The Days of Elijah In part two of a three-part series Colleen Marshall examines how the issues facing the prophet Elijah in his day are similar to the challenges facing Christians today. She asks: What is God calling his people to do? For the past two decades the anthem of worship, ‘These are the days of Elijah’ has been sung in many churches. What a bold declaration of hope in the midst of turbulent times, as we look forward to the triumphant return of Jesus Christ, who will come riding on the clouds at the trumpet call (Matthew 24:27–31). Last month in part one, we looked at the days of Noah, an age in which lawlessness was rife. Noah was a lone voice taking his stand for righteousness. God told Noah to build an ark to save people from the coming flood, but no one heeded his warning. It was ‘business as usual’ until the flood came and destroyed the earth. The ark was built in plain view of all, 26
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but tragically the mockers perished as a consequence of their own choices. Today we hear of humanity being fallen, rather than sinful. It seems more palatable and makes for less accountability. But the Bible states, ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23).
The nation of Israel had veered far from God’s holy plumbline, and it was full of idolatry, immorality and corruption.
Elijah was a prophet, called to remind the people of God’s covenant and expose the state of the nation in which he lived. They had fallen far short of the Torah, God’s law. He lived around 850 BC and first appears in the Old Testament in 1 Kings 17. The nation of Israel had veered far from God’s holy plumbline, and it was full of idolatry, immorality and
corruption. King Ahab had arrogantly provoked the anger of the Lord for more than 22 years, worse than any other king of Israel (1 Kings 16:29–33). He abandoned the temple and worship of Jehovah God, setting up altars for idols Baal and Ashtoreth. God told Elijah to warn the king that a drought was imminent, with no
