1 Kings 19:18-21
“Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, go back again: for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.”
The murder of Charlie Kirk this week was a slap to the face for those of us who want to speak the truth. It is one thing to hear that Christians were killed in Nigeria or beheaded in the Middle East somewhere; it is another thing to see someone killed for their speech. It is another thing to feel the pain, see the hurt, and then to truly experience the hatred that really is there. Imagine being hated for just speaking the truth.
Well, this is what I am reading in the Gospel of Luke this morning: the Pharisees and Sadducees hated Jesus because He spoke the truth. He would tell these lovely parables and draw these very clear parallels that left no doubts about who He was speaking. Under their breath, they would plot to kill Him, to arrest Him, and to stop the truth. Little did they know that the very act of killing Jesus would exponentially export the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Over the past few days, I have come to the conclusion that killing Charlie Kirk has done much the same. I read an excerpt from a mom who told of her son coming home from work: just 23 years old, he sat, ate dinner, did a bit of a workout, and together they listened to some worship music. And he, as he was headed to bed, said, “Mom, I need to be more like Charlie Kirk; God help me.” She did not push him nor prompt him, just let him speak from his heart. I just saw a prominent NFL quarterback laying out the Gospel of Jesus Christ in simple and clear statements. Over and over, I hear of many others testifying and stepping up, and I hope that the wave of growth does not stop.
The verses above are familiar to those of us who love the scriptures. We love the significance that they offer us. We love the eye-opening sight that they offer, and we like the hope that they give us.
There will be many op-eds about Charlie Kirk over the next few weeks, and there will be a lot of rhetoric. We need to be careful not to fall into the trap that is being set. We cannot become violent; Jesus never was. We cannot become bitter; Jesus never was. We cannot become closed off and live in fear; Jesus never did. We cannot be silent; Jesus never shut up. Rather, we need to realize, like many of us are, that God has people everywhere. He has people in government, in schools, in the police, young people, people in other countries, poor people, rich people, and on we can go. Not only that, but we see that we have the power to shut down those who hate us.
Never should we shut down free speech, and especially the speech that is different than ours; we need to hear a dissenting opinion. We need to be able to hear and defend the truth against all opposition. We need to love those who are different and those who are very different.
Elijah had been in a great victory in 1 Kings 18; he had defeated the prophets of Baal. Not long after that defeat, he finds himself running from Jezebel and ends up in the middle of the woods. And there God finds him and sustains him through a few days, and then begins to challenge him to get back in the fight. One of the things that God points out is that he, Elijah, is not alone. God has more than 7,000 other men who have not bowed to Baal.
In like manner, God has lots of men like Charlie Kirk. Men who have not bowed to the ‘trans’ movement pressure, men who have not compromised the word of God, men who have not given into the ‘progressive agenda’ that has encompassed so many churches, men who led their families to serve the Lord and Him only.
Elijah was not alone, and neither are we. Stand up, stand out, stand strong, and serve the Lord faithfully and fearlessly; all they can do is kill the body, not destroy the soul. Jesus died so that we could actually live.
The next thing that God told Elijah to do was to find the next generation of prophets.
We don’t know when Jesus will return. We don’t know when we will die and pass to the next life; so, we are to find the next generation, teach them, and prepare them to stand up and speak the truth. Make sure they know the truth, that they are secure in the truth, that they know how to defend the truth and to speak it with love, grace, and without fighting.
Elijah went and found Elisha; God is not running out of people; we just need to be there ready to find them, teach them, disciple them, and show them the truth. Notice that Elisha was a servant to Elijah long before he was the lead prophet in Israel. When we find these young men, when God leads us to them, we will be doing good work if we teach them first of all to serve. We do this by being good servants ourselves.
So, don’t lose hope, don’t quit, don’t mourn too, too long, Charlie Kirk is more alive than he has ever been, and we are here to finish the work. Don’t be afraid for your life; it is an honor to lose it for the cause. Sadly, too many of us are more afraid of living for the Lord than we are of dying. Don’t give up, give in, run for the hills, or simply hide while waiting for the Lord.
I leave you with the words of the Apostle Paul from Galatians 6:9,
”And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”