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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
Elijah respects the Lord’s covenant with His people, although
they have apostatized. With calmness and solemnity he repairs the
broken-down altar with twelve stones, according to the number of
the twelve tribes of Israel. The disappointed priests of Baal, wearied
with their vain, frenzied efforts, are sitting or lying prostrate on the
ground, waiting to see what Elijah will do. They are filled with fear
and hatred toward the prophet for proposing a test which has exposed
their weakness and the inefficiency of their gods.
The people of Israel stand spellbound, pale, anxious, and almost
breathless with awe, while Elijah calls upon Jehovah, the Creator of
the heavens and the earth. The people have witnessed the fanatical,
unreasonable frenzy of the prophets of Baal. In contrast they are now
privileged to witness the calm, awe-inspiring deportment of Elijah.
He reminds the people of their degeneracy, which has awakened the
wrath of God against them, and then calls upon them to humble their
hearts and turn to the God of their fathers, that His curse may be
removed from them. Ahab and his idolatrous priests are looking
on with amazement mingled with terror. They await the result with
anxious, solemn silence.
After the victim is laid upon the altar, he commands the people to
flood the sacrifice and the altar with water, and to fill the trench round
about the altar. He then reverentially bows before the unseen God,
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raises his hands toward heaven, and offers a calm and simple prayer,
unattended with violent gestures or contortions of the body. No shrieks
resound over Carmel’s height. A solemn silence, which is oppressive
to the priests of Baal, rests upon all. In his prayer, Elijah makes
use of no extravagant expressions. He prays to Jehovah as though
He were nigh, witnessing the whole scene, and hearing his sincere,
fervent, yet simple prayer. Baal’s priests have screamed, and foamed,
and leaped, and prayed, very long—from morning until near evening.
Elijah’s prayer is very short, earnest, reverential, and sincere. No
sooner is that prayer uttered than flames of fire descend from heaven
in a distinct manner, like a brilliant flash of lightning, kindling the
wood for sacrifice and consuming the victim, licking up the water in
the trench and consuming even the stones of the altar. The brilliancy
of the blaze illumes the mountain and is painful to the eyes of the
multitude. The people of the kingdom of Israel not gathered upon the
mount are watching with interest those there assembled. As the fire