I invite you to turn with me once again to 1 Kings chapter 19. 1 Kings chapter 19. I had indicated we would read beginning at verse 11 through 21. Let's back up just a couple of verses to the second part of verse 9. And considering verses 11 through 18. Hear now the Word of God. And the Word of the Lord came to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too. The Lord said, Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too. The Lord said to him, and go back the way you came, and go to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel. And anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal, and all whose mouths have not kissed him. So Elijah went from there and found Elisha, son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, he said, and then I will come with you. Go back, Elijah replied. What have I done to you? So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant. There ends the reading of God's Word. May he truly add his blessing to the reading and consideration of it this morning. Beloved in Christ, the Lord Elijah had reported his complaint to the Lord when he was asked, Elijah, what are you doing here? In essence, he answered, those you call your people, Lord, they have forsaken you. They have rejected your covenant. They have done so by disconnecting the channels of covenant communication. They don't want to talk to you, so they have torn down your altars. They don't want you to talk to them, so they have killed your prophets. They don't want anything to do with you. And I'm the only one left, and they want me dead. My work is done. It was useless. There's nothing else to do. Ahab and Jezebel, well, I guess they won this time. On the one hand, we cannot help but to see the mercy and the patience of God with, at this point, His faithless servant who reduced God's work and God's effectiveness to Himself and that which He was able to accomplish. And therefore, He could only see failure when the situation did not turn out as he thought it should. Because visibly speaking, Ahab was unaffected by all the power and the grandeur of God that was demonstrated on Mount Carmel. Israel had not been reclaimed. Jezebel was utterly defiant. And Elijah, well, he was done. Yet on the other hand, here God confides in His servant as He did with Abraham before Sodom and Gomorrah. God confides in His servant, revealing to Elijah His unalterable plan. And in doing so, calls Elijah to get back to work. God answers Elijah's complaint. And He does so, first of all, with a divine demonstration. A divine demonstration of power. The text begins in verse 11, The Lord said, Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. This divine demonstration of power, beloved, was indeed incredible. First of all, that great and powerful wind. We can be sure nothing of that sort have we ever witnessed? Whether with your eyes or on the news, never have we witnessed a tornado of this magnitude or hurricane-force winds of this magnitude. Or maybe we have seen, again with our eyes or on the news, we have seen houses or parts of houses blown away in the wind or even semi-trucks pushed over in the wind or trees uprooted in the wind. But notice the effect of this wind. It tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks. Let that sink in for a moment. The wind shattered the rocks. All we need to do is look around at the rocky hills around Escondido with huge boulders embedded in them. And those boulders are unmoved even by earthquakes that we might experience. Oh, there might be a rock slides with much smaller rocks. But the rocks are unmoved as far as being shattered by the wind. But outside of the cave that protected Elijah, the wind shattered the rocks. And then the earthquake. And we know that earthquakes inspire awe as we experience the effects of the earthquake or even experience the earthquake itself with streets moving like ocean waves or all kinds of shaking, buildings shaking and even being tossed around like toys. And then fire. To be sure, we are not ignorant of what a raging 30-foot wall of fire can do, aren't we? It consumes anything that's in its path, anything that's left over. Those elements, the wind and the earthquake and the fire, are forces that man has not been able to conquer, man has not been able to control. Those are forces that are in God's hand, but the text says the Lord was not in them. God had revealed His presence to Moses and Elijah on Mount Sinai in the past through powerful forces of nature. He had revealed Himself before in smoke, in fire, in thunder, in other times, in clouds. But not this time. He did not make His special presence known to Elijah through these elements. He did not address or speak to Elijah through these. It does not mean that God had nothing to do with them. He had everything to do with them. Even though these did not reveal God's presence to Elijah, they revealed something about Him. They revealed His power. But they also served to prepare for the most awesome demonstration of divine power, that gentle whisper. Also translated, still, small voice, or the sound of a gentle blowing, that stillness, that gentleness, provides an amazing contrast to those physical demonstrations of power as we think of Almighty God. The ideas of sort