Lots of Bull

1 Kings 18:18-24 is not normally thought of as an Advent story, is it?  You've got a wayward, backslidden people, a persecuted prophet of the one, true God, 850 false prophets, two altars, lots of water, fire and bull, lots of bull.  There are no choirs sweetly singing, no starry nights, no calm introspection in this story. This is a story of war, spiritual war.

What on earth does this have to do with Advent, as we peacefully, calmly wait for our Savior's appearing?  The answer is in Elijah's challenge, found in verse 21 (The Message):

21 Elijah challenged the people: “How long are you going to sit on the fence? If God is the real God, follow him; if it’s Baal, follow him. Make up your minds!”

Nobody said a word; nobody made a move.

 "O come, let us adore Him", the much-loved Christmas carol goes.  And, it is easy, amid the lit candles and the smiles of friends and loved ones, the children's programs, the giving campaigns to the needy - - - it's easy at these times to bow at the manger, is it not?  We go to our Christmas Eve services and contemplate this Child, this Christ.  In those moments, we are thankful, awe-struck. Our hearts turn toward Him in mesmerizing contemplation, in wonder.  "Joy to the world!  The Lord is come!"  It is a beautiful celebration and our hearts soar!

Then...days, sometimes even hours, later, we find ourselves back at the altar of the Baals, chasing after prophets of bull, devoting our time, our very lives to lesser things....causes that, while important, are not of prime importance: adoration misdirected.

Do you know what the Baals were?  They were a collection of innumerable, demonic, false gods. This is why there were so many prophets of Baal and Asherah.  What a picture of our modern lives! When we bow our knee to anything other than the One who deserves our adoration, we are worshipping "a Baal" of some persuasion.  Even wonderful things and people can be Baals.  When we put our relationships, for instance, before God, when we adore our children, parents, grandchildren, spouses, etc., instead of letting the Christmas Child claim our prime allegiance, our chief adoration, we are worshipping a Baal.  When we worship our jobs or ourselves, giving in to every desire of our bodies, wallowing in materialism, we are worshipping Baals.  Idolatry is giving anything other than the Lord Jesus first place in our lives.

We were created to worship, and we all do it.  The question is: whom or what do we worship?

On Mount Carmel, those many hundreds of years ago, no matter how the false prophets pranced, flailed, chanted, screamed, injured their own bodies until their own blood flowed - - - there was no answer.  The heavens were silent.  Had the deceived ones all sacrificed their very lives on that false altar there still would have been no answer because, when compared to Jehovah God, the Baals are revealed as the impostors they have always been.  Baals never satisfy the soul; they instead always demand more and more and more, with nothing given in return.

Oh, but look at 1 Kings 18:36b-39a.  Elijah had built the altar such that starting a fire on it with normal, human means would have been literally an impossible task.  There was water everywhere! He then prayed a simple prayer: that God would reveal Himself through fire.

"...Elijah the prophet came up and prayed, “O God, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make it known right now that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I’m doing what I’m doing under your orders. Answer me, God; O answer me and reveal to this people that you are God, the true God, and that you are giving these people another chance at repentance.”

38 Immediately the fire of God fell and burned up the offering, the wood, the stones, the dirt, and even the water in the trench.

39 All the people saw it happen and fell on their faces in awed worship..."

They adored Him.  God showed up, and the people's response was to fall out, in worship.  In that battle, God's people left behind their Baal worship to adore Jehovah God, the same God whose love from before time began compelled Him to "put on flesh", to send His Son, born in a feeding trough, and then to sacrifice His Son on another kind of altar, a cross.

The battle for hearts, for bended knees, rages on.

When you have the opportunity for last words, you tend to communicate the most important things, often words of deepest love. Just before His ascension, Jesus' last words to His disciples were to spread His gospel message of salvation to every corner of the earth (Matthew 28:18-20).  At the end of his first letter, the apostle John in 1 John 5:21 said, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." He knew the lure of the world, had himself felt the heat of battle.

Our worship, our hearts, our love - - this is the call of God to His people.  He doesn't want our prancing, our flailing, our wailing, our working, our performing in His name.  He wants our adoration and only that, because He has done all the rest on our behalf.

"How shall we deal with such a Child?  Have our hands, soiled with daily toil, become too hard and too proud to fold in prayer at the sight of this Child?  Has our head become too full of serious thoughts ... that we cannot bow our head in humility at the wonder of this Child?  Can we not forget all our stress and struggles, our sense of importance, and for once worship the Child, as did the shepherds and wise men from the East, bowing before the divine Child in the manger, like children?"
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christmas, 1940

"O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!  For He alone is worthy, Christ the Lord!"

Father, I confess my many sins, especially those of selfish preoccupation, not only in this holy season, but in every season.  You make every day, every season, holy, by Your very presence in my heart.  I am utterly guilty of idolatry, and am in desperate need of Your cleansing and infilling with Your Holy Spirit.  Burn my cluttered heart clean with Your holy fire.  I deeply desire my Lord's humility, that I may bow at His manger, His cross, His abandoned tomb today, and every day.  Dear Lord!  Keep me from idols!  In Jesus' name, amen.

Sources:

Voskamp, Ann. The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas. 

"O Come All Ye Faithful", lyrics from the Latin by John Wade, music by John Reading, 1700s.

God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1940.

http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols52-54/chs3071.pdf