“Yahweh, He Is God.”

ARTICLE • In a dramatic showdown on Mount Carmel, Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal and revealed the power of the one true God. This ancient story serves as a crucial reminder that our idols—whether career success, human approval, or material wealth—always disappoint and God never does.

Read time: 4 min

(Artwork by William Brassey Hole)

It’s difficult to overstate the significance of what had just happened. Elijah, God’s prophet, had reappeared after three years of hiding and faced off against 850 pagan prophets belonging to the most evil king and queen Israel ever knew. A showdown had taken place on Mount Carmel: a cosmic contest between Baal and Yahweh—Israel’s idol versus the LORD whom they had long forsaken. The contest was simple. The deity who rained down fire from heaven would be shown to be the true God. 

The God Who Answered by Fire

Hours earlier, the priests of Baal had accepted Elijah’s challenge and prepared a stone altar, complete with wood and a sacrifice. But despite their hours of shouting prayers, dancing, and even cutting themselves in desperation, Baal answered nothing. Finally, at the time of the evening sacrifice in Israel (3 o’clock in the afternoon), Elijah prayed to God: “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant” (1 Kings 18:36).

“Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, ‘The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God’” (1 Kings 18:38–39).

Yahweh dramatically proved himself to be God. The Israelites, realizing they’d been duped by the prophets of Baal, turned their backs on false religion and their swords on the pagan prophets. As if to punctuate the uncontested victory of Jehovah, while the charred crater atop Carmel still smoldered, distant thunder began to rumble, announcing the end of the three-year drought throughout the land. 

What Idols are You Putting Away?

Picture the prophets of Baal wildly climbing their altar, chanting, dancing, waving their arms at the sky. What a pathetic charade! Imagine, trying to coax a fake god to do what only God can do. We grimace at their misplaced fanaticism, don’t we? But not so fast. To what lengths do you and I go in pursuit of things we foolishly believe can provide us what God alone provides? 

Have you bought into the lie that your work defines you, for example? That is, do you see yourself first as a child of God, forgiven, accepted, and treasured regardless of how you stack up in the eyes of the world? Or are you crippled by a nagging sense of failure? The fact is, you are not what you do: your career title, your motherhood, your degrees, your ‘to do’ lists. Those things make fine callings, roles, and tasks but terrible matters of ultimate importance—gods. Anything that we allow to define us and our value outside of who we are in relationship to God through Jesus Christ becomes to us a dead-end idol. When this happens, we notice our confidence and joy rising and falling with the ebb and flow of perceived success.

Do You Worship People?

Your besetting idols may not be wood and stone, but how about flesh and blood? In your relationships with your spouse or children, are you easily disillusioned, withdrawing or lashing out when they fail to be or do what you demand of them? If so, it’s likely that you’re elevating your idea of family to an ultimate status in your life, a position belonging to God alone. 

Does the desire to be admired by your peers dominate what you want most for your home? Do you obsess over your kids’ athletic prowess, or grades, or good manners, but neglect the nurture of their souls in the Lord? Do you value appearances to others more than actual character before God? If so, you’ll probably live defensively, resentfully, and less than honestly, applying yourself little to growth in true godliness. People-pleasing is a treacherous rollercoaster, making us vulnerable to many sinful choices and zapping consistent joy. What “makes your day” when you have it often “ruins your day” when you don’t.

Unlike God, Idols Always Disappoint

In the end, all our idolatrous charades come back to mock us. The retirement nest-egg in which we find our sense of security could very well disappear in a market downturn, by identity theft, or by a Ponzi scheme. What the Apostle Paul called “uncertain wealth” surely does not deserve our hope, or peace, or joy, would you agree? But God does. While diligent, fiscal responsibility is admirable, finding our security and self-worth in our net-worth is functional idolatry. 

How do you cope with the pressures of life? Do you numb your heartache with entertainment or take it to God? Do you reflexively turn to good beats, or Netflix, or video games, or green fairways to restore your soul? Or do you prioritize and seek out first and foremost quiet prayer and meditation on God’s word, which is your busy soul’s deepest need? We must daily resist and turn from our constant inclination to set up something in the place of God in our lives.

An Evening Sacrifice on Mount Calvary

First Kings 18:29–30 has Elijah beginning his prayer at “the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice.” This was fitting, since he sought to re-establish the worship of God as prescribed in Jewish law. Intriguingly, the gospel writer records something similar in Matthew 27:46, concerning Jesus’ final moments on the cross: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” The ninth hour was 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the same time as Elijah’s and the Jew’s evening sacrifice. 

What do you make of this? I say, let’s look beyond Mount Carmel for our deliverance from idolatry. Let’s lift our eyes to Mount Calvary and upon the Son of God—laid upon the altar of a Roman cross as the ultimate sacrifice for sinners. Hear his forsaken cry, suffering the blazing wrath of his holy Father against our idolatrous sins. See the “consuming fire” of God’s righteous justice, reserved for us, fall on him. Know that our forsaking of God meant God’s forsaking of Jesus. See the sacrifice consumed, and know it was accepted. Understand God’s perfect justice to have been vindicated, his law against us satisfied, and his love for us revealed. And let us turn to God by faith in His Son. In believing we are freed to turn from trusting in rival gods—created things, even good things we hold too tightly—by believing in all that God promises to be for us in Jesus.

Elijah’s ancient challenge still rings out today:“How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). ❖