LVI. "THEN THE FIRE OF THE LORD FELL."
1 KINGS xviii. 38.

It was fire that came direct from heaven. It was not the first time it
had fallen; we read of it in Leviticus ix. 24 as coming from before the
Lord, and consuming the sacrifice. It was God's way of showing His power
and his favour, and it was something that could neither be imitated nor
produced by anyone else besides Jehovah.

I.--THIS FIRE CAME AT A TIME OF APOSTACY. The nation, headed by King
Ahab, had gone very far away from God. They needed some signal display
of God's power to win them back again. It is interesting to notice that
God has been in the habit of manifesting Himself in a remarkable way just
at the time when his foes seem to be triumphing. The religion of Jehovah
was almost forgotten, the rites of unclean idols were popular both in
court and cottage, and it was then that the word of the Lord came to
Elijah. When Satan can produce Ahab, God can assert Himself by raising
up the seer who shall put him to shame. Has it not been so many times
since? When the rulers had put Jesus to death, He proved His
resurrection by sending tongues of fire on those who kept His word by
remaining at Jerusalem. When Popery had placed its iron heel upon the
head of Gospel truth, Martin Luther was converted; and later on, when a
cold rigour was upon Christendom, Wesley and Whitefield felt the fire of
God in their very bones, and were sent out to tell of the Jesus that
delivers the vilest of men.

May we not expect in these days of blasphemy and rebuke that the fire
shall fall upon the Church, and that some shall be so filled with the
Holy Ghost that the enemies of God shall be delivered to derision and
contempt? Let us not be dismayed by the power and number of those who
are arrayed against us. _Elijah was in a minority of one_. He had the
king and queen against him; hundreds of well-fed priests opposed him; the
whole nation had turned its back on God, and were opposed to this single-
handed prophet. If the fire did not fall, he would become their victim;
but they could not prevent the fire coming from heaven. It is the unseen
forces that are to be dreaded by the enemies of God. There was no sign
of this fire; but there was a needs-be that Jehovah should prove his
supremacy, and He did it unmistakably, for the fire of God fell!

II.--THE FIRE WAS SOMETHING BAAL'S PRIESTS COULD NOT PRODUCE.--The
Creator has a pre-emption on His universe. He has no