AWAKENING THE PRESENT-DAY HALTING “HOLY NATION” (ELIJAH)

1 Kings 18:21

Tonight marks the beginning of this congress, a special congress of revival for the church at every level, for every local church, national church, and for the global church, unto an end-time revival. “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word” (1 Kings 18:21). This is a call to awaken a halting holy nation in the present day. Those called to awaken others must themselves be awakened. In various capacities, many have been raised as awakeners, yet there is a pressing need for personal awakening.

AWAKENING THE HALTING APOSTATES IN ISRAEL

1 Kings 18:17-21

“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” (1 Kings 18:17). Trouble was evident to everyone, from the king to the prophet, from the people to all the inhabitants of the land. There had been no rain for three years, no food for three years, and famine had gripped the nation. When Ahab confronted Elijah, the accusation was that his prophetic word had brought hardship upon the nation. Elijah’s response was clear and direct. “And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim” (1 Kings 18:18). What truly troubles a nation is the forsaking of the commandments of the Lord and the pursuit of idolatry. “Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table” (1 Kings 18:19). Those influencing the nation into error were to be brought together so that truth could be openly confronted and revival restored. “So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel” (1 Kings 18:20). Preparatory work is essential if awakening is to take place in the church. “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word” (1 Kings 18:21). One person filled with God and fully yielded to the power of the Holy Ghost can initiate the revival being sought. It is impossible to follow God and Baal at the same time. A clear choice must be made. The silence of the people showed that guilt had restrained them, but an answer would eventually come.

 

1. The Evidence and Evil of Halting Advocates in Israel – 1 Kings 18:21; Jeremiah 2:3-6,13. God raised Israel to be a holy nation, a model, and an evangelising nation through which the rest of the world would be reached, touched, and transformed. “Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 2:3). When Israel stood where God intended, no
   

enemy could conquer them. Anyone who touched them touched the apple of God’s eye. Yet the situation changed. “Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?” (Jeremiah 2:4-5). Holiness unto the Lord had been abandoned, replaced with emptiness and vanity. “Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt?” (Jeremiah 2:6a). Redemption was forgotten. Deliverance was ignored. Protection and guidance through the wilderness were no longer remembered. The journey through deserts, drought, and the shadow of death, through a land no other people had passed, was erased from memory. Their uniqueness as a redeemed people was neglected, and gratitude gave way to compromise. This forgetfulness lay at the heart of their spiritual decline and the halting condition of a nation once wholly devoted to the Lord. “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (verse 13). This reveals the need for awakening. The Lord was forsaken, the fountain of living waters abandoned, and broken systems that could hold no water were embraced. Help was sought from sources that could not contain the water of life, the abundance, success, and victory that come from God, as devotion was redirected toward Baal.

 

• The Events and Evaluation of Halting Assemblies in Israel – 1 Kings 12:26- 31; 16:31-33. Advocates were meant to go into every locality and assembly to proclaim the greatness of God, His virtues, and attributes, lifting Him before the people. When these advocates failed, the assemblies also failed. “And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David” (1 Kings 12:26). This exposes where backsliding begins “in the heart” through forsaking the old path, abandoning the right way, and turning away from God. Leadership often drifts inward before it manifests outwardly. “If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah” (1 Kings 12:27). What was forgotten by Jeroboam was that God Himself divided the tribes, granting ten to Jeroboam while Judah and Jerusalem remained with the house of David. What he received by faith was now being guarded by the flesh, choosing self- management over submission to God. The fear was misplaced, failing to understand that when the hearts of the people are turned to God, He declares His way and directs His people. “Whereupon the king took counsel”. For any challenge we are confronted with, counsel is found in the word of God, and the meek are guided in His way. When humility and submission to God’s will are absent, divine counsel is avoided, even when God has already spoken clearly. Jeroboam eventually sought human counsel, and the outcome followed. “Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28). Fear and anxiety were hidden behind his words that sounded considerate, as though the people were being protected. “And he set the one in Bethel, and the other
  

put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan” (1 Kings 12:29-30). This became a sin and a snare, drawing the people into false worship. “And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi” (1 Kings 12:31). God’s order was forsaken, the Levites set aside, and divine qualifications for the priesthood were ignored. Sound doctrine and sound teaching were abandoned, the word of the Lord removed, and the people followed their own ways. Their assemblies continued to exist, but they became assemblies marked by apostasy rather than truth.

