Elijah
“Mt Carmel vs Mt Horeb”
[Read 1 Kings 19:1-8]
One moment Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18), next moment Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19).
One a mountain of dramatic and miraculous demonstration of the power of God turning the hearts of His people back to Himself.
The other mountain…
…well, how would you describe it?
What a contrast!!
Compare the Elijah of Mount Carmel with the Elijah of Mount Horeb.
In the light of Mount Carmel, you see quite a different man making the journey to, and arriving at Mount Horeb.
You see a man who is out on his feet. A man praying for death, not life.
A man who has had enough (1 Kgs 19:4).
Maybe it’s like this…
Many of you will be familiar with the name Martin Luther.
Martin Luther the giant man-of-God who facilitated the moment in church history known as the Reformation.
The moment a break was made from the Roman Catholic Church and Luther made the foundational Protestant statement:
Justified by grace alone through faith alone. And that the Bible is the ultimate authority.
From that man and the work of God through Him – a new and life-giving Spirit flowed through the church.
Luther had his Mount Carmel moment.
His other famous statement was when he was on “trial” for his beliefs and he reportedly said “Here I stand. I can do no other”.
Giant of a man.
The kind of man you needed on Mount Carmel for a show-down in the name of God.
Like Elijah.
Then there is Mount Horeb.
Martin Luther was afflicted with depression and to his dieing day anguished over whether he had done the right thing.
His wife constantly encouraging him.
Henri Nouwen was a Catholic priest who taught for 20 years in the Ivy League universities.
So competent and so adept at his craft of pastoral theology that not only could he choose what he lectured but who he lectured.
He was on Mount Carmel.
Then came Mount Horeb.
He plunged into crisis.
He went to a Trappist monastery which is in silence. Mount Horeb.
When he emerged from this period on his life, he emerged as a chaplain at a community for intellectually handicapped adults.
And it is from that context that the world has been blessed with his writings and spiritual insights until his death a few years ago.
Maybe you recognise that rhythm.
You have a Mount Carmel experience – and then a Mount Horeb experience.
Maybe some of you have had the Mount Carmel experience and still sit under that broom tree.
Praying for death, not life.
You have had enough.
Maybe you want to make that journey to Mount Horeb – but are really unsure if you have the strength.
Maybe you are at Mount Horeb – but do not understand why God has you there.
So if Mount Carmel is the place where God turns the heart of His people back to Himself; what is Mount Horeb?
What is Mount Horeb?
Look again at how the story of Elijah unfolds at this point.
God speaks and asks “What are you doing here?” (1 Kgs 19:9).
He replies.
With deep discouragement. With reduced vision. He is losing perspective.
So God tells him to stand outside of the cave.
The presence of God was about to pass by.
A great and powerful wind; an earthquake; and a fire all pass by.
As powerful and terrible as these events were; as apparent as they might have seemed in terms of “Surely this is God!” - none of these were the presence of the Lord passing by.
According to the Mount Carmel version – they ought to have been.
At least the fire.
On Mount Carmel, He was the God Who answered by fire.
Surely He is in the fire.
But not on this occasion.
On this occasion there was a “gentle whisper”.
It is hard to actually capture the description of what happens here.
“A still small voice”.
“Sheer silence”.
Peterson (The Way of Jesus: a conversation in following Jesus London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2007, 118) quotes St John of the Cross:
“Silent music…sounding solitude”.
What are we to make of this moment? Of the fact that it was this silence which was the presence of God.
To answer the question “What is Mount Horeb?” we must first answer the question “What then is this silence?”
Maybe we can make this of it…
The wind, earthquake and fire were what one would, could, and maybe should expect by way of the judgement of God.
Israel had strayed terribly afterall.
Yet – in this moment and to this man the presence of God were not in these pictures of judgement.
Even though Elijah recited the sins of the people of God and how he was the only one left now.
So what of this silence?
The answer to that will answer the question “What then is Mount Horeb?” (“If Mount Carmel is the place where the hearts of the people are turned back to God; what is Mount Horeb?”
God asks Elijah again.
“What are you doing here?” (1 Kgs 19:14).
Again – Elijah gives the same answer.
He is stuck.
What is this silence?
It is the sound of grace.
But Elijah misses this it seems.
He repeats his pain-filled, discouraged answer.
That that silence, gentle whisper, sheer silence – that is grace.
That is God “still.”
That is the God of Righteous Judgement clothed in Grace and Love.
That is the God With the Sword of Judgement With Mercy and Compassion.
It’s this moment of silence which grabs the attention.
Over and against the wind, earthquake and fire – it is this moment of the presence of God which called for Elijah’s attention.
Calls for yours.
What happens in that moment in the presence of God?
Answer that and you will then know the significance of Mount Horeb.
This silence is the sound of grace.
This silence is the presence of God. Presence that reveals the character and nature of God.
This silence on Mount Horeb was experienced again 800 years later.
"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth." (Isaiah 53:7)
"Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome. The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’ ” Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent." (Matthew 26:57-63)
Silence.
The sound of grace.
So – if Mount Carmel is the place where the hearts of the people are turned back to God; what is Mount Horeb?
It is the place where God’s servant is turned back to His purpose.
After the silence on Mount Horeb and Elijah had answered God – the next thing God says is shocking.
Shocking when you consider the state of body, mind and spirit in which Elijah had arrived with.
1 Kings 19:15 “Go back…”
“Go back…”
Surely he deserved to be relieved of any more work and service.
But no.
“Go back…”
And it is with renewed vision and work. The anointing of kings and a successor for Elijah.
It is with the knowledge that he is not the only one who has remained faithful to God.
When you view this story through the moment of grace insofar as what is described in Isa 53 and Matt 26, about Jesus’ silence, we see people being “sent back”.
Being sent back with a new vision and understanding about God’s purpose.
1 Kings 19 a foreshadow of what the “sheer silence of the presence of God” would be like one day.
1 Kings 19 a foreshadow of what it would be like when God came and experienced the same human frailties as someone like Elijah, like us, and yet lived as humans were created to live.
And yet more.
Also personified the “silent, empowering, presence of God”.
Peter – “sent back”.
Thomas – “sent back”.
Mary Magdalene – “sent back”.
All of them in similar states to Elijah – but in the aftermath of the silent presence of God – never the same.
Mount Horeb.
The presence of God. The place where His servants are turned back to the purposes of God.
Mount Horeb is a place to visited. Often.
It is needed. It is a crucial rhythm in life.
Presented By: Rev G New