1 Kings 18:30-39 Elijah Repaired the Altar for God on Mt. Carmel
30 Then Elijah said to all the people,“Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs(about 24 Lbs or 11 kg) of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it (3 times) on the offering and on the wood.”
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It was a historic moment when Elijah alone contested the 850 prophets of Baal. The king of North Israel, King Ahab, and his wife Jezebel not only forced the people of Israel to worship Baal, but also persecuted and killed the prophets of the Lord. Why did Elijah pick twelve stones for the new altar of the Lord? Those stones represented the new Israel, the new people of God who repented and those newly born again, even though they had discarded the altar of the Lord and turned to Baal. They had believed that Baal would give them more worldly fulfillment, and more of what they wanted. Those stones became part of the altar, built for the name of God only. The altar was built for the worship of the true God, to be done with true hearts and faith, and never to be used for human sinful desire. We know that the wood Elijah arranged on the altar was for the sacrificial offering. Who/what is our true sacrificial offering in the present time? Jesus Christ! The wood represents the cross Jesus was laid on. Elijah dug a trench around the altar, to gather the flowing water and the blood of the sacrificial animal that was laid on the wood. Jesus’ blood and water were running down the cross, and flowing out to the world, as the water and blood ran down around the altar Elijah built: “One of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.” (John 19:34)
Let us remember that we are Israel, we are the stone of God, holding the hands of Jesus, who is the corner stone of the church. We need to rebuild our new faith for the name of God in this complicated world. We all are holding up Jesus’ cross, and His blood and water, our baptism for His name and His crucifixion, which is our hope and Good News for all of humanity.