We begin with the story of Elijah. You probably heard this story before.
Elijah tracks down King Ahab, who is mad at him for the three-year drought. He tells him to gather Israel, the 450 prophets of Baal, and the 400 prophets of the Goddess Astra.
They gather, and Elijah proposes a deal. He essentially says, “Let’s not keep one foot in and one foot out, hedging our bets on who God is. Let’s decide whether we will follow Yahweh God or follow Baal.”
The people were silent in response to this. So then Elijah says, “Let’s raise the stakes. There is just one of me and 450 of Baal’s prophets. Give us each a bull cut into pieces, and we’ll lay it on wood. You ask your god, and I’ll ask my Yahweh to send fire. The god who sends the fire is the god you will follow. Sound good?”
The people like this deal. The Baal prophets build an altar. They call out, and they cut themselves, but no fire comes down.
Then Elijah rebuilds an altar with 12 stones, has a trench dug around it, prepares the wood and a bull, and then has the entire thing drenched and filled with water. Then, he prays for God to answer him with fire from the sky. Fire falls and consumes the cow, the wood, the water, and even the stone, and the people fall on their faces. They help Elijah gather and slaughter the prophets of Baal near the brook of Keisha.
Ahab doesn’t appear upset about all this, especially because Elijah says, “Go eat and drink. I hear the sound of the coming rain.”
Then Elijah prays seven times until a little cloud pops into the sky and says to Ahab, “Get your chariot and leave for the city now because there’s going to be a deluge.”
Elijah Power runs in the Holy Spirit energy in front of the chariot to the entrance of the city, Jezreel, to beat the heavy rains, and he waits there at the city gate. This is where the elders and the key leaders gathered to make decisions.
Ahab gives the news to Jezebel, “Elijah has killed all the prophets.”
Jezebel is furious, and she sends a message to Elijah, “May the gods kill me, and worse if you aren’t dead by this time tomorrow.”
Now, the Greek Septuagint version captures the nuance like this:
“Now, Jezebel sent word to Elijah: ‘If you are Elijah, I am Jezebel.’”
Fear vs Understanding
Both Jezebel and Elijah’s names are connected to their gods. We can still see the contest here, even in these words. Then Elijah becomes afraid, and he flees for his life. This word ‘afraid’ in Hebrew is translated as ‘understood’ though ancient and modern translations prefer afraid.
What’s up with that? ‘Fear’ is actually a good translation as long as we remember its original bent toward understanding.
Elijah had just called fire from Heaven. He prayed, broke a three-year drought, and then outran a chariot.
We could probably say this was the peak win of Elijah’s life, this great triumph like winning a Super Bowl and being named the most valuable player.
But now his assignment is to take out Jezebel and Elijah’s feeling all alone. He just had to kill the prophets of Baal, but none of the Israelites came with him to address Jezebel.
He looks at this greatest of miracles and sees the truth:
He didn’t have the power to change people’s hearts.
This self-introspection, seeing and understanding his lack of power to address the deeper situation, created the fear he was dealing with.
Elijah then runs and ends up under a broom tree in the desert, and he prays, “God, just kill me. I’m not better than my ancestors.”
Do you see the thread here? “I’m not good enough. I can’t make a real difference in the world, no matter how good I am.”
He’s exhausted and falls asleep until an angel wakes him up, feeds him some flatbread and water, and then sleeps again.
An angel wakes him again and says,
“Get up, eat, for the journey is greater than you.”
Even at Elijah’s Peak, the journey was greater—it was heavier than his capacity.
Now, Elijah runs again. He runs in divine strength for 40 days and 40 nights. This reflects Moses, that period of testing and divine encounter.
Elijah comes to Mount Horeb, also at times called Mount Sinai. It’s the mountain where Moses met with God. And Elijah enters a cave, like a cliff in a rock. Then comes this triad of wind, earthquake, and fire, followed by a sheer silence from which the voice of God emerges, a still, small voice.
Silence is necessary
Silence is necessary because every distraction needs to fall aside.
All the noise is gone.
God asks what Elijah is doing in there. Elijah highlights his big win and dilemma. He says, “I’m the only one left.” Nobody else followed him to take out Jezebel.
Remember, this isn’t necessarily true. Elijah should have already known there were more godly people than just him, but he’s saying, “I’m the last one standing.” His underlying statement is, “It’s not enough. It’s not enough to deal with Jezebel.”
We’re getting close to the crux of the story because God’s reply comes with generational marching orders.
He tells Elijah to anoint three people:
- anoint Hazael king over Syria
- anoint Jehu as king over Israel, and
- anoint Elishah as a prophet in his own place.
God chose two political leaders and one prophet to fulfill Elijah’s destiny and call. They were the next generation under Elijah. Jehu was even anointed by a son of a prophet sent by Elijah. That means God’s word was mandated down through a third generation to fulfill Elijah’s call to remove Jezebel because soon after this anointing, Jehu actually executed Jezebel.
The moral of the story
If you are truly carrying a mantle from heaven because you’re pioneering something for the kingdom, you can expect to fulfill your very best call by laying it down for the next generation.
This takes humility and a bigger picture than we can see on our own.
Elijah didn’t anoint Elishah, or at least we aren’t given the scene in the Old Testament. What we do know is that he mantled him. Mantling comes as an invitation to pursue and catch something from another. It’s an invitation to go on a journey with Elijah, in Elishah’s case as a prophet.
In the big picture, this story shows us that one generation should build on the shoulders of the previous one.
God works transformation not only with generations but through generations.
What creates injustice
It creates injustice when one generation tries to fulfill its own destiny because this devalues the rising generation under them.
David still had to lay down his dream to build the temple for Solomon to take up. Abram had to lay down his Ishmael to have his son Isaac. That means his own ability to accomplish the promise. He also had to lay down his Isaac on an altar to have a life-altering revelation of Jesus and catch a glimpse of the cross.
Similar to Isaac, Jacob had little choice in which son the prophetic word passed down through, and Jacob was estranged from him for many years. Jacob later saw an incredible blessing in Joseph as his chosen son for short-term covenant fulfillment. Ultimately, the long-term mantle went to Judah primarily and then secondarily to Benjamin.
This was exemplified in the covenant between Jonathan from the tribe of Benjamin and David from the tribe of Judah. Even in the New Testament, we see Jesus from the tribe of Judah and Paul from the tribe of Benjamin.
The stories of a previous generation’s faith become the stories of favor we can wear, like Joseph’s coat of many colors. We can take it off or wear it. The favor may even be torn off like it was for Joseph, but that tearing begins us on a journey into our destiny because the word is alive in us generationally.
There’s a great cloud of witnesses in heaven as we read in Hebrews 12:1, where their children on earth are reflections of their stories. We’re vibrant with the promises of God, the purposes of heaven here on earth. We’re filled with favor of generations who have sojourned before us.
Need I say there are big picture scopes of what God is doing through generations?
The amazing thing is that he invites you to participate in this. Take a moment to think about some of the best things God has put in you: gifts, fruit, wisdom. And now, ask yourself what younger generation people you can invest those into. This is your path to generational impact, to a spiritual legacy.