New Days, Old Demons: A Study of ElijahShembull

How Can We Stand Against the Ahab and Jezebel Spirits Today?

After three long years of drought, without any rain in Israel, the time had come for God to defeat the demonic spirits working through Ahab and Jezebel. So, God spoke yet again to Elijah, commanding his servant to personally tell King Ahab that God was going to send rain.

Importantly, we see that Elijah does nothing but pray and wait until God tells him the time for action has come. In this, we learn the importance of knowing both God’s will and God’s timing.

In God’s providence, Elijah and Obadiah’s paths cross. Obadiah recognizes the eccentric mountain man and immediately fears for his life. Elijah is the most wanted man in Israel, likely with a hefty bounty on his head. Elijah gives a ministry assignment to Obadiah that could cost him his life–go tell Ahab that Elijah is coming for a fight! Obadiah responds first with fear, but then with faith. Obadiah is a godly man, but still was human and imperfect like the rest of us. Like Obadiah, fear will come upon us, but we need to not let it in us. Counselors tell us that the best way to overcome fear is to run at it rather than away from it. Obadiah fears Ahab, but since he loves the Lord more than he fears the king, Obadiah runs to the same Ahab he had been previously running from in faith.

As believers, we eventually find ourselves in the same position as Elijah, admittedly with less at stake. Someone has a problem with God, and God has a problem with them. We are caught in the middle and when we take God’s side, they declare war on us as their enemy and the source of the problem. This is precisely the spiritual war playing out as interpersonal conflict between Ahab and Elijah. Ahab worshipped the demon god Baal, who was believed to rule the rain. Yet, it had not rained for three years and, “the famine was severe”. Businesses, crops, animals, and people had died in large numbers. Every day was a funeral for the entire nation of Israel because of the sin of their head, Ahab. Just as Adam’s sin as our head brought death to all mankind, so Ahab’s sin brought death to all under his leadership. However, he was so selfish that he could not even consider that he was the problem and that if he humbly repented, the real God would send the rain and bless the people. He cared nothing for God or others, the very two things Jesus told us to love. Instead, Ahab blames Elijah and God, calling him “troubler of Israel”. The word “troubler” is sometimes translated “asp” or “viper” or basically a serpent like Satan.

Satan is referred to as the “deceiver”. Perhaps the worst deception is self-deception. A person who is self-deceived reinterprets everything in their life in terms of a lie. They lose touch with reality and constantly see themselves as the victim, even blame shifting to innocent people, wrongly accusing them of doing evil. Like Ahab, deceived people are villains but only see themselves as victims.

For Elijah, there had to be a tremendous temptation. If he aligned with Ahab, the bounty on his head would be lifted and he would be treated like a king in Israel living in luxury with fame and fortune, but he would have lost God’s anointing and become a false prophet. This moment was a bit like the day when Jesus and Satan came face-to-face, and Jesus was offered all the pleasures of the world in an instant if He would just bow down the King of Darkness.

The fight will take place on “Mount Carmel”, which the Canaanites believed was a place where their demon gods ruled from in power. Baal was worshipped as the god of crops in a barren land, god of rain during a severe drought, and god of the sun or fire, which would not come down for him, as we will learn in the next scene of this supernatural story.

What parallels do you see between Elijah’s battle and Jesus’? (Luke 4:1-14)