1 Kings 18:38-40 Fire 🔥 of the Lord!

 “Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!” And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.” I Kings‬ ‭18‬:‭38‬-‭40‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Then the fire of the LORD fell: The prophets of Baal had passion, commitment, sincerity, devotion, and great energy. What they did not have was a God in heaven who answered by fire.

i. “The action of this fire was in every case downward, contrary to the nature of all earthly and material fire.” (Clarke)

ii. “Elijah’s petition had lasted less than a minute but produced spectacular results. The difference lay in the One addressed.” (Patterson and Austel)

b. The fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench: When the fire of God fell, its work was beyond expectation. It would have been enough if merely the cut-up pieces of bull on the altar were ignited, but God wanted more than simple vindication – He wanted to glorify Himself among the people.

c. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!” At this moment, the people were completely persuaded. Asked to choose between Baal and Yahweh, there was no choice to make, obviously, the LORD was God.

i. Tragically, this was only a momentary persuasion. This was no lasting revival in Israel. The people were decidedly persuaded, but not lastingly changed.

d. Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape”: Since this was a contest between Yahweh and Baal, the prophets of each deity had to be responsible for their respective results. The great sin of King Ahab was his official sponsorship of the prophets of Baal, and now that the fraud of Baal was exposed, his prophets had to answer for it and were dealt with according to the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 13:5, 13:13-18, 17:2-5, and 18:9-22).

i. Elijah simply demanded that the prophets of Baal receive the treatment they promoted for the prophets of Yahweh. (Guzik)

Fire 🔥 of the Lord!

The book of Revelation speaks of fire 🔥 during the tribulation, for it is written:

“The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭8‬:‭7‬-‭11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

There is only one way you can avoid fire of the Lord if the end of the world comes during your lifetime!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Do you have everlasting life and have you received your fire 🔥 insurance policy through Jesus Christ?

Blessings