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MOUNTAINTOP LOYALTY: THE ELIJAH EXPERIENCE #11
JOGGING WITH THE ENEMY
Have you ever heard the expression, “Broken-Glass Republican”? Back before the Year 2000 U.S. presidential elections, there were voters out there with the attitude: “I’d crawl over broken glass if I had to . . . to get that Bill Clinton out of the White House.” And that kind of political passion felt against the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is certainly nothing new. There’s a marvelous story in Chuck Colson’s autobiography, entitled Born Again, where, back in the heyday of the Nixon years, Colson was in the inner circle, special counsel to the President himself. Nixon haters everywhere took out their wrath on Chuck Colson, and he cheerfully and relentlessly returned the favor, helping Nixon exact revenge on any unfortunate Democrat or liberal news person who got onto the famous “enemies list.”
Then one hot August night, 1973, at the very height of the Watergate scandal, with prosecutors breathing down his neck, Chuck Colson became a Christian. After visiting with a new born-again friend named Tom Phillips, he went out to his car. And weeping there in the darkness, he finally surrendered himself to God. He didn’t know how to pray, but just said “Take me, take me,” over and over in the darkness.
Well, his friend Tom was thrilled to hear the news. He told his Christian friend, Doug Coe, and Doug came by Colson’s office to celebrate the decision. “This is great,” he kept saying. “This is just great.” And then he almost jumped out of his chair. “Man, you’ll want to meet with Harold Hughes,” he said. “Harold Hughes is a tremendous Christian.”
And Colson cracked up. “You’re nuts,” he said. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Harold Hughes” — this was Senator Harold Hughes from Iowa — “can’t stand me, and I can’t stand him.” The two-fisted former governor of Iowa, now a liberal Democratic senator, held a spot very high on the Nixon enemy list.
“Oh, that doesn’t matter now,” Coe said with a dismissive wave. “Now that you’re a Christian, Harold will be very happy to be your friend.”
Well, to make a long story short, when Hughes heard that Colson — the arch-Republican who had once said he’d run over his own grandmother to get Nixon re-elected — was now a fellow believer, at first he didn’t believe it. “Plus I hate that guy,” he told Doug Coe. “Hate him, hate him, hate him.” And Doug had to remind Harold that Christians were commanded to love, and to forgive, their enemies. And in late September, after a bit of an awkward start, Harold Hughes listened as Chuck Colson told of his experience, of being born again as a new Christian. Harold listened without saying a word, and then all at once, raised up both hands and slapped them down on his knees.
“That’s all I need to know,” he said. “Chuck, you have accepted Jesus and He has forgiven you. I do the same. I love you now as my brother in Christ. I will stand with you, defend you anywhere, and trust you with anything I have.”
And thus began a friendship which has continued now for three decades.
Well, it’s a marvelous saga — and some of you listeners, I’m sure, have read one of the powerful religious bestsellers to come from Chuck Colson’s pen since those days. But how does it tuck into the story of Elijah, who has just stood tall with God on the summit of Mount Carmel, and beaten back the forces of the fallen god Baal? You remember that King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had been front and center in the spiritual destruction of Israel, leading the people into apostasy. And of course, for three long, dry years Ahab had essentially had a bounty on the head of the prophet Elijah. Speaking of broken glass, he was willing to fight his way through 20 miles of thorn bushes if he could just get rid of his enemy, Elijah the Tishbite.
Of course, on the top of Mount Carmel, Elijah and Ahab had agreed to a temporary ceasefire while they had the showdown with the two altars. Ahab’s side had lost, and Elijah’s God had prevailed, with the fire coming down out of heaven in response to his prayer. And you recall that we studied on Friday how the 450 rebellious priests of Baal had been executed following the mountaintop demonstration. Now, in the quiet aftermath of the shouting and the fire and the carnage, we find a special little scene reminiscent of the rapprochement or bonding moment between Colson and his enemy, Harold Hughes.
We’re still in the book of I Kings, chapter 18, and there’s still not a cloud in the sky. But Elijah, speaking by faith, says to the king:
“Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.”
At the very beginning of chapter 18, God had already promised Elijah:
“Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”
But now, when Elijah climbs up to the very summit of the mountain, says a prayer of thanksgiving, and then sends his servant to scan the horizon of the Mediterranean Sea, the weatherman comes back with a negative. “Nothing there, Elijah,” he says.
“Go look again,” he tells him.
“Still nothing.” Not a cloud, not a hint of moisture. And seven times in a row, Elijah turns to the Weather Channel before the servant finally reports:
“A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”
And now here’s the very nice part of the story. Elijah says to the servant:
“Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”
But before King Ahab can even finish up his sack lunch and brush his teeth, the rains begin to come down. And I mean, it’s enough rain to make up for the three years of drought. “The sky grew black with clouds,” it says in the NIV, “the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.”
Keep in mind that Elijah has been persecuted by Ahab, threatened with death by Ahab, tracked down from one corner of the kingdom to the other by Ahab. But now as it begins to thunder and pour down rain, do you know what the prophet of God does? I like how the Clear Word paraphrase of the Bible finishes chapter 18 here. Listen:
“Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Elijah. He pulled up his robe, tucked it in his belt, and in the power of God, caught up with Ahab and ran ahead of his horses, guiding the chariot for more than twenty miles through blinding rain all the way to Jezreel.”
Now, we just recently had the Los Angeles Marathon, not too far down the freeway from where we do our work. And that’s a hard, pavement-pounding 26 miles. The prophet Elijah, with no Nike shoes, no Gatorade, no Atomic Polartec fleece running jacket, and no flashlight, runs almost a full marathon in mud and a driving rain, leading his avowed adversary, King Ahab, to the gates of Jezreel where — don’t forget — a nice lady named Queen Jezebel is waiting with her Gestapo troops.
Isn’t that a tremendous gesture? And we have to confess that the niceness of this story lasts approximately 20 minutes, because in verses one and two of the very next chapter, Jezebel sends an e-mail to Elijah, guaranteeing that by sundown the next day she’s going to do to him like he did to the 450 prophets, so help her God. But that’s a story for tomorrow, and right here at the finish line of the Jezreel Marathon, let’s just pause to notice that when we have achieved victory in Almighty God, we can then afford to be gracious and kind toward those who were on the other side of the battlefield.
And really, Elijah’s battle wasn’t with Ahab. Ahab was just a pawn, a confused little king in the great, titanic struggle between good and evil, between God and Satan. It wasn’t even really about Baal, which was nothing but a stupid stone carving. This whole story, friend, is about God in heaven, and Satan — wherever he lives — and their relentless struggle for this planet and the hearts and minds of people on this planet. And what a beautiful picture of reaching out, of seeing the larger view, where Elijah says to Ahab: “You’re still my king, my lord.” (Small “l” in “lord,” but still lord. Still ruler.) “Let me lead you, my king, back to the safety of God’s service.”
One commentator put it like this:
“In this gracious act of God’s messenger shown to a wicked king is a lesson for all who claim to be servants of God. . . . After the signal triumphs of God with which God had been pleased to honor his public ministry, he was willing to perform the service of a menial.”
The NIV scholars note what a huge opportunity this might have been for Ahab.
“This dramatic scene,” they write, “with the Lord’s prophet running before the king and the Lord Himself racing behind him riding His mighty thundercloud chariot, served as a powerful appeal to Ahab to break once and for all with Baal and henceforth to rule as the servant of the Lord.”
Yes, because of Elijah’s act of kindness, Ahab was not far from God’s kingdom that night. Unfortunately, he was still married to a Jezebel named Jezebel. And our story continues.
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