Admonition Podcast

Good afternoon.

This afternoon, we're going to spend a little bit of time looking at Mount Carmel.

Some of the events that transpired at Mount Carmel and the history of it in the Old
Testament, its location, as well as some of the attributes of that location in the

prophetic period of the Old Testament.

Now, Mount Carmel is actually a ridge of mountains, not a singular mountain.

It is there up there at the hook, the northern part of Israel.

It forms the uh border of the region of Galilee and the southern region of Samaria that is
there in the northern part of Israel.

It is one of those regions that has

Old Testament significance from the days of Joshua till the latter part of the Old
Testament.

It is an area that is on the edge of a very fertile plain, that is the Valley of Jezreel.

It is one of the most fertile areas of the northern part of Israel and of Israel at large.

As a result of this, the

view of Mount Carmel is one of both beauty and oh the plenty that is provided by that
region.

It receives more moisture, more rain because of its proximity to the seas than some of the
other areas around it do.

And as a result, it is very uh plentiful in the growing of crops and the growing of things
in the valley around it and even some of the regions on top of it.

When you begin to look at Mount Carmel in the early portions of the Old Testament, you
first see it as a border reference in the book of Joshua.

If you'll turn to Joshua chapter 19.

As the land is being divided up, Carmel will be mentioned within the land of Asher, the
tribe of Asher.

Verse 24, we read, the fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher according
to their families and their territory included Helcath, uh Halai, Benton, Akshaf,

Elimelech,

Amad and Mishal.

It reached to Mount Carmel westward along the brook Shihur-Libnath.

So the first reference you really have of that location by name is of it as a border
reference for the tribe of Asher.

You skip forward to 1st Samuel chapter 15 and you'll find another occasion where

Carmel is going to be mentioned.

It's going to be mentioned in reference to the events that will transpire in this chapter.

God has told uh the king, King Saul, to go and to defeat uh another nation and as they go
and and seek to defeat them as they have been told to do by God, God gave them very

specific instructions.

He says, you go and you do war against the Amalekites and you don't leave

any of them alive.

You don't keep their cattle, you don't keep uh their possessions, you don't keep any of
that, that you are to destroy all of it.

And yet, Saul did not do so.

We find in 1 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 1, Samuel also said to Saul, the Lord has sent me
to anoint you king over his people over Israel.

Now therefore heed the voice of the words of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he
ambushed him on the way when he came up out of Egypt.

Now go and attack Amalek and destroy, utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare
them, but kill both men and women, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and

donkey.

So Saul gathered together the numbered, uh numbered them in telling.

200,000 foot soldiers and 20,000 men of Judah.

Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.

So as the events transpire, Saul is going to defeat them, but then Saul is not going to
keep the commandments.

You go down to verse 10, now the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying, I greatly regret
that I have set up Saul as king.

For he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.

And it grieves Samuel and he cried out to the Lord all night.

So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying Saul
went to Carmel.

And indeed, he set up a monument for himself and he has gone on around, passed by and gone
down to Gilgal.

Saul, having defeated the Amalekites and yet not having kept the commandments of God,

will go about to erect a uh monument for his own glory.

And yet he did not obey the Lord.

He sets that monument up at Mount Carmel.

And so there in this northern region of Israel, there by the sea, as you were to...

travel down into the southern regions of Israel everybody would see the monument up on top
of the mountain.

Oh great Saul

except that God says, Saul has not kept my commandments.

You turn over to 1 Samuel chapter 25.

We read about the death of We read in chapter 25 verse 2, then Samuel died and the
Israelites gathered together and lamented for him and buried him in his home in Ramah.

And David arose and went to the wilderness of Peran.

Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel and the man was very rich and he
had 3000 sheep and 3000 goats and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

The name of the man was Nabal.

and the name of his wife, Abigail.

And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance, but the man was harsh
and evil in his doings.

He was of the house of Caleb." So here another occasion where you read about Carmel is you
find out that this was the business location and the dwelling location of Naboth.

And Naboth, or sorry, Nabal.

Nabal will be one who will uh end up being smitten

and Abigail will become the wife of David, but you read here in the text that this is one
who is a descendant of Caleb and he is dwelling, and at least his operations are dwelling

in Carmel.

So you have different events in the early period of the Old Testament.

They reference Carmel.

You see most specifically and the significance of it as a border city.

And of course you also realize by the time you get to the days of David that there's also
a city that is there in addition to the mountain itself.

