THE UNBELIEVING RAVENS (ON GOD’S
COMMAND) FED ELIJAH
in the open courtyard of the
tabernacle compound exposing
Elijah to both natural elements
(sun, moon, stars, wind, dirt,
ravens, flesh) and
spiritual elements (brasen altar, brasen laver, bread).
(1 Kings 17:1-9) And Elijah
[sometimes
a type and shadow of God, sometimes us, and sometimes both] the
Tishbite, who was of the
inhabitants of Gilead [i.e., the saved congregation] [1], said
unto Ahab
[a
type and shadow of the Antichrist] [2], As
the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there
shall not be dew
nor rain these years [3,4], but
according to my word. And the word of the LORD
came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide
thyself by the brook Cherith, that is
before Jordan [Heb: descender] [i.e., the Holy
Spirit]. And it
shall be, that thou
shalt
drink of the brook [water of the word of God: Eph
5:26]; and I
have commanded the ravens [5-7] to
feed thee there. So he went and did
according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook
Cherith, that is before
Jordan.
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the
morning [the 9 am
convocation], and bread and flesh
in the evening [the 3 pm
convocation]; and he drank of the
brook [the
courtyard experience of the tabernacle compound = secular/spiritual] and it came to pass after a while, that the
brook dried up, because there had been no rain in
the land [no new word
of God for the land]. And the word of the LORD came
unto him, saying,
Arise, get thee to Zarephath [Heb:
refinement] [8], which belongeth
to Zidon [Heb: in the
sense of catching fish, a fishery], and dwell there:
behold, I have
commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee [to
feed thee
there].
THE BELIEVING WIDOW WOMAN AND HER
SON FED ELIJAH
in the Holy Place of the
tabernacle
(1 Kings 17:10-16)
So he
arose and went to Zarephath [Heb:
refinement]. And when he came to the
gate of the city, behold, the widow woman [a type and shadow of the church] was
there gathering of
sticks [a type and shadow of
believing
men willing to present themselves for a sacrifice: Rom 12:1, on the
altar]: and he called to her, and
said, Fetch me,
I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that
I may drink. And as
she was going to fetch it [obedience],
he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel
of bread [a type and
shadow of the table of showbread] in
thine hand. And she said, As
the LORD thy God liveth, I have
not a cake [a revelation], but an handful of meal [a small amount of crushed seed, as opened
and understood, of the word of God] in
a barrel [in a much larger
but
empty container], and a
little
oil [“the earnest”(2 Cor
1:22,
5:5) of the Holy Spirit] [a type and shadow of the golden candlestick] in a cruse [Heb:
in a saucer: expand(able)]: and,
behold, I am
gathering two sticks
[the
residue of willing men], that I may
go in and dress it for me and my son [“a
man child” Rev 12:5, who was not (yet)],
that we may eat it, and die [eat
what
little we know of God and die, because there has been no rain, no more
word of
God]. And Elijah said unto her, Fear
not [i.e., have faith]; go and
do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first
[a type and shadow of the tithe], and bring it
unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son [who still was not].
For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal
[crushed (opened) seed (word) of God] shall not waste [Heb: end],
neither shall the cruse of oil fail [Heb: lack, lessen],
until
the day that the
LORD sendeth
rain [from heaven directly] upon the earth. And she went and did
according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house [of God], did
eat many days [until “in the third year” of famine (no
rain): 1 Kings 18:1]. And the barrel of meal wasted not,
neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which
he spake by Elijah.
AN ANGEL FED ELIJAH THE SPIRITUAL
FOOD THAT GOD HAD
PREPARED FOR HIM
in
the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle
(1
Kings 19:1-8) And
Ahab
[a type and shadow of the Antichrist] told Jezebel [a type and shadow of “the abomination of
desolation” Matt 24:15,21 & Rev 2:20-23; and the onset of
“great tribulation”
Mat 24:21; Rev 2:22] all that Elijah
had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets
[Ahab’s 450 prophets of Baal (1
Kings 18:40)
and Jezebel’s 400 prophets of “Ashtoreth the abomination of the
Zidonians” (2
Kings 23:13)] with the
sword.
Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So
let the gods do
to me, and more also,
if I
make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this
time. And
when he saw that, he arose, and
went for his life [Matt
24:15-21], and came to Beersheba,
which belongeth to Judah, and
left his
servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the
wilderness, and
came and sat down under a juniper tree [a type and shadow of the cross]: and he requested for himself that he
might die [like the widow
woman intended of herself
and her son (who was not)]; and
said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. And
as he lay and slept under a juniper tree [a type and shadow of the cross], behold, then an angel touched him [an impartation of Holiness],
and said unto him, Arise and
eat. And he looked, and, behold, there
was a cake [a
revelation] baken on the coals [Heavenly food prepared on “coals” John
21:9], and a cruse of water
[the Holy Spirit] at his head. And he did eat and drink,
and laid him down again.
And the angel of the LORD came again the second time
[a type and shadow of our Lord’s
Second
Coming], and touched him [a second impartation of Holiness], and said, Arise and
eat; because the journey is
too great for thee. And he
arose , and did eat and drink, and went in the
strength of that meat
[those wonderful revelations] forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the
mount of God [Mount
Sinai, i.e.,
a type and shadow of Heaven (one aspect – the judgmental aspect of
Heaven for
Elijah’s experience under the Juniper tree opens the door of the
Millennium)].
Amen