of the power of silence or a silence that is deafening or a breathtaking silence that puts one in awe. That gentle whisper was the very voice of God. And that very voice of God really demonstrated God's exaltedness over these other elements. These other elements prepared the way, they announced the way for God's presence in the gentle whisper, like preparing for a king or a president to come to town. We think of Prince William and his wife Kate who came to L.A. some weeks ago. And we heard about it on the news. We heard about the preparations. Everybody was excited for them to come. When a king or a president or a dignitary is scheduled to come to town, preparations are made days, weeks, even months in advance. The place is made ready. And even though that dignitary is not physically present, yet all these preparations are for him or her. they all announce the coming of this important person. They all point to the splendor and the majesty of that individual. Elijah was to continue to herald the call to repent even though it seemed to him that God was silent. John the Baptist was called to prepare the way for the Lord by preaching, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And beloved, we too have been called to make ready through our lives and through our witness and through our example make ready the return of Jesus Christ, we are called to be prepared indeed. And we are called to make that return ready for others. That they might know that He is coming again. And that what a day that will be when He does. We are called to make ready the return of Jesus speaking of and showing our confidence in our only hope that others too, if it be God's will, might be brought to faith in that only hope. There was a message in these elements, the wind and the earthquake and the fire, a message that would be explained by the Word of God in that gentle whisper, by the Word of God to Elijah, which would be a commentary on the signs that were given, a commentary that was desperately needed because Elijah did not get it. We know that because the first thing that God says is He repeats His question, Elijah, what are you doing here? And Elijah repeats the very same answer without any sort of revision. He didn't understand the signs. But the signs and the commentary on those signs were a divine demonstration of God's purpose. Elijah was to understand God's purpose. That God has zeal. God indeed has zeal for His own glory, for His own worship, and for His own people. He is not indifferent to the response of His people and of mankind to His holiness. One of the messages that Elijah was to learn was that divine silence does not necessarily mean divine inactivity. Elijah had basically acted as if God didn't care. As if Ahab and Jezebel and Israel could sin without worry, without threat. Today, too, we see so much unbridled wickedness all around us. We see unbelievers having their way and enjoying it with no repercussions, it seems. We see the prosperity of the wicked. We might be tempted to think that God doesn't care because in our minds He's not doing anything about it as we think that He probably ought to. But it's then, beloved, that our eyes need to be lifted to the cross of Jesus once again to see just how much He cares. To see just how much He is angered by sin. God's purpose was that Elijah should understand that God indeed has zeal for His holiness and that God has hosts. Not just creatures, not just angels and mankind, but all of creation is subject to the command of God. As Psalm 104 says, He makes clouds His chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind. He makes His ministers a flame of fire. And in Psalm 148, we read, Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy wind, fulfilling His Word. These elements of fire and earthquake and wind were to remind Elijah that God indeed has hosts at His fingertips, Which point to his ultimate purpose here of judgment. Indeed, that was God's purpose. The wickedness of Israel and her king and queen had not escaped Jehovah's attention and would not go unpunished as God's commentary explained. God answered Elijah's complaint secondly then with a call to continue. Through this commentary with a call to continue because his work was not finished. Go back the way you came. You came off the battlefield, go back the way you came. Retirement was out of the question. God would still use Elijah, even though he did give Elijah the message that his work would soon be completed as he was to call Elisha to succeed him. But until then, Elijah was to continue because God's work was not fixed on Elijah alone. It did not depend on Elijah alone. As verse 15 says, the Lord said to him, Go back the way you came and go to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel. And anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael. And Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. These were to carry out God's purpose of judgment. Elijah was called to commission them for duty. Now, according to Scripture, in reality, Elijah only directly called and anointed Elisha, if you will, who carried out the other two duties, Scripture teaches us, no doubt at the direction of Elijah. But Elijah was being called to prepare a series of judgments because God was not blind to the apostate. God would punish His covenant, rejecting people with judgment upon judgment. In Amos 5, we read, beginning at verse 18, Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord. Those who are rebellious. And the Lord says, woe to you who long for that day of the Lord. That day of judgment. Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. It's not going to be great and grand and glorious as you think it will be. It's going to be darkness. It's going to be terrible. It will be as though a man fled from a lion, only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall, only to have a snake bite him. Blow after blow. Just as if someone is being kicked on the ground and they try to get up and they're kicked again and they try to get up and they're kicked again and sooner or later they cannot get up because they are so weakened by blow after blow. The elements of the wind and the earthquake and the fire, though each one alone, is devastating. Together, they point to complete destruction. Whatever the wind doesn't take care of, the earthquake makes fall to the ground and then the fire comes through and licks it all up. And that's how these three would be used together. For the purpose of judgment against the wicked, even through the means of the wicked, not only were the forces of nature in the hand of God, but even the wicked, Haziel and Jehu, were wicked men. But they would be rods of destruction in the hand of God. As Proverbs 21, 1 says, The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water. He turns it wherever he wishes. God's answer to Elijah's complaint was given with a divine demonstration of power, God's power. With a call to continue because God was working out his plan, even though Elijah didn't see it. But it also came, thirdly, with an assurance of God's victory. An assurance of victory, first of all, through that very same judgment. Victory over the wicked. Elijah was to be assured that it was not his life that would be taken by Jezebel. But God is not mocked, as the Bible says. There will be judgment on the wicked and not one would escape, though Elijah would not see it in his earthly lifetime, yet he was called to trust. One commentator says the storms of judgment will be unleashed over Israel. The fire of God's wrath will consume His people. The land will tremble and shake because of the power of the righteous judgment exercised by Israel's jealous God. Elijah thought that his work was useless, that it was of no effect. In and of himself that was true. Yet here, too, he was being taught that there would be a stunning end to what God had begun through him. And just as man is incapable of controlling the wind and the earthquake and the fire, man is incapable of withstanding the judgment of God. As Psalm 2 says, the wicked take counsel together against the Lord, yet here, what a beautiful reminder that evil would not win Elijah's day, nor would it win at the cross. And because of the perfect and finished work of Jesus Christ, who has won the victory over Satan and evil, evil will not win in the end. And that is to be our confidence, our comfort too, even as we face difficulties and evils in this life. It will not win in the end. Those who are against God, those who are living as a law unto themselves, will be defeated. They will be destroyed. But at the same time, there is a blessed assurance of victory for God's people through deliverance. You see, beloved, God was not in the elements. He was not in the wind and the earthquake and the fire because judgment is not the last word. As verse 18 says, Yet I reserve 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed Him. What is the meaning of the 7,000? Well, it's hard to tell from the original. It's hard to tell if the Lord is saying here that He had the 7,000 already or will have. It's not clear in the Hebrew. But the point is, there are or would be those 7,000 who had not prostituted themselves with idols, who were kept, shielded by the power of God. It was clear that as such a small number, 7,000, Israel would no longer survive as a nation on earth. And we know that after Babylonian captivity, never again was Israel a significant force, a national force on this earth. Yet 7,000 is a significant number as seven is the number considered to be the number of the covenant and 1,000 signifies fullness or completeness. This number represents true spiritual Israel. The remnant of which Paul says in Romans 11 remains according to God's gracious choice. God preserves for Himself a people. It represents the church of Jesus Christ. The fullness and the completeness of it. And not one is missing. All those for whom Christ died will be gathered in. And all those who place their faith in Him, not one of them will be let go by the hand of God. Our confidence is in the powerful and preserving hand of God. But we learn in this passage, beloved, that there would be judgment before peace. Judgment before peace pictured with the wind and the earthquake and the fire before the gentle whisper. Judgment before peace seen in Israel's history. For example, judgment upon Egypt before Israel enjoyed that peace of being released from bondage and entering the promised land. That judgment before peace is ultimately