He's Sovereign

In Kings and Chronicles, He's Sovereign....

Before I went to sleep last night, the last thing that I prayed was that God would
reveal to me what it was that He wanted me to convey about His sovereignty. It's a
huge concept to wrap your mind around, so I asked Him to help me wrap my heart
around it instead. Right before I fell asleep, I saw in my mind's eye Elijah and the
challenge he made to the prophets of Baal. Then you call on the name of your god,
and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the god who answers by fire, He is God 1
Kings 18:24

Elijah threw down the gauntlet of sovereignty, but before we jump into that story, let's
talk about what sovereignty means, along with a praise and worship song that came to
mind while meditating on this subject this morning.

Above all powers, Above all kings

Above all nature and all created things,
Above all wisdom and all the ways of man,
You were here before the world began.

Above all kingdoms, above all thrones,

Above all wonders the world has ever known,
Above all wealth, and treasures of the earth.
There's no way to measure what you're worth.

Crucified, laid behind a stone,

You lived to die, rejected and alone,
Like a rose, trampled on the ground,
You took the fall, and thought of me,
Above all.
Above All by Michael W. Smith

Sovereign is defined by Merrium-Webster as "one possessing or held to possess

supreme political power or sovereignty."(noun) It also means "of the most exalted
kind" and "possessed of supreme power". (adjectives) Two synonyms are: highest and
greatest which can translate to "Above All". In Hebrew, sovereign can be expressed
through Adonai, which means "Lord" and thus speaks of sovereignty. 11 Thine, O
LORD, [is] the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the
majesty: for all [that is] in the heaven and in the earth [is thine]; thine [is] the
kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and
honour [come] of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand [is] power and
might; and in thine hand [it is] to make great, and to give strength unto all. 1
Chronicles 29:11-12
Now let's go back to Elijah. King Ahab had married a Phoenician woman named
Jezebel. She wasn't just a king's daughter, she was a priestess of the false gods they
served, primarily Baal. She was instrumental in turning God's people even further
away from Him where they worshiped her gods, which included child sacrifice. Elijah
became a huge thorn in this woman's side and when through him, God showed her
gods to be false before the entire nation, her rage and desire for vengeance towards
Elijah caused him to flee to the wilderness. What could have possibly happened for
her rage to be so great?
This is almost like two kids on the playground and one says to the other, "my dad is
better than your dad" and the other says "wanna bet?" The challenge laid out is one
that can leave no doubt as to whose dad is better. Elijah tells Ahab to gather all of
Israel and the prophets of Baal to gather at Mount Carmel. Once there, Elijah says to
the people, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him;
but if Baal then follow him." and he's met with crickets. No one says a word. He then
tells them that he is one and Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty. One and God
is a majority and if He is for you, who can be against you? (Romans 8:31)
Sacrifices are prepared and placed on wood, but he instructed them not to put any fire
under the wood, and this was done for both parties. He then issues the challenge. "And
call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord (Adonai):
and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God." The prophets of Baal went first,
calling on the name of Baal from morning to noon, even jumping upon the altar, but
there was no answer. After this time had passed, Elijah mocked them saying "Cry
louder! Maybe he's talking or on a journey or maybe he's asleep and you need to wake
him up!" So they cried louder and cut themselves with knives but to no avail. By
evening, Baal had done nothing to prove himself as god. Then, it was Elijah's turn,
and guess whose dad was better?
30 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came
near unto 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, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:
32 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a
trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.
33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the
wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and
on the wood.
34 And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said,
Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.
35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also 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 of Israel, let it be
known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have
done all these things at thy word.
37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God,
and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and
the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he
is the God; the Lord, he is the God.
40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.
And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew
them there. (1 Kings 18: 19-40)

Can you imagine what it must have been like to see fire fall from heaven? A fire so
precise that it was in a contained to just the area of a sacrificial alter, consuming
everything...the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the water and even the very dust.
Seeing that fire come from ABOVE and seeing the hand of a sovereign God in
motion, it had to truly put the fear of God into them. At least for a time. If they were
able to walk away from Him after seeing such an awesome display of his sovereignty,
how much more do we need to guard our own hearts? Proverbs 4:23 says Keep thy
heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Who is the life? Jesus, so
for Him to flow from our hearts for others to see, we have to guard our hearts and
know that we serve a sovereign God.