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It was a time of great crisis. Extreme danger loomed ominously over the Jews throughout the entire Persian Empire. The threat which they faced was so real. Excruciatingly real. It was far more than just a possibility. It appeared to be so deadly and completely inescapable.

It was: total annihilation! Brutal! Vindictive! Malicious! Pernicious! So very very deadly!

Mordecai was very deeply concerned. He knew he had to take this threat seriously. He also knew that there was only one person to whom he could appeal. One person who was placed in a most strategic position.

That was Esther! She had been made queen! Thus she had access to the king. She, and only she, could intervene to interceed for her people.

Mordecai wrote to Esther. "And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this!" (Esther 4: 14).

Who knows whether the Lord has not intervened, in your life, to be able to use you at this crucial time? Having placed you so very strategically where you are, so as to be able to use you most decisively to intervene through you to save your people!

Esther accepted the challenge. She knew well the possible cost. "If I perish, I perish!"(v. 16)

Placed so strategically! Yet facing the possibility of the greatest possible cost personally!

That is ever God's way! We see this over and over again throughout the Scriptures. In each case, it is revealed to demonstrate the most vital evidence, evidence of God's continuing outreach in grace and mercy to a lost world!

If we will listen, we will hear God speaking to us today: “Who knows whether you are specially placed where you are so as to be God's very specific answer, to meet a most urgent need. To do so: at great personal cost! ,

"And in the thirTY and eighth year of Asa, King of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years."

Omri had become king as the result of a violent coup. This kind of development was not new in Israel. Rather it was an all too common experience.

Israel's leadership had been in repeated conflicts and turmoil ever since that northern nation had separated from Judah. In so many ways Israel was a nation which had completely lost its way, even as it had lost its faith in God.

The Royal Family of David had been forsaken. The spiritual roots of the nation had been deliberately renounced. Every aspect of national life suffered so greatly as the direct result of these developments.

King Jereboam, the first king of the renegade nation of Israel, had set up the golden calves. He did this deliberately so as to deter the people from going down to the Temple in Jerusalem. He became known as: "Jereboam, which made Israel to sin!"

None of the kings which followed him were willing to renounce that blattant idolatry. None of them was willing to take a stand for the Lord. Nor to lead the nation back to loyalty to the Lord.

Omri had violently seized power. He certainly had no intention of leading the nation back to the Lord.

"But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all before him!"

Ahab was Omri's son. In every sense of the word he proved to be the son of his father!

Ahab became king! King of Israel! Wielding absolute and despotic power! He was a man who was utterly self-centered.

"And Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him!"

Omri had outstripped all who were before him. Yet Ahab his son went even further! Evil! in the sight of the Lord! Far exceeding all who had preceded him.

But what happens when the king approves it! Condones it! Encourages it! When the king is the one who is leading the way. Then evil becomes fashionable. All that is vile is proudly presented as: respectable! Immorality is paraded and embraced as: beauty! Impurity is presented and flaunted as: virtue!

“For such a time as this!" When the people had been led into the depths of utter vileness and open immorality. Continually sinking ever deeper into a despicable morass of indescribable depravity!

We have become so conditioned by such developments that the time arrives when we do not even notice it any more! So like the people of Israel, we do not even seem to know that there is a problem.

Is it because we do not want to know? Or have we been so completely deceived? "The god of this world has blinded our eyes?"

Was the vileness in Israel in Ahab's day worse? Worse than it is in our society today? We may want to think that it was so.

But, where are we really being led! And, being led, we are all too willingly choosing to follow without question?

Consider just one area. An area which has become so crucial to our daily lives: Entertainment. Television. Movies. Books. Papers.

The themes of the vast majority of these today are all too obvious. Impurity. Adultery. Sexual perversion. The removal of all restraints. Anything and everything goes. Themes and attitudes which were totally unacceptable a few short years ago are being so eagerly absorbed.

To be entertained, far too many, including many who profess to love and serve the Lord, are all too willing to submerge their minds in a cesspool!

The society in which we live takes it all for granted. Ravenously feeding it all into the mind. Making it integral to the very spirit of the culture. And Christians are eager to find their place in that same company. Wanting to absorb that “cultural” emphasis!

So they hurry to the Cinemas. Or the night clubs. Or they bring it all into their homes by means to the television or the video. Absorbing it. Enjoying it. Having become blindly enslaved by it.

"For such a time as this!" This exceedingly desperate day and age in which we live!

"And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk In the sins of Jereboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him."

Ahab was king of Israel. Yet the entire emphasis of his life was in revolt against the God of Israel. He would assert most forcefully that he was a true Israelite. Yet he was living a lie.