Then you get to some of the imagery, that being textual imagery about Mount Carmel.

If you turn over to Song of Solomon, Song of Solomon is going to reference Carmel and
going to use it in terms of its beauty.

Here in Song of Solomon chapter seven, we read beginning in verse four, your neck is like
an ivory tower.

Of course, writing about this woman that Solomon is writing about, he says, your neck is
like an ivory tower.

Your eyes like the pools of Neshbon by the gates of Beth-Rabim.

Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, which looks towards Damascus.

Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.

You and the hair of your head is like purple.

A king is held captive by your tresses.

OK, so used poetically here to describe the woman who he speaks of it.

She's above everybody.

She is superior in her appearance above everybody.

Just the same way Mount Carmel stood out above the landscape around it being surrounded
both by the sea.

and then by the Valley of Jezreel.

You turn over to Isaiah chapter 35 and while the beauty of the location is mentioned in
Song of Solomon, Isaiah's usage is also going to carry some similar ideas and in the

concepts there.

Isaiah chapter 35.

As he opens this chapter, we read the wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them
and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose.

shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it.

The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God.

So.

As Isaiah speaks concerning the future glory of Zion, he uses the imagery and the
reference to Carmel and to Lebanon and to this region because of its grandeur, because of

its beauty, because of its glory to give forward that concept speaking of Zion.

But when you turn over to Amos, you know, when you have glory, you have beauty, you also
tend to have the other side.

of that coin.

And so, as Amos will begin to write and begin to prophesy in Israel, he will speak
concerning desolation when it comes to Carmel.

He will speak concerning judgment.

And notice what Amos is going to write.

Chapter 1 verse 1, the words of Amos, who was among the sheep breeders of Tekoa.

which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of
Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel two years before the earthquake.

And he said, the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem.

The pastures of the shepherds mourn and the top of Carmel withers." Amos says he speaks
concerning the judgment of God against Israel.

will point out that it doesn't matter how high and lifted up you are, it doesn't matter
how abundantly safe you appear to be because you have the high ground when the Lord speaks

judgment against you, even the mountains wither.

And so you have across the Old Testament a picture of beauty, a picture of being a border
location, a picture of a place of commerce, a picture of judgment.

But then the most significant events that transpire at Mount Carmel are found in 1 Kings
chapter 18.

1 Kings chapter 18 occurs during the days of Ahab.

Ahab is going to be king in the northern kingdom of Israel.

Ahab is going to be one who does not follow the commands of God.

He is not obedient to the message of the prophets, specifically of the message of Elijah.

Elijah is going to tell Ahab to be obedient to God and Ahab is going to refuse.

As a result of Israel's rejection of God and their following after idols, in chapter 17
Elijah is going to proclaim a drought.

We made mention of this in our Bible class this morning.

And for three and a half years that drought is going to transpire.

But as the time of that drought comes to an end,

Elijah is going to come back to Israel.

And if you go through and read all of the text, we won't for the sake of time.

uh Ahab has been sending out soldiers and messengers and people searching everywhere for
Elijah because he knows it's not raining because of Elijah and knows that if Elijah will

say the word, the rain will continue.

Now, it's interesting to note

that here is a king who knows that if he could get Elijah to tell it to rain, it would
rain, but he won't do what Elijah says.

He won't obey the word of the prophet, but he knows that the weather will.

So Ahab is going to be told by Elijah that he's returning and there is going to be a
contest that will transpire on Mount Carmel between Elijah and the prophets.

of Baal.

You'll notice in 1 Kings chapter 18 beginning in verse 19 we read, therefore send and
gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel.

The 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Assyria who eat at Jezebel's table.

Elijah is going to call for the king.

He's going to call for Jezebel.

He's going to call for their prophets, the prophets of Baal, which was the god of the
storms of the Canaanites.

The Canaanites held special significance to the region of Mount Carmel as well.

And so the god of the storms, Baal, is going to be represented here at this time.

And Elijah is also going to call for the gods or sorry, the prophets of the gods of
Asheroth or Asherah.

And this is the God of Jezebel's preference.

her parents, her lineage being the daughter of a king, they were more followers of Baal,
but she had her preference for Asherah.

And so they're going to call the prophets.

Now we know from the event that only the prophets of Baal are going to show up.

But verse 20 says, So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, gathered the prophets
together on Mount Carmel.

And Elijah came to all the people and said, How long will you falter between two opinions?

If the Lord is God, follow him.

But if Baal, follow him.

But the people answered him, not a word.