 

1. The Extent and Extension of Halting Atrocities in Israel – 2 Kings 17:33- 34,41; 2Timothy 3:1-7. Apostasy in Israel opened the door to practices imported from surrounding nations, spreading until the whole country was affected. “They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence” (2 Kings 17:33). They had a form of reverence; their festivals were kept, feasts observed, and external practices maintained. Outwardly, it appeared as fear of the Lord, yet their heart was no longer circumcised. The activities continued, but their heart were absent. God was neither honoured nor glorified. Their response was no longer to the Lord or to His prophets, but to the prophets of Baal, influenced by Jezebel and Ahab. Activity replaced obedience, and tradition replaced devotion, as the people claimed fear of the Lord while serving their own gods. That is the bottom line, seen clearly in the evidence and in the extent of the atrocities the children of Israel brought into the land, following the practices of the nations they carried away. “Unto this day they do after the former manners” (2 Kings 17:34). They were bent on backsliding, going astray, and the proof of their departure was obvious: everything remained according to their former ways. “Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel”. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Timothy 3:1). These are the last days. “For men shall be lovers of their own selves” (2 Timothy 3:2). Self- love by men is placed before the love of God. After the self, flesh, and self-esteem are satisfied by such, God is considered only as an afterthought. This is part of the atrocities of spiritual Israel in the last days. “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents” (2 Timothy 3:2). Disobedience is celebrated as boldness and courage. There is no bending to father or mother in the natural or spiritual, and this attitude is embraced as strength, yet it is a mark of end-time Israel. They are “unthankful, unholy. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Traitors, heady, high- minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:2-5). There is an outward appearance of religion in present-day Israel. Feasts are observed, festivals are kept, and church activities continue. External apparel, external labour, and religious programmes are maintained, and these externals are taken as sufficient. There is an increase in activities, but their hearts remain unsanctified. There is
   

respect for human leaders, prompt response to authority, and visible participation, yet their hearts at home, workplaces, and among brethren do not honour God. Fear of man replaces the fear of God. With the festivals, activities, and outward reactions in place, all seems well, yet the power for godliness is denied. Church attendance becomes routine for them; they hear the word but do not obey. “From such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5).

 

AROUSING THE HALTING AMBASSADORS IN ISRAEL

1 Kings 18:21

“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word” (1 Kings 18:21). But where were the seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal? When the challenge was given, no voice was heard. No ambassador stepped forward among them. There was no clear stand.

• The Questionable Opinions of Halting Between Two Opinions of Halting, Faulty People – Hosea 10:1-3,12; 8:2-4,12. To halt between two opinions is to consider, “this or that, here or there, up or down, God or Baal, God or business, God or mammon”. “Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.” (Hosea 10:1). Prosperity increased altars, and abundance multiplied images. “Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty” (Hosea 10:2). When the heart is divided, the position becomes obvious. They are neither for God nor Baal in their conduct, choices, relationships, or even in their conscience. Such are neither High nor low, deep nor shallow, redeemed nor reprobate; the division of their hearts exposes their fault and emptiness. “Israel hath cast off the thing that is good” (Hosea 10:3). The worship of God is good. The word of God is good. The statutes, judgments, and commandments of God are good. Yet Israel has cast off that which is good: sound doctrine and salvation, which stand at the entry point into the kingdom, were cast off. Israel has rejected what is good. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” was no longer a consideration. The present-day Israel has cast off that which is good. Power is promised, not psychological power, political power, self-management, and not the wisdom of colleges or human systems. The promise is: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The present-day Israel of God has cast off what is good. When the command to go into all the world is forgotten, and there is a decision to settle into a particular locality, the mind becomes fixed there, as though the self-life has been planted instead of the seed of the word. Where this happens, there can be no growth and germination, because the calling, the ministry, and the commission have been cast aside. Israel has cast off that which is good, and the enemy shall pursue. “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing” (Hosea 8:12).
  

1. The Quietening Opposites of Halting Famished Persons – Romans 2:17-24; Matthew 22:12-13. When a person is caught between extremes, strength is drained, and direction is lost. For such, God stands at one extreme, while the opposing forces stand at the other. It is halting between heaven and earth, eternity and time, faithfulness to God and faithfulness to man, and such a dichotomy produces silence and weakness, because the heart refuses to settle fully on God. “Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God. And knowest his will, and approvest the more excellent things, being instructed out of the law. And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness” (Romans 2:17-19). These are people who hesitated between two opinions, and it was this condition that silenced them.

There is, therefore, a need for a complete awakening for the present-day Israel to experience the restoration of true witness in the last days. This awakening must stir every heart, revive our commitment, and reestablish our faithfulness.

1. The Quickening Opportunities for Halted but Faithful Penitents – Isaiah 55:6-7; Revelation 3:15-19.

 

AWAKENING THE HALTING AWAKENERS IN ISRAEL

Micah 4:7

 

• Reviving and Rekindling the Halting Princes – 2 Corinthians 1:8-10; 7:5-6.

 

• Renewing and Recommissioning the Halting Pastors – Malachi 3:3-4; 4:5-6.

 

• Refining and Retraining The Halting Preachers – Jeremiah 20:9-10; Hebrews 1:7.