The Story of a Prayer Answered by Fire, Part 2 (1 Kings 18)

Elijah was really outnumbered. In fact, he said to the people, “I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.” Elijah then suggested that they bring two bulls for a sacrifice, one bull for the prophets of Baal and one bull for himself. Neither the prophets of Baal nor Elijah would light a fire under their sacrifice, but they would call upon their God to send the fire to ignite the sacrifice. Elijah said, “Call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call upon the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God.” All the people agreed and said, “It is well spoken.” The prophets of Baal went first; they built an altar and put their sacrifice on the altar. They cried out all morning and until noon, “O Baal, hear us.” Nothing happened. Elijah told them to cry louder for maybe their god was talking or on a journey. They jumped on their altar, they even cut themselves to try to get the attention of Baal. They did not stop until evening, but still nothing happened. Now it was Elijah’s turn. He built an altar with twelve stones in the name of the Lord, he put wood in order over the stones, and he put his sacrifice upon the wood. Then Elijah did some very unusual things. First, he dug a trench all the way around the altar of sacrifice. That was unusual, now get this; he then told the people to carry four barrels of water from the sea and pour it over the sacrifice. They did, and he told them to do it again. They did, and he told them to do it again. Everything was soaked and even the trench around the altar was full of water. Do you think God will send fire, and even if he does do you think the sacrifice will burn with everything being so wet? We’ll find out tomorrow.