Then Elijah said to the people, I alone am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets
are four hundred and fifty men.

Therefore, let them give us two bulls and let them choose one bull for themselves

cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it.

And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it.

Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord.

And the God who answers by fire, he is God.

So all the people answered and said, it is well spoken.

Now, Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it
first.

For you are many, and call on the name of your God, but put no fire under it.

So they took the bull which was given to them, and they prepared it, and they called on
the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us.

But there was no voice.

No one answered.

Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.

And so it was at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for he is a God.

Either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping
and must be awakened.

So they cried aloud and cut themselves as was their custom with knives and lances until
the blood gushed out of them.

But when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening
sacrifice.

But there was no voice, no one answered, no one paid attention.

All Israel's gathered for this contest.

All Israel's waiting to see which God really exists.

Which God is actually going to act on behalf of His prophets.

Now consider that Baal was the god of storms, and yet it hasn't rained for three and a
half years.

And here are 450 of the prophets of the god of storms.

And not only that, can they not get it to rain?

They can't get fire from heaven.

Now, what is it that is uniquely important about the God of storms?

Well, he can send lightning.

He can send fire from heaven.

He can cause this sacrifice to light up.

except no answer, no response from their God.

Verse 30 we read, Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me.

So all the people came near to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken
down.

You'll note that Elijah has not just come to a random

place.

Elijah has not come to a random location.

Elijah has come to a location where there had been an altar to God.

but Israel and the people had allowed it to crumble.

Israel and the people had allowed it to become that which was broken down and in
disrepair.

And so Elijah will come to this altar and he will begin to repair it.

And Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob.

to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, Israel shall be your name.

Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord and made a trench around
the altar large enough to hold two sies of seed.

And he put wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood and said, Fill
four water pots with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.

Now as Elijah commands this, you can probably imagine what the reaction of the people is
going to be.

Do you realize how precious water is?

You're telling us to take water when it hasn't rained for three and a half years and we're
going all over the place just trying to find enough water to be able to water our flocks

and our herds and you're telling us to pour it out on the ground?

That's exactly what he tells them to do.

And notice what we read.

He says, fill four water pots with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the
wood.

Then he said, do it a second time.

And they did it a second time.

And he said, do it a third time.

And they did it a third time.

So the water ran all around the altar as he also filled the trench with water.

Elijah said, not enough.

You remember how in the days of the judges, God called a judge to come and to defeat an
army and he gathered together an army of 30,000 people and he started off to go do battle

and God stopped him and said, too many people.

You go and fight the battle with this many people and Israel's going to be convinced that
they won the war.

So everybody that's afraid, send them home.

So they sent home everybody who was afraid.

And they still had thousands and God says, no, too many people.

He said, you're to have to get them to go take a drink out of the water and whichever ones
lift the water up versus the ones who go and lap the water, send one group home.

And so they go to battle with 300 men.

300 when they started off with 30,000.

And God says, okay, now Israel will know that I am the one who has delivered their enemy
into their hand.

So Elijah's doing the same thing for the Northern Kingdom of Israel because he's saying,
no, I'm not gonna test God with a dry altar.

Israel's gonna find some excuse some reason why yeah, there was a spark under there.

He hid something in it It wasn't real.

It wasn't really the Lord So he says pour water on it That's not enough water pour water
on it.

No not enough water pour water on it till the water is flowing out of the altar Flowing
into the trough then he says fill the trough with water

Elijah is not going to leave any room for them to be ambivalent about who this is.

So the water ran all around the altar, verse 35, and he also filled the trench with water
and it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the

prophet came and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day
that you are God in Israel and I am your servant.

and that I have done all these things at your word." When Elijah says that, he doesn't
just mean the event on Mount Carmel.

He means three and a half years of no rain since the last time the people saw him.

They need to know that this wasn't Elijah doing this, this was the Lord.

And so he says,

Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that you are the Lord God and that you
have turned their hearts back to you again.

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.

Elijah finishes praying and he doesn't wait half a day.

He doesn't wait till the next morning.

He doesn't wait until he jumps around and makes a big ruckus.

He finishes praying and fire comes down from heaven and consumes the sacrifice.

It consumes the wood.

It consumes the stone.

It consumes the water.

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.

Then Elijah said to Ahab, go up, eat and drink.

for there is the sound of the abundance of rain.

As Elijah proceeds from the events of the challenge, he tells Ahab, hey, it's time for you
to get home.

Rain's coming.

It's time for you to finally be at peace.