Every step which he took was further away from the Lord. Involving a more open renunciation of the Word of the Lord. A more blatant repudiation of the way of the Lord. Any acknowledgment of the Lord was merely nominal. Empty.

It is not at all surprising that this next step was taken. It would be so very attractive to him. Marriage with Jezebel! Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal king of Zidon.

Thus Ahab established a formal alliance with Zidon. He did this to strengthen his own position. He saw it as enhancing his power and influence as the King of Israel.

It mattered not that Jezebel worshiped Baal. Ahab could quite happily accept that fact. It would not inhibit him in any way.

That attitude of Ahab is so widely in evidence today. We find it in Churches. In various Christian organizations. In a wide variety of ways.

It has become so common. Christians accepting a many and varied "alliances!" Alliances with: the world! With the organizations of the world. With the people of the world.

The same argument is quite commonly used. This is to our advantage. It will enhance our work. It will increase our prestige. With: whom?

These alliances are made with a wide variety of organizations. Service clubs. Lodges. On and on It goes.

It appears to matter very little that so many such groups have very little true regard for the Lord Jesus. At the very best it is so very nominal. Shallow. Empty. Even condescending. Yet, it serves our "purpose". So, we go along with it.

Conduct and conversation which should be condemned is condoned. Having been condoned, it is so easily adopted. Christians become an integral part of such things. Carelessly. When they should rebuke and condemn them.

There are so many who are carelessly walking the path which Ahab walked. The inevitable result is that it is not too long before we worship what they worship! Exactly in the way Ahab did,

The casual observer would see no difference. No difference between Ahab and Jezebel. There was no real difference! Their alliance had made them one in every way. They had the same priorities. The same values. The same moral and spiritual standards.

That fact is equally true today. The casual observer can see no difference. No difference between the world and the Church. Between Christians and the groups which they so willingly affiliate with. Those alliances which Christians have sought have made them one with the world. One in emphasis. One in attitude. One in every respect.

It is worth noting that Ahab did not lift Jezebel to his level if, at any time, he had been on a higher level. She brought him down to her level. He so willingly cooperated in that.

It always happens that way. To make any alliance with the world inevitably has that effect. The Church does not lift the world to its level. The world always wins out. The god of this world sees to that!

This is not a simple matter of association. It is spiritual conflict. The devil is totally committed to truceless warfare. To enter into any alliance is always: on his terms. His terms are always: surrender!

Yet, we are so reluctant to admit that fact. To acknowledge that it might even be a possibility.

Ahab was king. Yet Jezebel actually wielded the power. When. she pulled the strings, he jumped. That fact is irrefutable

Christians can, and do, choose to enter into alliance with the world. To do so they must surrender. The god of the world pulls the strings. Christians jump. They have become the plaything of the enemy! The slave of the world.

"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey'' (Romans 6: 16).

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6: 24).

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"

"And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?"

"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; And I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,"

"And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty!" (2 Corinthians 6: 14 18).

"For such a time as this!" Are Christians today really listening? Listening to God?

"And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria."

This was the next obvious step. The influence of Jezebel guaranteed this. Ahab would prove loyal to the alliance. Therefore he would build the temple. The temple to Baal. That temple in which he set up the altar for Baal.

Ahab was infatuated with the alliance. He made himself a slave to it. He would do whatever was necessary to prove he was one with Jezebel. He did not find that to be a difficult choice at all.

Such alliances inevitably have that effect. The evidence today is so unmistakable!

So many of the Churches and so many Christians have been so busy in these days. Busy building "temples"! Temples to the gods of this world. Placing altars in them. Altars at which they so regularly worship.

These are not temples of brick and mortar. Yet they are still so very real. They are built wherever the standards of the world are condoned. Where the priorities of the world predominate. Where the values of the world are so decisive. Where the methods of the world are enshrined.

Such temples are so very common. Held in such high regard. So many professing Christians regularly worship in them. Bow at their altars. Live by their pagan degrading philosophies!

"And Ahab made a grove!" That "grove!" which automatically went with all that was involved in Baal worship. It was the most vile and immoral feminine figure. It was an utterly degrading female image which was partner to the “bull” of Baal worship.

This was "worship" which involved the most degradingly immoral practices. Ahab embraced it! Willingly. Fully.

The alliance with the world always leads to those degraded depths. In so many cases it is already there. So many regularly worship at the altar of television. Enslaved by the utterly immoral practices which it constantly portrays. They think nothing of it. They unashamedly enjoy such filth!

"For such a time as this!" We dare not ignore this! God in still speaking! Listen!

