Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

altar was torn down. Every prophet was killed. And he, the lone survivor, was
a fugitive. He might as well be dead (1 Ki. 19:1-4, 9-10, 14) (Keddie, 181;
Motyer, 206).
Thankfully nothing could be further from the truth. On the face of it to
picture this warrior of the Lord as psychologically dented and downcast
would be out of character. In fact, it would be to miscast him totally. Sure, his
was a broken heart and a life of deep-seated pain, but he did not suffer of a
man-centered burn-out. He did not throw a pity-party in which he was both
the host and the guest. Quite the contrary! He was a man who coolly faced the
facts as he saw them, drew his conclusion, and announced this to his God.
The Grand Covenant Experiment with Israel as a nation that in a real sense
started on Mt. Sinai was ready to be interred on that same Mt. Sinai. Israel’s
militia Dei had been virtually reduced to nothing. A victorious Moses, firmly
in charge, at Horeb, turned into a persecuted Elijah, the sole survivor at ...
Horeb. He was not licking his personal wounds. No, his heart broke in sorrow
about the seeming defeat and demise of the Kingdom of God. We all should
hope and pray that anyone who finds himself of this conviction and in this
condition would follow in Elijah’s footsteps. No Kingdom of God? Lord, let
me die. Life has lost its luster. Totally!
Of course, Elijah’s premise was thoroughly mistaken. But given his
premise, he rose to the occasion. No wonder that God took pity on him, and
gave him statesman-like marching orders, and reassuring intelligence information
that must have warmed his heart! He was to anoint both his successor
and two kings! In all this he resembled Job of sorts when the latter concluded,
also on the basis of a wrong premise, that he had to curse his birthday. At the
same time he was throughout his life the precursor of men, such as Daniel
and Nehemiah. Armed with biblical premises they poured out their hearts,
lives, and prayers in the service of the Kingdom. In fact, he was the precursor
of a man who enjoys full Revival status, is engaged in a complete Maintenance
ministry, and is committed to an all-out Recovery mode. After all, Elijah
was man of mighty prayer, mighty preaching and mighty combat as the
prerequisites of mighty conversions and mighty holiness. As a man of the old
covenant, Calvary/The Open Tomb and Pentecost were still ahead of him.
But a measure of conversions (1 Ki. 18:39) and holiness (1 Ki. 19:18) was already
in evidence as harbinger of things to come.
All this provides us with a good deal of insight why Elijah is the “man of
prayer” who can serve as a model, in fact, a benchmark in the present context.
Since Elijah’s characteristics are “general” in nature, we understand why
James can introduce Elijah as “Mr./Mrs./Miss Normal Christian.” Faced with
this benchmark of “normalcy,” all “ordinary” and “average” Christianity that
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