Continuing from post # 1 of this series, we mentioned that the Blood Jesus shed for our redemption, helped us not need to rely on the sacrifice of animals to cleanse our conscience. His once and for all sacrifice redeemed us and gave us access to His throne of mercy and grace. He became the sacrifice so we would not suffer the consequences of our sinful nature inherited from Adam after he forfeited his authority to co-rule the earth with God to the enemy due to his disobedience. Now that we were set free from dead works, we can serve the Living God in full surrender to Him and give our worship solely to Him.
In this post, we will study the difference in motives for sacrificing between the prophets of Baal and Asherah and the prophet Elijah. And so, the Book of 1 Kings tells us that there was a severe famine in the land of Israel. The idolatry of the people, starting with their leaders, king Ahab, and queen Jezebel, had caused the heavens to close and at the word of the prophet Elijah, the heavens did not send rain for three and a half years. Thus, their source of livelihood (agriculture) was shut down for the earth could not produce its crops since the water had become a commodity.
Both people and animals suffered the consequences of this devastating famine, but God wanted them to be delivered of this devastation for He saw their suffering and heard their cries for help. For this reason, the people of Israel were summoned to Mount Carmel. A confrontation was about to begin. 1 Kings 18:1-2, reveals,
“And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.” So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab; and there was a severe famine in Samaria.” NKJV
As a spiritual principle, God judges idolatry for lack of repentance of the people as they continue to put other things on the pedestal of their hearts that only belongs to God. This creates a vacuum that consumes all the dead works of idolatry. Only our repentance turns things around and we can begin to see restoration in our life. We repent by asking God to forgive us of the sins committed and also produce fruit in keeping with the repentance.
Matthew 3:1-2, 5-6, 8 shows, “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’ Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,” NKJV
As mentioned, repentance means that we stop performing those dead works and instead, pursue doing what is pleasing to God and shows that it is He who we worship in everything we do. We also pursue the renewal of our mind so our wrong beliefs that produced those dead works change to the truth of God’s word (Romans 12:1-2). This, in turn, will help us live following His perfect will because our relationship with Him is based on recognizing and receiving His love for us. And because we know He loves us and wants the best for us, we want to please and obey Him.
2 Chronicles 7:14 also says, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” NKJV
Another thing that happens whenever we have lifted our worship to an idol and to what is false, is that our hearts become hardened and we see things in a wicked (twisted) way. That is because Satan has put a veil over our eyes that keeps us from seeing the light and truth of the Word of God. We then start calling what is good evil, and what is evil we call good. Thus, our twisted view of things causes us to reject God as well as the people that bring what is good and to our benefit. But repentance removes this veil of falsehood.
“Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, ‘Is that you, O troubler of Israel?’ And he answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals.” NKJV
2 Corinthians 3:14-17 also says, “But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” NLT
We saw that God had announced to the prophet Elijah that He was going to send the rain that would stop the famine. But first, He would prove that only He is God. For this, God had the prophet Elijah gather the people of Israel, King Ahab, and Jezebel’s prophets of Baal and Asherah. Once gathered, the prophet rebuked their double-mindedness and admonished them to choose who they would truly worship—God or Baal. 1 Kings 18:20-21 explains,
“So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ And the people did not answer him a word.” ESV
Also, Elijah asked those who sided with idolatry to provide two bulls to cut in pieces and place on the wood for their sacrifice, and one for the prophet to sacrifice to the Most High God. However, the important condition we need to pay attention to here, is that no one cut put fire to their sacrifice, not the false prophets or the prophet Elijah. For the God who answered by fire would prove to be the One true God. 1 Kings 18:23-24 discloses,
“Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, ‘It is well spoken.’” ESV
Each of the bulls represented something different to those who set up the altars for their sacrifice. To the prophets of Baal and Asherah, their bull represented the god of their greed for economic power and material possessions. Baal was the god of the rain which caused earth to produce for them bountiful crops and Asherah was considered their god of multiplication and abundance. But everything was done in a perverted way. The rituals they performed to their gods were full of immorality and other kinds of perversion.
What’s more, and as mentioned, the system they operated by the majority of the times involved covetousness. A covetous person is greedy, avaricious, eager, and with an excessive desire for material possessions that belong to another (Source: Merrimack-Webster Dictionary). The name of their god is Mammon and its figure is of a man with the head and hooves of a bull, and the body of a man.
Mammon is defined as wealth regarded as an evil influence or false object of worship or devotion. It is also the name of the devil of covetousness. (Source:Lexico.com). (See also “Taking Down the Giant of Mammon Worship in the Church Today and Cutting Its Head Off” a blogpost from this site published January 19, 2019).
To worship this god some turn to perform rituals of sorcery, others turn to live for self, gain, fame, and status. The thought of attaining material possessions and power is what consumes their thoughts and behaviors, not knowing they’re gripped by the influence of this spirit. They’re never satisfied with what they have and seek to have everything in bigger amounts and greater ways.
That is because they’re driven by the fear of not having enough or going without. This fear, which is rooted in a poverty mentality, leads them to other types of dreads and anxieties. In the end, the only way they can cope with life is by controlling and manipulating their way through their circumstances. Even if they don’t engage in occultic rituals, they still live as if they did because of their lifestyle of pursuing gain for selfish ambitions, and away from a relationship with God which is still idolatry. 1 Samuel 15:22-23 says in the Message Version,
“22-23 Then Samuel said,
Do you think all God wants are sacrifices—
empty rituals just for show?
He wants you to listen to him!
Plain listening is the thing,
not staging a lavish religious production.
Not doing what God tells you
is far worse than fooling around in the occult.
Getting self-important around God
is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.
Because you said No to God’s command,
he says No to your kingship.
Likewise, the people of Israel who had adopted the customs of Egypt after living there in bondage for 430 years, had a golden calf made with the jewels they had gathered as part of the plunder when they left Egypt. Rather quickly they forgot that the Lord Almighty had brought them out of their bondage and slavery with a mighty arm and an outstretched arm. The idolatrous customs of Egypt were still set in them although they had left physically. Therefore, they bowed down to the golden calf and called it the god who brought them out of Egypt. Exodus 32:7-8 explains,
“The Lord told Moses, ‘Quick! Go down the mountain! Your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”” NLT
In all these instances, the presence and the will of God had lost their value in the sight of the people, giving way to demonic bondage. On the other hand, for the prophet Elijah, in the times of the Old Testament, before Jesus entered the earth, the bull placed on the altar of sacrifice represented a sin offering. This offering was on behalf of the priest that presented the sacrifice as well as on behalf of the people. Through the sin offering of a bull, the sins committed by the people of Israel were atoned for (repaired). This way, they would be made right with the Lord again. Leviticus 16:6, 11 tells us this,
“Aaron will present his own bull as a sin offering to purify himself and his family, making them right with the Lord.” NLT
This was another type and shadow of the sacrifice Jesus made for us for our redemption just like Abraham’s sacrifice of the ram that was caught in the bush. The bull was offered up to atone for our sins in the old covenant, but in the new one, Jesus became that sacrifice for us once and for all. He took our guilt of sin upon Himself so we would not have to. And instead, cleansed our conscience, gave us adoption as sons and daughters, as well as eternal life.
More on the next post. To God alone all the glory. *
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