Elijah had just had a “mountaintop experience” in defeating the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Fire had descended from heaven, the people of Israel acknowledged the Lord, and the false prophets were all put to death. But that experience was followed by an episode of fear and failure in Elijah’s life: the prophet was afraid and ran for his life from Queen Jezebel. The reason is made ...
Malachi 4:5–6 offers an intriguing prophecy: “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse” (ESV). To this day, Jewish seders include an empty chair at the table in anticipation ...
Elijah arrives on the scene, pronouncing God’s judgment on Ahab and His people in the form of a great drought that would end only when Elijah gave the word (1 Kings 17:1). Elijah was a very godly man, but fundamentally, he was just an everyday person with desires, struggles, and imperfections.
The story of Elijah, the great prophet of Israel, being taken to heaven is found in 2 Kings 2:1–18. The chapter begins, “When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind . . .” (verse 1). The Bible doesn’t actually say that Elijah rode to heaven in a chariot of fire, but that is the assumption, since there was a flaming chariot and horses of fire at the scene, along ...