We Need a Hero: The God Who Saves and Sustains All Life

Israel’s kings have failed, and Ahab is the worst of them, chasing Baal and provoking the Lord. Enter Elijah. In 1 Kings 17, God shows that He alone shuts the skies, sustains life and raises the dead. In the heart of Baal’s homeland, during a devastating drought, God’s sovereign might is revealed in the faith of a Gentile widow. She is resigned to death, yet finds life when she welcomes Elijah. But Elijah is not the hero, rather, his life and the events in 1 Kings 17 point us forward to Christ, the ultimate display of God’s power to save and sustain the life of His people. With Christ the real hero, Elijah is then used by James, as one who models faith for ordinary believers taking God at His word.