Elijah

I think Elijah was one of the most interesting characters in the bible! Here are a few reasons why...

1) The narrator mentions that Elijah is often compared to Jesus because of the miracles (and similarity of miracles), that both men brought about. However, Jesus was God in the flesh, so He had the power to perform the amazing miracles we read about in the NT. That was not the case for Elijah.

Specifically, the 3 year drought, the widow's jars of flour and oil not running out, a boy raised to life, a bull burning even AFTER being drenched in 12 jugs of water, rain returning to the land, (and a few more miracles we will soon read, including a body of water dividing like in the Moses days!)... allll happened because Elijah PRAYED! Elijah's miracles were brought about through prayer :)

James wrote: "Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years." (5:17)

2) He was fed by God, LITERALLY! First by some ravens then by an angel! Gosh, LUCKY!

3) Many Jews thought Jesus was Elijah (the OT prophesied the coming of Elijah, for example in Malachi 4:5)...

Mark 16:14: "He asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

Of course, Jesus expressly denied the claim...

John 1:21: They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No."

NOTE: It was John the Baptist who was the prophesied Elijah (Matt 11:13-14 and other scriptures describe this).

4) Elijah was one of the 2 figures (the other one was Moses!) who came down and met with Jesus during the transfiguration (Luke 9:28-33). VERY cool, Peter definitely thought so :)

And my fav...

5) We will soon read about Elijah being taken up to heaven in a whirlwind! He was escorted to heaven by heaven's very own limo service--a fire chariot and fire horses AND he never tasted death--he skipped the whole painful and scary, old and wrinkly, weak and breakable part of life that some of us might experience before death--and went straight up to heaven! Gosh, SPECIAL treatment wouldn't you say???

Interesting character huh? :)