Overcoming Jezebel by the Spirit and Power of Elijah

Transcription

1 Overcoming Jezebel by the Spirit and Power of Elijah A. One of the greatest challenges facing the church in coming hours is a great falling away from faith, or the turning of the heart away from God. (Mt. 24:9-13; 2 Thes. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1-2; 2 Tim. 3:1-7; 4:3-5; 2 Pet. 2:1-3) B. In scripture this great falling away occurs as many grow offended, deceived, allured/seduced and depart from their allegiance to Jesus. 1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons... (1 Tim. 4:1) 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables... (2 Tim. 4:3-5) 1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves...5 having a form of godliness but denying its power (reality). (2 Tim. 3:1-5) C. The coming hours in human history are going to escalate in pressure, opposition, persecution, deception and revival. [Matthew 13:24-30 tell us both the wheat and the tares will be growing unto maturity until the end of the age harvest] D. In the midst of that pressure and glory, the purity of devotion of the church will be openly displayed as some shine as blazing lamps and others love grows cold. [Matt 24:12] Our aim must be to guard our hearts from the allurement and assault of the enemy until the end. We must stand strong in the face of the currents of this age. E. All of this said sets the general context for the war between the spirit of Jezebel and believers. The spirit of Jezebel will be one of the main weapons satan uses to seduce, defile, oppose and persecute the church in coming hours. History of conflict with Jezebel A. The history of the conflict with the spirit of Jezebel is ancient and begins when humanity was created. Essentially the jezebel spirit is a demonic, anti-christ spirit [1 John 2:18-23]that desires to oppose and exalt itself above all that is called God or connected to God. [2 Thess 2:4] B. We have 3 major occurrences of this spirit in the Bible: OT, NT and End of the age. The OT and NT appearances give us insight into the opposition at the End of the age. C. Old Testament: Jezebel married the King of Israel, Ahab, and began to influence the nation in a dramatic way causing approximately 10 million covenant people to fall away from loyalty to Yahweh, except 7, 000. Her idolatry, seduction, immorality, and persecution caused God s people to become an apostate people. The wickedness of this monarchy exceeded any other in Israel s history. Eventually, God s judgment wiped out the entire household through Elisha and Jehu.

2 D. New Testament: Jesus speaks to the Church in Thyatira in Revelation 2:18-29 about their tolerance of immorality and idolatry promoted by Jezebel, a false teacher in the church. The church s hearts were turning away from pure devotion and embracing mixture and false grace. E. End of the Age: Revelation tell us of the coming system that will combine religion and economics to divert worship and devotion from God. The Harlot Babylon system will be fueled by the spirit of Jezebel to seduce multitudes into a deceptive one world religion that will have allegiance to the Antichrist. This system will incorporate all of the attributes of Jezebel: seduction, immorality, persecution, witchcraft, idolatry, deception, murder and more. The remedy of God- the spirit and power of Elijah In the midst of all of the pressure, darkness and deception, God has a remedy- the spirit and power of Elijah. This was God s remedy in the days of OT Jezebel and Ahab, NT John the Baptist and the remedy for the end of the age. Elijah first comes on the scene 1 Kings 16:29-33 The Bible first records Elijah s ministry in the days of King Ahab who did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all [the kings of Israel] who were before him, who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up (1 Kgs. 16:30; 21:25). Jezebel, was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians (1 Kgs. 16:31). Earlier, the Lord warned King Solomon concerning the Sidonians, You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods (1 Kgs. 11:2). Jezebel clearly did this by filling the land with harlotries and witchcraft (2 Kings 9:22) negatively influencing King Ahab who went and served Baal and worshiped him set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria made a wooden image and did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him (1 Kgs. 16:31-33). Jezebel then massacred the prophets of the Lord (1 Kgs. 18:4, 13) and established in their place 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel s table (1 Kgs. 18:19). It was in this climactic state of spiritual apostasy and national idolatry led by the King and Queen that God sent in the prophet Elijah to confront and to call back the heart of a nation! A. Prior to Ahab, 7 kings in a row ruled wickedly in the northern kingdom, leading to much momentum for darkness. It was in this atmosphere that Elijah stands before Ahab and declares the word of the Lord. B. Elijah s primary message was centered around the people of God turning their hearts back to God, or repentance. He was sent to challenge the idolatry of the day, the deception of the nation and call people back to pure devotion and allegiance to Yahweh. C. Israel was engulfed in Baal worship. Baal was the god of fertility and rain. To secure blessing and provision, sexual immorality of all kinds was practiced, temple prostitution, sacrifice of children etc. In the midst of this was Asherah and Molech, two gods whose worship also included the same acts of darkness. D. Jezebel had brought this into the nation, turning it from God and then began killing all the prophets of God and replacing them with false demonic prophets.