"And Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all of the kings of Israel that were before him!'

“More to provoke the Lord to anger!” Are we listening today? Are we really listening?

Do we really believe that the Lord is not angry today? To believe that is to believe a lie! Many want to believe it. Many choose to believe it. Yet they believe it at the most incredible cost. They believe it at the greatest possible personal loss.

But who was this man? We know so very little about him. That is, apart from those events of his ministry which are recorded in the Word of God.

"The Tishbite!" That suggests the city of his upbringing. Yet it tells us nothing beyond that. We have no information about that city. In fact, we can only guess as to the actual name of that city.

He "was of the inhabitants of Gilead." Gilead was east of the Jordan. In that geographical area which was settled by the descendents of Gad and Manasseh.

We do not know who his parents were. Nor anything else about his family. Or his upbringing. We are not ever told how old he was when he appeared on the scene.

It could be suggested that he was a nobody! That he had none of those credentials which the world would court as being highly important.

"For such a time as this!" Surely this situation demanded much more. Such as: a well known leader! One of obvious influence. Having political clout. With good financial and social credentials. The kind of person whose presence would make an immediate and strong impact.

That is the way people think today. Yet none of those things matter: to God! God chose: His man!

"For such a time as this!" Study the Scriptures. There is something of a pattern there. Particularly when it comes to the people whom God chooses. Almost without exception: man would never have chosen the one who was chosen by God.

Samuel had to learn, "Look not on his counternance, nor on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (Samuel 16: 7).

"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;"

"And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:"

“For such a time as this!” To meet the desperate need of the moment! God selected His man: Elijah!

What of our day? The increasingly desperate need today? Who can God choose? Who can God use?

The things which the world count as being so very important are discarded. Completely. They do not count with God!

Why did God choose Elijah? Samuel gives us the clue. "The Lord looks on the heart!"

What were those qualifications? James points to one of the most vital. "Elias (Elijah) was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly!" (James 5: 17).

"HE PRAYED EARNESTLY!" Elijah was a man of sincere and urgent prayer. His prayer reveals that he was a man of strong faith. He prayed that it might not rain! He fully expected the Lord to answer that prayer! "It rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months!"(James 5: 17).

A man of earnest prayer. Prayer marked by dynamic faith. That speaks of a very close relationship with the Lord. A living, growing, personal fellowship!

In that fellowship the Lord looked into his heart. The Lord saw that love which totally honored: Him! That deep desire which sought only to glorify Him! That genuine commitment in faith and love to be loyal to Him.

The Lord looked into his heart. And the Lord was pleased. Here was a man who genuinely believed. Who believed that the Lord IS! That the Lord is The Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11: 6).

"For such a time as this!" The Lord still seeks: people of prayer! True prayer. Who live the life of prayer which witnesses to the life of utmost devotion. The devotion Which believes God. Trusts God. Which always desires to honor and glorify Him.

Elijah was also marked by a second vital qualification. He always took the Word of the Lord seriously. He never acted as though anything which the Lord said was insignificant. Or unimportant. Or irrelevant.

"For all those things hath Mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord. But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My Word!" (Isaiah 66: 2).

The Lord is saying today: "To this man will I look who trembleth at My Word!" Do we today tremble at His Word? At the incredible greatness of His promise'? Or at His awesome note of His warning?

Elijah trembled at the Word of the Lord! He knew that God meant exactly what He said! He knew that nothing could ever change the Word of God. Or modify it in the slightest.

God spoke His Word! His Word would stand for all time. For all eternity. Unchanged. Unchanging.

The Lord looked into the heart of Elijah. He saw that attitude to His Word. God chose: Elijah!

"For such a time as this" God still looks for the one who takes Him seriously. Who take His word seriously.

A man of prayer! A man of The Word! A man of God! Utterly and completely given up to God! Totally and continually available. The man or the woman whose heart is always true. In harmony with the heart of the Lord.

Elijah stood before Ahab. He stood there clothed with the authority of: the Ambassador of the Lord. Elijah had nothing to do but to faithfully represent the interests of God!

When he spoke, he spoke as the Ambassador of the Lord. The words he spoke were the words given to him by the Lord. He had no message but the message of God to Ahab.

“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5: 20).

The only basis on which we can go to man today is quite clear. We go as the Ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only authority that we have is His authority. We have absolutely nothing to do but to faithfully represent the interests of the Lord.

We have only one message: "Jesus and Him crucified!" Therefore, "We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God!"

Elijah faithfully represented the attitude of the Lord. That is the responsibility of the Ambassador.

Ahab had so greatly angered the Lord. Remember: "Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him!"

