Who was Elijah in the Bible?

Onto this scene of complete departure from God, where Ahab and his pagan wife worshipped Baal and all the vileness connected with that cult flourished in Israel, there suddenly appeared one of the greatest of God's prophets, Elijah (my God is Jehovah) the Tishbite… His miracles, like those of Moses, have a judicial character. Heaven is shut in answer to his prayer, and fire falls from heaven at his word.

With no further introduction he delivered a message to Ahab of fearful importance to Israel: that there should be no rain or dew in these years except by his word… He immediately withdrew from public view and was miraculously cared for at the brook Cherith, fed with bread and meat morning and evening by ravens. When the brook eventually dried up, he went at the Lord's command to Zarephath… where he lodged with a poor widow… She was further tested by the death of her son, and through the prophet the power of God in resurrection was taught her. This widow is referred to in Luke's Gospel, along with the case of Naaman the Syrian, as showing the grace of God overflowing beyond the limits of Israel.

Israel, under the yoke of an idolatrous religion, was following Baal without openly renouncing the Lord. She was limping between two opinions. This is one of the marks of the world's religion… There are others who deny neither the faith nor godlessness. They find good reasons both for excusing the evil and for objecting to the good. They are the indifferent ones who avoid choosing between the two sides, and who do not answer a word when Elijah speaks to them.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. Like us he had his times of failure and low spirits, and yet, in answer to his prayer, the rain was withheld for three years and six months… Here we are allowed to see the secret source of this public display of power. He prayed, and God heard and answered his prayer.

We see here how far the energy of the outward life of faith can keep going while the inward life grows weak. It was at the very moment of the most striking testimony to God's presence among a rebellious people… that his faith completely failed at a mere threat from Jezebel… He did not himself know the grace that was still at work toward the people; he could not love them for the sake of the seven thousand faithful ones, as God loved them.

All of it truly came from God, but it was of God and not God Himself. Where was He? And how? "And after the fire the sound of a low whisper." Who would have thought of finding God there? No one… Elijah learns it. He never could have expected it. He can follow, and he does follow. He had to be taught. He needed it.

While they were still talking, the chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. The chariot of fire with its horses of fire were the symbol of the presence of the Lord of Hosts… but Elijah went up by the whirlwind. We know he was taken up; he passed on without dying, but the details of it are not made known.

In the New Testament John the Baptist was in the character of Elijah, as the prophet who was to come before "the great and awesome day of the LORD," to affect the hearts of the people — if he had been received. But since he was not received, except by a few, John told the Jews that he was not Elijah. So Elijah's ministry remains to be fulfilled before Christ appears in glory.