3 E. There was an enormous amount of pressure to waver in devotion and remain neutral. Taking a stance cost you something- your life. This is what Elijah confronted in the nation on Mt. Carmel: How long will you falter [limp] between two opinions? The pressure of Jezebel had neutralized a nation of covenant people. We must be those who take a stand for truth founded upon love and allegiance to Jesus. F. The Lord uses Elijah to confront the corruption in the nation and call the people of God back to loyalty to God. Mount Carmel was a pivotal point in the nation s history- Elijah challenges the false prophets, repairs the altar of the Lord separate from the altar of Baal, prays and calls down fire from heaven for the express purpose of the people knowing God is true and bringing them back to Him. [18:36-39] G. The result of the turning of hearts is: the knowledge of God, righteousness and restoration in the land. H. The result of this event triggered the demise of Ahab and Jezebel s reign. Though it would come through the hands of Elisha and Jehu, the Lord entrusted Elijah with the responsibility of raising up a generation that could stand and passing the baton to them to eliminate Jezebel. [2 Kings 9 Jehu kills Jezebel ] John the Baptist Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and [turn] the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. Malachi 4: For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Luke 1:15-17 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight a and the rough places smooth; 5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Isaiah 40:3-5 A. John the Baptist operated in the spirit and power of Elijah as a forerunner before Jesus first coming. His assignment was to prepare the way of the Lord through prayer/fasting, proclamation, preaching repentance, living in intimacy with the Lord. He did this through a life of consecration, humility and spiritual fervor. He knew the voice of the Bridegroom and his joy was fulfilled in His coming. B. Jesus declared John to be Elijah [one who operated in the spirit and power of Elijah] and a burning and shining lamp for those who were caught in darkness. [Matt 11:14, John 5:35]

4 Our day That means he was anointed with power by the Holy Spirit to accomplish a mission with a message similar to Elijah s. 10 And His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? 11 Jesus answered and said to them, Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. 12 But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands. 13 Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist. A. In this passage we get the dynamics of the spirit of Elijah. John operated in the spirit and power of Elijah, being a forerunner and type of what is coming. Before the day of the Lord [Jesus second coming] the Lord has declared Elijah is coming to turn hearts once again, the hearts of the father s to the children and children to the father s. What He will release will usher in the restoration of all things B. The Lord is raising up messengers/forerunners in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way for the return of the Lord. Facets of the mission include: a. Turning the heart of God s people back to the Father s heart b. Family restoration: father s to children, children to father s [this is why we see the fatherless epidemic currently. God has a solution to the issues of the day- the spirit and power of Elijah] c. Preaching and demonstrations of power d. Prayer and fasting unto spiritual breakthrough e. Foundation of intimacy with the heart of the Bridegroom C. God is preparing people now so in the hour of adversity and pressure, they can declare with clarity the heart of the Lord and stand upon truth without compromise. In the midst of multitudes turning from God and love for God growing cold, we need something from heaven stronger. [Isaiah 40:3-5 glory of Lord seen, Isaiah 60:1-3 in the midst of darkness, light shining bright. How do we stand in the midst of pressure? Without a doubt, we have not seen the last of the conflict between the spirit of Jezebel and Elijah. In fact we are in the midst of the climax currently. Revelation speaks of a system coming called the Harlot Babylon that will be directly influenced and fueled by this spirit. Just as in Elijah s day, there will be a systematic persecution and elimination of the voice of the prophets [the witness of Christ through believers]. We must begin to prepare our hearts to stand loyal to Christ and His Word, so we are not swept away by political correctness and the deception of the day. What caused Elijah to prevail in the midst of deep darkness? What will cause us to prevail?

5 A. He was a vessel prepared in the wilderness of prayer and fasting. He encountered God and knew Him deeply. This enabled him to stand in the face of opposition because he knew he stood before God. [1 Kings 17:1] To gain a voice that can shift the hearts of men and nations, we must sow our voice in the wilderness of prayer and fasting. This is where Elijah and John the Baptist were prepared for their assignment. We cannot bypass the wilderness of preparation. B. He had no tolerance for Jezebel and her ways. We see that Elijah was a burning prophet, zealous for the name and ways of God. [1 Kings 19:10] This is the same zeal Jehu had in his heart as he overthrew her reign in Israel. They asked him for peace but he said how can there be peace as long as the harlotries and witchcraft of Jezebel are in the land. [2 Kings 9:22] How can we try to remain neutral while the enemy is destroying a generation? This is also the issue Jesus rebuked the church of Thyatira. They had embraced a false peace and tolerance for Jezebel that caused people of God to stumble and become ensnared in darkness. C. He stood in unwavering agreement with Jesus and His word. This is the forefront of the battle in our hour and hours to come. Jesus was called the faithful witness and faithful and true. This means that He rightly represented the Father despite opposition of pressure to compromise the message. We live in an hour that is pressuring the church to water down the message to be politically correct and inclusive to all. The question of the hour facing the church is Who do you say I [Jesus] am? We must love truth despite the cost or the consequence. The alternative is deception and separation from God. [2 Thess 2:9-10] Deception is one of the key characteristics of the last days, therefore we must be founded in truth to remain. D. We must embrace repentance and crucify the flesh. A death to self is required to overcome. Revelation 12:11 declares we will overcome the devil by the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony and not loving our lives unto death. Galatians 5:24 says that those who are Christ s have crucified the flesh with its desires. The enemy only gains access into our lives through the flesh. Our embrace of death will lead to life. Our repentance solidifies our stance with Jesus in truth. E. Consecration is a crucial dimension to overcoming as well. John the Baptist was a Nazarite who separated himself from the ordinary to be used by God for the extraordinary. [Luke 1:15-17] F. Intimacy is the foundation of the forerunner ministry. Elijah knew the Lord in a unique way. John the Baptist also possessed deep knowledge of God s heart and ways. He is the first one to call Jesus the Bridegroom [John 3:29] which speaks of his intimate connection with the heart of Jesus. The only way to guard our hearts from the seduction and lust that Jezebel presents is a deep satisfaction in Christ and the pleasure of hearing His voice. [John 3:29] The aim of the enemy is to allure us from pure devotion to Jesus as His bride [2 Cor 11:1-4] God has an answer for the issues of the day, for the prevalence of darkness and the agenda of satan-an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and power and forerunners raised up in the spirit and power of Elijah. [Mal 4:5-6, Acts 2:17-21 are both dynamics before Jesus comes and seem to work together in tandem.]