Rain's coming.

And he says, so Ahab went up to eat and to drink and Elijah went up to the top of Mount
Carmel.

Then he bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees and said to his
servant, up now, look toward the sea.

So he went up and looked and said, There is nothing.

And seven times he said, Go again.

So you can imagine here's Elijah, he's there at the top of Mount Carmel.

He's there and the people have dissipated, the people have gone home.

They've seen what they came to see.

They know that the Lord Jehovah is God.

and they have put an end to the 450 prophets of Baal.

But as Elijah is there, he prays, he sends his servant, go look.

Now from, as you can see here in the image on the screen, from the top of Mount Carmel,
you can look right off into the Mediterranean Sea.

So the servant would walk from where Elijah was and he'd go look out over the
Mediterranean Sea.

So Elijah prayed and sent the servant out, the servant came back, nothing.

Elijah prayed, sent the servant out, nothing.

Six more times Elijah prayed, sent the servant out, came back, nothing.

And he said to his servant, go up now, look toward the sea.

So he went up and looked and said, there is nothing.

And seven times he said, go again.

Then it came to pass the seventh time that he said, there is a cloud.

as small as a man's hand rising out of the sea.

So he said, go up and say to Ahab, prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops
you.

Notice that the clouds not descending out of the sky.

The cloud is a rising out of the sea.

God creates the cloud out of the Mediterranean Sea.

And as the servant observes it, Elijah says, hurry up, go tell Elijah, get on his chariot
and go.

Or he's not getting home.

And notice what we read.

Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind and there
was a heavy rain.

So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.

Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah.

and he girded up his loins and he ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jizreel.

Ahab takes off running.

It's going to be the beginning of a lot of running for Elijah in the coming days.

But Elijah is uh swiftly footed by the hand of the Lord, kind of like in my mind, Philip
in Acts chapter eight, when Philip goes and meets the eunuch as he's on the chariot headed

out of Israel, I get the feeling it's uh very much the same thing.

If you had probably watched Elijah go by, you would have gone.

What was that?

That was a prophet, headed to go do something.

Elijah went by, Elijah beat the king back who was traveling via chariot and he met him at
the Valley of Jezreel.

Sadly, from this location, Elijah will prove to Israel that the Lord is God.

And from the high mountaintop of Mount Carmel, the evidence will be given that God alone
is the God they should serve.

But as is often the case when someone leaves the high of

Knowing for certain how everything's going to turn out they often end up down in the low
of uncertainty

Because as Jezebel is going to find out what happened to the 450 prophets of Baal, Jezebel
will say, before this day is done, I'm going to have Elijah's head.

And Elijah will begin running and he won't stop.

He won't stop for quite some time.

As a matter of fact, he'll reach Sinai before he's done.

running away from Jezebel.

There's some things we need to learn, but I want to focus on this one.

What Elijah said to Israel before the contest began.

Elijah said to Israel, if the Lord is God, follow Him.

Simple enough.

If God is who he says he is, and he's proven it over and over and over again, then follow
the Lord.

If you're here this afternoon and you're not following the Lord, may I encourage you to
learn the lesson of Mount Carmel.

May I encourage you to understand who created this world and everything that exists in it,
who is above all kings and all principalities and all powers, who controls the nature of

this world and everything around it, and who will tell you that one of these days this
world's coming to an end.

and you don't know when it will be.

But you know this, he said, today is the day of salvation.

He has assured you that if you will be humble and repent, if you will be obedient to his
will, then he will forgive and he will give you a home in heaven with him.

Jesus said, you believe in God, believe also in me.

For in my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, I go
to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place, I will bring you again to

myself, that where I am there you may be also." If you're here this afternoon and you've
not been obedient to the message of Christ, why not do that today?

To hear the Word of God and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, to repent of your
sins and confess the name of Christ.

to do exactly what Israel finally did when they declared, Jehovah, He is God.

To declare that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, lived, and died, that we might be saved.

Confess the name of Christ and be immersed in water for the remission of your sins, rising
to walk in newness of life with the realization and the knowledge.

But this world is not our home.

This world is temporary.

This world is under the control of one who created it and will end when he says it's going
to be done.

You're member of the body of Christ and you've done what Israel did and you departed from
the Lord.

Maybe the place of glory and significance and honor for God in your life is in shambles
and disrepair.

It's time to repent.

It's time to come back.

God was willing to forgive Israel.

He's willing to forgive you too.

If you have need of the invitation, why not come now as we stand.