And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before Jehovah. And behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Jehovah Jehovah was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake Jehovah was not in the earthquake.
Elijah has fled from Jezebel, travelled forty days into the wilderness, and hidden in a cave at Horeb. There God tells him to come out and stand in the open. What follows teaches the difference between God's power and God Himself. It shows why the servant who had called down fire at Carmel now needed something quieter.
The order to stand before the Lord puts a finger on the exact thing that had gone wrong.
So the Lord speaks to Elijah again: "Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord." These words reveal the secret of his failure. Elijah may give many plausible reasons for fleeing to the cave, but the true reason is that he had failed to keep the Lord before him. One thing lay behind his bold witness before Ahab, his power to raise the widow's son, and his power to bring down fire from heaven and command the rain. He moved and acted in faith before the living God. The secret of his flight, on the other hand, was that he acted in fear before a dying woman. Before the king who had turned away from God he can say, "The Lord before whom I stand". But when he thinks about the wicked queen, it becomes: Jezebel before whom I flee.
Horeb was where God had dealt with Moses. It stood near the place where He gave the law to the nation.
After forty days the prophet reached Horeb, the mount of God — a place of unusual interest. There the Lord had dealings with Moses, forty years after he had tried too soon to rescue His people. At Horeb Moses learned precious lessons that fitted him for his future service in Israel (Ex. 3). In the same area was Mount Sinai, where the Lord had dealings with the nation and set His holy law before them (Ex. 20). It is significant that Elijah, angry as he was with the people, should have gone there. It was as if he wanted judgment on them for their unfaithfulness.
The three convulsions matched what Elijah had been asking for.
The strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire are all symbols of God's power at work in devouring, destructive judgment. God displayed them before Elijah for a plain reason. Elijah had been longing for God to step in with judgment like this in the middle of Israel, to back up his own mission and to defend the name and authority of the Lord. But he was now to learn that the Lord was not in these things. His zeal — which so easily turns into merely human energy — had drifted away from communion with the Lord's mind and heart. The moment this happens — and how often it does — the servant becomes completely unfit for his work.
Three times the text says the Lord was not in the display.
Displays of power come from God, but we must not confuse them with God Himself. Elijah had seen His power at Carmel. But because he no longer saw such displays, it seemed hard for him to believe God was working at all. Yet he soon learned that a quiet gracious work was going on in many hearts in Israel that he knew nothing about.
One writer measures God's power by a different standard.
God's power is not to be measured by what He does, but by what He is. He is beyond all His acts.
Elijah's complaint was that he alone was left. What he sees on the mountain cuts his own place down to size.
So the prophet was taught that he must be content to be an agent, and one of many. He might have thought that he had to do all the work himself. He came with all the terrible force of a mighty wind. He supposed he would sweep away every obstacle and bring the nation back to its place of glad loyalty to God. The most devoted, the most gifted and the most highly placed are only stones in the building, screws in the vast machine. Whoever supposes that he is the instrument will find himself much mistaken.
The three great signs are the run-up. God is in what comes after them (older translations: "a still small voice"; the ESV renders it "the sound of a low whisper").
Elijah has to learn that wind and earthquake and fire may indeed be God's servants to wake men up. But unless the "still small voice" is heard, no one is really won for God. The thunder of Sinai must be followed by the still small voice of grace if the heart of man is to be reached and won.
And this is how a servant who has drifted gets back on his feet:
It is the still small voice that touches him. When he hears it he hides his face in his mantle and comes out. There usually comes a moment, if a servant of God has drifted a little, when the Lord speaks to him in a still small voice, and he is restored.
- Stand. Elijah's collapse began when he stopped keeping the Lord before him and put Jezebel there instead. The cure starts where God does, with the command to stand before Him.
- Storm. Wind, earthquake and fire are the judgment he had been demanding on Israel. God stages them, then says three times that He is not in them.
- Source. Power belongs to God, but power is not God. Measure Him by what He is, not by what He does.
