With astonishment mingled with terror the king hears the message that Elijah whom he fears and hates, is coming to meet him. He has long sought for the prophet that he might destroy him, and he knows that Elijah would not expose his life to come to him unless guarded or with some terrible denunciation. He remembers the withered arm of Jeroboam and decides that it is not safe to lift up his hand against the messenger of God. And with fear and trembling, and with a large retinue and an imposing display of armies, he hastens to meet Elijah. And as he meets face to face the man whom he has so long sought, he dares not harm him. The king, so passionate, and so filled with hatred against Elijah, seems to be powerless and unmanned in his presence. As he meets the prophet he cannot refrain from speaking the language of his heart: “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” 1 Kings 18:17. Elijah, indignant, and jealous for the honor and glory of God, answers the charge of Ahab with boldness: “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord.” 1 Kings 18:18. (3T 278.1) MC VC

The prophet, as God’s messenger, had reproved the sins of the people, denouncing upon them the judgments of God because of their wickedness. And now, standing alone in conscious innocence, firm in his integrity, surrounded by the train of armed men, Elijah shows no timidity, neither does he show the least reverence to the king. The man whom God has talked with, and who has a clear sense of how God regards man in his sinful depravity, has no apology to make to Ahab nor homage to give him. As God’s messenger, Elijah now commands and Ahab at once obeys as though Elijah were monarch and he the subject. (3T 278.2) MC VC