What Was or What Will Be

1 Kings 18:1-2, 7-8, 14-40

Elijah’s Message to Ahab

18 And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.”

² So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab; and there was a severe famine in Samaria.

^7B…, suddenly Elijah met him; and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is that you, my lord Elijah?”

⁸ And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’ ”

¹⁴ And now you say, ‘Go, tell your master, “Elijah is here.” ’ He will kill me!”

¹⁵ Then Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him today.”

¹⁶ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

¹⁷ Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”

¹⁸ And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals. ¹⁹ Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

Elijah’s Mount Carmel Victory

²⁰ So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. ²¹ And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. ²² Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. ²³ Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. ²⁴ Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.”

So all the people answered and said,  “It is well spoken.”

²⁵ Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”

²⁶ So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.

²⁷ And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry ^[h]aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” ²⁸ So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with ^[i]knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. ²⁹ And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. ³¹ And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” ³² Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. ³³ And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” ³⁴ Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. ³⁵ So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.

³⁶ And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. ³⁷ Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”

³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹ Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

⁴⁰ And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.

I would like to explain the title:

A Tombstone Holds What Was

A Mantle Releases What Will Be

I’m here to release a fire in this house. The former House you came from planned to bury you.

But this house carries a Mantle that is releasing the fire of God on your life.

I make no apologies for the mantle I carry; I’m a father ordained by heaven to release the fire He placed in me.

I want to bring clarity to the text: verses 30-35 speaks of order; and verses 36-37, about timing. If there is no order, the timing doesn’t matter because there is no manifestation  (verses 38-39).

Verse 40 describes what the fire will enable you to do.

The devil has a tombstone with your name on it; it represents what was! Hear me, when Jesus saved you he filled you with his Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

You are not the person you once were. The grave was the cruel strategy of the Enemy, that’s before Christ came into your life! The Tombstone Holds What Was.

God is not about what was! but about What will be!

When the Holy Spirit came into your heart, The “what will be” did also. It is no longer about getting Jesus on the inside but releasing what came in.