- Small. Signs wake people up; only the whisper of grace wins them. No one is won for God until he hears that voice.
- Sent. Elijah is one agent among many, not the one man God cannot do without — and a quiet work was already going on in hearts he knew nothing about.
And after the earthquake, a fire Jehovah was not in the fire. And after the fire, a soft gentle voice.
Elijah has fled from Queen Jezebel to Mount Horeb, and God tells him to stand on the mountain. Wind, earthquake and fire pass by, but God is in none of them — He meets the prophet in something else entirely.
Elijah knew what God's power looked like; he had seen it at Mount Carmel.
Displays of power come from God, but we must not confuse them with God Himself. Elijah had seen His power at Carmel. Because he no longer saw such displays, it seemed hard for him to believe God was working at all. Yet he soon learned that a quiet, gracious work was going on in many hearts in Israel that he knew nothing about.
Another writer weighs the quiet voice against everything that came before it. The quotes below use the older wording "a still small voice" for what the ESV calls "the sound of a low whisper."
After the wind, the earthquake and the fire came "a still small voice." This impressed the prophet's soul far more than nature's terrifying violence. He was in God's presence. We must not measure God's power by what He does, but by what He is. He is beyond all His acts.
The sign Elijah would have chosen and the sign he needed were not the same.
Wind, fire, earthquake — these announce the power of God to man. They would have suited Elijah's angry heart as instruments of divine power against Israel. But these displays of His power were not God Himself. The still small voice reveals His presence to Elijah. What would have satisfied his own will did not awaken his conscience. Nor did what might have been just toward others. But by the still small voice God reveals Himself. It pierces Elijah's heart, and he hides his face before the presence of the LORD.
Elijah might have expected one great agent to do the whole work.
By these solemn and varied displays of Himself and His wonderful workings, the Lord would teach His servant a deep lesson. He was not limited to one agent in carrying out His purposes. The wind was an agent, and a powerful one, yet it did not reach the goal. The same was true of the earthquake and the fire. Their sheer terror only paved the way for the last agent, the one that seemed weakest — the still small voice. Only God can make Himself heard, even when He speaks in a still small voice.
The great signs did have an effect on Israel, but it did not last.
He had thought that these mighty displays of God's power would turn the whole nation to God in deep repentance. But no real revival had taken place. Elijah has to learn that wind and earthquake and fire may indeed be God's servants to wake men up. But no one is truly won for God unless he hears the "still small voice." The still small voice of grace must follow the thunder of Sinai to reach and win the heart of man.
The order of the four signs is not accidental.
The first three signs — the great strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire — were the kind Elijah would have expected to find the LORD in. But He was in none of them. This is not to say He will never act in judgment. He has fixed a day for that. Sadly, we tend to take that work out of His hands and do it too soon, and so spoil it all. Besides, before the day of judgment there was to be a day of grace; and it is grace that speaks in the fourth and last sign.
The voice did what the earthquake could not.
In it was the Lord. Elijah was conscious of it. This was the voice that drew him out of the cave and made him stand at the entrance, his face wrapped in his cloak. He was both subdued and attracted, but not yet in the secret of the Lord, for he repeats his complaint.
This has a direct effect on how we judge our own work for God.
It is possible for us today to get discouraged if the work of God in our hands does not move in striking ways. When there are no visible signs, we tend to conclude that nothing is happening at all!
- Not in the wind. God sends wind, earthquake and fire, but He is not in them. Never mistake a display of His power for God Himself.
- Not what he wanted. The violent signs matched Elijah's anger at Israel. The quiet voice reached his conscience.
- Not one instrument. The Lord is not confined to a single agent, and He keeps the seemingly weakest one for last.
- Not judgment yet. Force can wake a person; only the voice of grace wins the heart, and grace speaks before the fixed day of judgment.
- Not finished. The voice draws Elijah out of the cave. He covers his face, subdued and attracted — yet he repeats his complaint.