GOD’S COVENANT FAITHFULNESS IN OLD AGE
Dr Arthur E Steele
When people reach age 60, I find that they consider a different kind of life called retirement. They didn’t take a course in college called “Retirement 101 or 404.” Suddenly much changes, employment changes, grandchildren grow up, retirement income won’t stretch, medical bills increase, etc. But the things of the Lord change not. God’s Covenant of Grace covers all of life including everlasting life, after this life. And God’s faithfulness does not change. He gives peace, which the world knows not. He still answers prayer. He knows us well, including all the new conditions, and He cares. We are expected to think and evaluate our retirement existence in terms of death, heaven and eternity. There should not be a greater awareness during retirement of death, heaven and eternity than when we were healthy and gainfully employed in the world. Departing for heaven, or being a part of the Lord’s return will be, without question, the next great event in all of our lives.
As a little boy, I well remember my father emphasizing to me “God means what He says.” My mother said that dad received the Lord as his Savior during a Billy Sunday Crusade in 1925, when I was five years old. As the first child of Swedish immigrants my father tended to be very European. His statements were not to be questioned. He would quote a Bible verse and then state with emphasis that “God means what He says.” so I learned very early to believe that GOD MEANS WHAT HE SAYS. I still do.
Later in life facing decisions and reactions, I tried to figure out why individuals do what they do and say what they say. God in His faithfulness to me caused me to be aware that in any circumstance, “God knows”, and that He knows every detail, every objective, and every thought about everything, including what anyone else is thinking. Our Covenant God is perfectly faithful, and He knows.
When God says everlasting life he means just that and all that it implies. For us there is no death. Acts 7:59-60. Remember the last words of Stephen as he was being stoned to death, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit.” He knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” “And when he had said this, he fell asleep” and was transported royally to heaven to be with the faithful Mediator of the everlasting Covenant of Grace.
God’s covenant faithfulness is assured for every moment of our lives. David said in Psalm 90:4, “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night.” And in verse 9, he adds these words, “we spend our years as a tale that is told.” James raises the question in James 4:14, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away.”
Prophets of old who served God well are each alive as we speak. God was faithful in reminding them that they would “be gathered together” with the company of the redeemed. As God said to Moses in Deuteronomy 32:50, “And die in the mount whether thou ascend, as Aaron thy brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered unto his people.” God was faithful in assuring Abraham that in death he would “go to thy fathers in peace” (Gen 15:15). What a company of faithful ministers await our arrival. 1 Corinthians 2:9, 10, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.”
ELIJAH—PROPHET OF FIRE
Dr Arthur E Steele
Elijah a Nobody
Book Cover – Prophets of Fire and WaterElijah was great in the sight of God because he was a man God could use. He was truly “a Mount Sinai of a man.” (Alexander Whyte). Lest we today regard Elijah as somehow endowed uniquely with superhuman qualities that could never be attained by the Lord’s servants today, the Holy Spirit chose to introduce him in the Old Testament as “Elijah the Tishbite” (1 Kgs 17:1). Elijah is introduced to us as “the Tishbite” with a message from the Lord God of Israel to Ahab the wicked King of Israel. All indications are that the area of Tishbe was a place of no consequence and added nothing to the status of someone from there. I think it is possible that the area was so insignificant that the word “Tishbite” could be used as a word of derision, to belittle a person. Today the world might say, Elijah was a nobody.
The Holy Spirit guided, in His infinite wisdom, the writing of each word in the Bible, in the Old Testament and in the New. He introduced Elijah as the Tishbite and ended His reference to Elijah in James 5:17 with the words, “Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are.” The account of Elijah, therefore, is a tremendous source of encouragement to ministers and all Christians during these latter days as we face the awful apostasy, wickedness and activities of Satan.
Elijah’s Burden
“Elijah was a man powerfully motivated by the Word of God.” (Pastor Ingles). We see this motivation each step in the life of Elijah from Gilead to the contest with the prophets of God and Ahab on Mount Carmel. Elijah was powerfully motivated from God’s Word. Here then is the message Elijah gave to Ahab: “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” (1 Kgs 17:1).
