the evening sacrifice came that Elijah came near. Near what? The altar which contained the sacrifice. He did not cry out in loud and boisterous tones or raise his hand in any way to cut or harm himself as those previously. He humbled himself and said "Lord God of Abraham, Issac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these at thy word." But Elijah's petition to God did not end there either. Yes it was important to show that the God of Israel was the true God but Elijah wanted to see the hearts of the people turned back to God.

It was at this point when scripture says that the fire of the Lord fell. The only thing being offered by anyone that day was the bullock on the alter, but what does it say there? It says that the fire consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust of the ground and even every drop of water that had been poured out. This was a fire of completion, declaring to Ahab, his father, the prophets of the false gods and even to Jezebel that the One true God was the God of Israel. This all consuming fire turned the hearts of Israel back to God who they had forsaken.

As I have thought of this while writing tonight, my mind has traveled to the different services I have been in over my lifetime. I have seen the worked up frenzies as those who are not in Truth as they try to manufacture the fire of God. With repetitive phrasing and a hypnotizing beat, people become entranced as they call on a God they do not know to come into their presence. At the same time, I have seen the fire of God fall when there was not an instrument playing or singer singing, just hungry hearts crying out in desperation.

What was the difference? Elijah repaired the altar. He restored the sacred place that was meant for the people to offer their sacrifices at and he made that sacrifice unto God with a humble spirit, not for show. His desire was to see God exalted. It is time that we build again the altar. Take away the stage. There is not a show to be seen. There is a sacrifice to make.  I can guarantee that when we bring the sacrifice, to the right place and with the right spirit, the fire will fall.