Elijah must express the anger of the Lord! He dare not pretend that it was not a factor. He knew that it was a vital issue. The Lord was angry! Elijah was loyal to that fact!

The Lord was angry! The Lord is angry! Yet do we as His Ambassadors faithfully reflect that fact? Or do we try to ignore it? Gloss over it? Explain it away?

The faithful Ambassador will always speak His Word. Will always reflect His attitude. Honoring Him as: God! It is because He is God that He is angry! We must remember that! Because He is perfect love He is angry! Because He is perfect holiness He is angry!

He is angry today! To pretend that that is not the case is to dishonor Him. Belittle Him. Discredit Him.

No true Ambassador would do that. No one who honors the Lord would do that. To really know Him! To really know His heart! That is to know that He has every right to be greatly angry today.

"And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord!" (2 Chronicles 19: 2).

"For such a time as this!" How we need to learn from Elijah. From the totally uncompromising stand which he took.

Ahab. The Lord God of Israel is alive! You have been acting as though He is dead. Talking as though He cannot hear you. Living as though He cannot see you. Nor do anything about your conduct.

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God" (Psalm 53: 1). Notice the emphasis: "In his heart!" Outwardly acknowledging the Lord. But the inner reality is so very different!

People today talk as though God cannot hear them. Even Christians! Their conversation is in so many ways offensive to the Lord. Impure. Vindictive. Distorting. Misrepresenting. But in their hearts they feel that God does not hear. Or if He does hear, there is nothing that He can do about it.

God does hear! God is alive! "The Lord God liveth!" He not only hears. He sees. Everything. How we need to proclaim that truth. Loud and clear. Without any apology!

The Lord Jesus reminded us, "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement" (Matthew 12: 36).

"The fool has said in his heart!" Today, so many who profess to believe are in fact: practical atheists. The practical expression of their lives is obvious. "I do not believe that God can hear me. Or, that He can see me. Or do anything about anything!"

"Before whom I stand!" Elijah is saying, I know Him! I serve Him! I honor Him! I am here as His representative!

"Before whom I stand!" Continually! In dynamic faith! In devoted obedience! Today that is the most vital issue! Today the Living God is all that matters. Especially to all those who really do love and serve Him.

God wants you to know that you have angered Him! That your vile sin is totally reprehensible. That your immoral idolatry has attracted His just wrath!

There shall be neither rain nor dew. Not for years. In just judgment God will visit a most serious drought on you!

So many today are afraid of such terminology. They would want to modify it. Water it down. Why? Surely not to make the truth more palatable to sinful man? To appease man? That is not the ambassador's task!

We today dare not pretend that the Holy God is not angry. Nor speak as though He is not moving in severe judgment. To do that is to put ourselves under His wrath and judgment. Rightly so!

God is alive! God is active! Therefore God is intervening in judgment. We must believe that. The only other alternative would be to suggest that He is doing nothing. To suggest that is to dishonor Him!

The Holy God is not sitting back passively. He will not condone nor excuse all those vile practices which are so utterly offensive to Him. He is alive! He is active! He is angry with a perfectly pure and holy anger. His holy wrath against all uncleanness is being expressed. Even today!

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1: 18).

The intention of the Lord is clear. The situation can change, His act of judgment can yet be reversed. If this happens it will be according to His terms. According to the Word of God spoken by Elijah.

This was not the final act of judgment. Rather this judgment was an expression of the most severe chastising. The aim was to bring Ahab and Israel to repentance.

"But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not; die,”

“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live" (Ezekiel 18: 21, 23).

The intention is that man be turned. That he be brought to genuine repentance. That he be brought back to the Lord in brokenness, genuine contrition and humility. With a truly sincere heart.

The Lord wants to forgive. He desires to cleanse. To pardon. To restore. To reconcile.

So we must be totally faithful to Him. To His message. To His strong clear call to repentance. Never minimizing sin. Never! Never ignoring the present reality of the Lord's anger against uncleanness. His present acts of judgment. His holy wrath.

As we are faithful to Him, totally faithful to His message. Unashamedly proclaiming His Word in the power of the Holy Spirit. Doing so with deep conviction and genuine commitment. Then, He will use us to accomplish His perfect purpose. People will be awakened to their desperate condition. They will clearly see their own deep need. They will come to Him. In repentance. In confession. In faith.

God will accomplish His purposes gloriously! As sinners turn from their sinful ways. And live!

"For such a time as this!" We must be people of much prayer. Sincere prayer. Sacrificial prayer.

People of The Word! Of God's Word. With a living dynamic faith in His Word. A strong loyalty to His Word.