Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 225
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other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. Then
call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The
god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the
people agreed.
Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “You go first, for there are many
of you. Choose one of the bulls, and prepare it and call on the name of your
god. But do not set fire to the wood.”
So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they
called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting,
“O Baal, answer us!” But there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced,
hobbling around the altar they had made.
About noontime Elijah began mocking them. “You’ll have to shout
louder,” he scoffed, “for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or
is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs
to be wakened!”
So they shouted louder, and following their normal custom, they cut
themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. They raved
all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no
sound, no reply, no response.
Then Elijah called to the people, “Come over here!” They all crowded
around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down.
He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel, and
he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord. Then he
dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold about three gallons.
He piled wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces
on the wood.
Then he said, “Fill four large jars with water, and pour the water over
the offering and the wood.”
After they had done this, he said, “Do the same thing again!” And when
they were finished, he said, “Now do it a third time!” So they did as he said,
and the water ran around the altar and even filled the trench.
At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet
walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant.
Prove that I have done all this at your command. O Lord, answer me!
Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that
you have brought them back to yourself.”
Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned
up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up
all the water in the trench! And when all the people saw it, they fell face
down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord
is God!”