true through Jesus Christ who endured the judgment of God against the wickedness of the world and against the sin of His people. He endured that judgment which brought us into a right relationship and peace with God, as Paul says in Romans 5. He is our deliverance, our only deliverance. And that judgment before peace is true until His return. even as God's people, we suffer. God's people do suffer the great tribulation of Revelation. Suffer that in this world. Here, in this life, we are the church militant, fighting under the banner of the cross, yet empowered, strengthened by Jesus Christ through His Spirit. Fighting with confidence in the victory, yet we are still called to fight. And God's people will experience often, alongside of the wicked world, The temporal, and we might say the general judgments of God, but the last word. His last word is the salvation of His people. Judgment before peace when Christ returns. When He comes again, on that day He will come to judge the living and the dead. And all those who rejected Him, for them there will be no second chances. In this life we have a lot of second chances. As parents, we give our children second chances. As friends, we give each other second chances. All kinds of second chances. But on that day, there will be no second chances. It will be too late. It will be the end, period, as all of His enemies will be put away forever. But those who, by the grace of God, longed for His appearing, they will be ushered forever into the glorious presence of Almighty God. And beloved, even as Satan and his army look strong at times, we are to be confident they cannot stand against the hosts of heaven. But our assurance, as 1 Peter 1 says, we are shielded by God's power, kept by God's power, until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. God was indeed active in the days of Elijah. Silent in Elijah's eyes, but active, carrying out his plan, of which Elijah had a part. Leading forward to the sending and coming of his son, our Messiah Jesus Christ. And God is busy and active today by His Holy Spirit, gathering those for whom Jesus came and died. Yet therefore there is a solemn warning to those who are living in unrepentant sin, thinking that God is inactive, thinking that He doesn't see, thinking that He doesn't care. He does. And He will cast them into the depths of hell. If that describes you here this morning, please heed the call. You are deceived. Thinking that you can sin with impunity, that just because God doesn't react against you at that very moment, that all will be well. Again, the words that we sang from number 194, Behold, Jehovah cometh robed in justice and in might. He alone will judge the nations, and His judgment shall be right without mistake. But all those who turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, for them there is assurance. For those who are clothed by the righteousness of Jesus Christ by grace. Those who desire to serve the Lord with gladness. For them, as we'll sing in a moment, the sorrows of the wicked in number shall abound. but those that trust Jehovah, His mercy shall surround. And our response, as the song continues, then in the Lord be joyful, in song lift up your voice, be glad in God ye righteous, rejoice ye saints, rejoice. We can rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore too, as those who are shielded, those who are kept by God's power, indeed always being ready to give a reason to anyone who asks for the hope that is in you and me. and calling them to understand that Jesus Christ is coming again. He is God's answer to sin. Those who are in Him by grace through faith may be confident that though we may face turmoil and difficulty and unwelcome changes in this life, and though this world increases in evil which seems to have its way, yet Jesus Christ is victorious and we are victorious with Him, and this wicked world is temporary. really only serving the gathering and the building up of Christ's church. And when she is complete, when that bride is adorned and ready, that wicked world will be destroyed forever. And until that day, beloved, may our lives, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, reflect undoubted confidence in Jesus Christ who loved us and gave His life for us so that we might belong to Him forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray together. Holy God, we praise Your name. We bow down before You. For indeed, You are great and greatly to be praised. Father, we do need to be reminded again and again of the wickedness of sin of its devastating result. Because only then will the salvation that You have provided in Jesus Christ be seen as glorious as it ought to be seen. For indeed, O Lord, we are insufficient and weak and helpless in ourselves. And knowing that, You have provided all that we have needed. And we praise Your most holy name. for such a great salvation. We pray, Father, that You would indeed continue to see fit that Your Word would go forth. Continue to gather together Your church. Continue to strengthen and help each and every one of us draw us ever closer to Yourself with undoubted confidence and assurance that You are our God, that we are Your people. Father, hear our prayer for Jesus' sake. In His name we pray, Amen.