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The Road to Revival

“The Lord-He is God! The Lord-He is God!” (1 Kings 18-39).

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Drilling a little deeper into the life of Elijah, let’s examine the context of his times. “Fifty-eight years had passed since the kingdom was ripped apart in 931 B.C. At that time the glorious united kingdom, which had lasted for well nigh a full century with all the splendor of the reigns of David and Solomon, was divided into two southern and ten northern tribes. Subsequently things had not gone well, especially for the northern ten tribes.” 1 Poor leadership was the main reason the northern tribes suffered so much. By Elijah’s time, King Ahab, more evil than his predecessors, was wreaking havoc. His wicked wife Jezebel only added fuel to the fire. It was a time of spiritual drought, with idolatry, wickedness, and tolerance prevailing. Add to that literal drought, which certainly made matters worse. Remember that no rain had fallen for over three years. Those with a Biblical worldview know that God does his best work in such times. In fact, these conditions ushered in one of the great revivals recorded in Scripture. It wasa time of renewal triggered by confrontation, the first being an encounter between the

1 Walter C. Kaiser, Revive us Again (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 75.

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