Elijah had a burden, an overwhelming burden for the restoration of the northern kingdom, which is known as Israel. The awful idolatry was everywhere. With the idolatry came wickedness almost beyond imagination. God’s name was profaned and His holy law not observed. Jezebel, from the city of Zidon, headquarters of Baal worship, became the queen, the wife of King Ahab in Samaria. To please her, Ahab built a temple to Baal and an altar to Baal in the capital of the northern kingdom. We read the account in I Kings 16:30-33, “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.”
Elijah’s Convictions
While we know little about Elijah’s youth, we know that his father gave him a name that reveals something about his family. The name Elijah means “the Lord is my God”, or “Jehovah is God.” You can see this from the “El” which is an abbreviation for Elohim and from “Jah” the abbreviation for Jehovah. This name reflects indeed the convictions of Elijah. He knew God’s Word, he dwelt on God’s Word and he saw clearly how it applied to Ahab and the land of Israel. Jeremiah’s words fit Elijah, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.” (Jer 15:16).
There can be no doubt that the warning and promise of God to Moses in Deuteronomy 11:13-17 were well known to Elijah. In this passage, God promised that He would give rain and adequate crops to his people when they “hearkened diligently” unto His commandments, and that He would also withhold the rain when they failed to do so. The situation in Israel called for such divine intervention by the Lord God of Israel. As we consider Elijah in the hills of Gilead meditating on the Word of God, and praying about the awful wickedness and apostasy in Israel, we can see how God motivated Elijah through His Word.
In summary, borrowing some thoughts from Pastor Ingles, we can say this about Elijah: (1) He had a compelling conviction that Jehovah his God was alive, irrespective of anything. (2) He had the confirmation in his heart, his head, and in his total being that what God said was true, irrespective of anything. (3) He had the assurance that he must act on the basis of the Word that was revealed to him and sealed within him. (4) He prayed earnestly about the condition of the land and God gave him the assurance that his prayers were in the will of God and that God would answer his prayer. (5) He received God’s commission and his command to take the Word of God to King Ahab.
Elijah delivered the message to Ahab and Ahab received the message without any question and for three or more years, the name Elijah was synonymous with the drought and famine in the land. The rain was withheld for a total of three and a half years.
Elijah’s Fervency
Elijah was a man fervent in the Word and fervent in prayer in the hills of Gilead. His understanding of God’s statements concerning rain in Deuteronomy 11 was clear during those days. He was a man of prayer long before he met King Ahab. This suggests that Elijah prayed that rain be withheld while he was yet in Gilead. If this is the case, Elijah would have been stirred as he noted that there was no change in the King nor in the Israelites in the face of months of drought and impending famine. I can imagine Elijah praying fervently that God would send him with a message of warning to Ahab. There are great timeless principles that we see in the life of Elijah that are also true in the life of the surrendered servant of the Lord today.
[Ed: The late Dr Arthur Steele (1920-2011) was the founding president of Clearwater Christian College (CCC). He was bosom friend of our late founding pastor the Rev Dr Timothy Tow (1920-2009) when they were classmates at Faith Theological Seminary. When Dr Steele retired as President of CCC, the Rev Tow invited him to teach at Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC), 1988-1990. Dr Steele’s article above is taken from the book, Prophets of Fire and Water (ed Timothy Tow), which contains a series of messages under the general theme, “Declaring All the Counsel of God in Perilous Times”, delivered at the FEBC Bible Conference in Genting Highlands, September 5-9, 1988. Dr Steele was a member of Suncoast Bible Presbyterian Church in Palm Harbor, Florida which was pastored by the Rev Dr Howard Carlson, and now the Rev Dr Morris McDonald. Suncoast BPC will be holding an Arthur Steele Memorial Bible Conference, September 25-27, 2015. FEBC is pleased to grant permission to reprint Dr Steele’s sermon on “Elijah—Prophet of Fire” for this Conference. “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Heb 13:7-8).]
