The Lord's Way in a
Time of Apostasy
Standing With the Lord in a Time of Apostasy

by Mark Waters

A Coming Apostasy

efore the Lord’s return, a gross darkness will cover the earth which is characterized by Paul as a great turning away from the Lord and His purposes. This darkness will culminate in both the coming of the anti-Christ and the coming of the Lord Jesus.

The ministry of Elijah and the conditions in which he ministered are a prophetic view of this time of apostasy of which Paul speaks. Malachi 3:1-3 and Malachi 4:5 tell us that the ministry of Elijah is a future thing. These verses help us see that the days in which Elijah ministered are prophetic of the end of the age. Many of the details of that time parallel with these days.

Jehovah’S Replacement

(1 Ki. 16:32) There is a phrase that occurs over and over again in 1 Kings. It is the phrase, “did evil in the sight of the Lord.” Over and over, each king in succession did evil in the sight of the Lord. This continues until you come to Ahab. Then it says of him, that he did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.

In Ahab’s day, God’s people arose to the height of wickedness. What is in view here are the worst of days. Things are now worse than they have ever been in the kingdom of Israel.

Ahab turned away from the Lord and sought to turn the whole northern kingdom of Israel from Jehovah and establish Baal as its Lord. Baal represents the spirit of anti-Christ in the earth. The word `anti’ means to be over against, opposite to, instead of, or in place of. The anti-Christ will work against Christ by seeking to replace him. He seeks to take the place the Father has given to the Son. In the Old Testament, Baal sought to be Jehovah’s replacement. The name Baal means lord, master, husband, or owner. The rising of Baal is the rising of the spirit of anti-Christ in the earth.

The spirit of anti-Christ was rising in the earth. Baal sought to take the place in and among God’s people that belonged only to Jehovah. Ahab was evil above all that were before him. It is bad enough that he followed in the sins of Jeroboam. He took things to a new level. He made Jezebel his wife and turned the worship of the northern kingdom from Jehovah to Baal.

A New Altar

(1 Ki. 16:32) Baal and his worshippers not only sought to replace Jehovah, they sought to replace Jehovah’s altar and Jehovah’s house too. There was a new altar and a new temple. It was a replacement altar and a replacement house. The same is true today, the altar always speaks of the cross. The New Testament contrasts the broad way and the narrow way. This new altar offers God’s people an easy way. There is no need for the Lamb and his loving sacrifice for man. There is no need for us to come after the Lord, taking up our cross. It’s not like that anymore. That’s the old days. Now things are different. This ‘new cross’ is not something we are awaiting. It is already in the church. There is a replacement going on in the church today. ‘Jehovah’s altar’ has been replaced by another altar--one that leaves us alone, and lets us live without the restraints of the True and Living God. We can live the way we want. We can have the easy way. There need not be any difference between us and the world. Truly we are living in the time of the great falling away of which Paul spoke.

A New Temple

(1 Ki. 16:32) God spoke to Moses to have the children of Israel build Him a sanctuary, that He might dwell among His people. It was His house, made for His pleasure, and was to be filled with His glory. But in Ahab’s day, another kind of house was emerging in the earth. This house was not for Jehovah’s pleasure. It was, rather, a ‘rival house.’ It was a place in which He could not dwell. It was not for His glory, but for Baal’s.

Baal is the spirit of antichrist. He is “instead of Christ.” He is the usurper that tries to claim for himself that which belongs only to the Lord. He seeks to fill and make his own, that which the Lord desires for Himself. He seeks to undo the altar, to replace the altar that destroyed him, and to fill the house that was meant for Jehovah’s glory and pleasure. There is no room for Jehovah. It will no longer be the sanctuary that Jehovah can dwell in, and so he takes what was meant for the Lord, and fills it with his own “glory.”

To Undo the Victories of the One Whose Name Means “Jehovah Saves”

(1 Ki. 16:34) Hiel, the Bethelite, moved to rebuild that which the Lord destroyed through Joshua. Jericho was the representative city in all of Canaan. Hiel’s actions were a deliberate attempt to reverse the conquering of Canaan and the glorious victories and triumphs of Joshua. Joshua, a type of the Lord Jesus, came after Moses as the one who did what the law failed to do. There was a setting out to rebuild Jericho, the city God had cursed and destroyed. He had no pleasure in it. The enemy can’t undo the finished work in our lives, but he does seek to undo its effect and its power. He attempts to undo all that was done in the past through (our) Joshua. What a bold and blatant attempt of the enemy as he lashes out, even against the redemptive work accomplished on the Cross. The Cross secures the defeat of the enemy and all his attempts to establish his own dark kingdom in the earth. It is no wonder he must try to undo what was accomplished there.

Apostasy is a departure from God to something else. It is also a going back to the things that God has destroyed. We are living in similar days... days of apostasy where there is a departure from God, and the things of God. The motive behind this apostasy is to undo what God has done through the One whose name means “Jehovah saves,” and the victories he made against the kingdom of darkness.

God is Preparing A Man Behind the Scenes.

Elijah bursts on the public scene out of nowhere. Who is Elijah? Where did he come from? There is no previous mention or introduction of him. The time of apostasy grew darker and darker, but all the while, God was doing something in the background unnoticed, unseen by man. God was preparing a man in obscurity. This is God's way. When things get dark, God gets hold of a man, and behind the scenes, He invests in him a particular ministry. I am sure Elijah wondered many times, am I accomplishing anything? Here I am in Gilead. How can I possibly accomplish anything out here? That is where God had him, and prepared him, and it was from this place that God took him to stand before the king in his palace. God does not use unprepared servants. Those whom he uses against apostasy and darkness, to stand as his servants before man, are those whom he has prepared in the place of obscurity.

God’S Ways in a Time of Apostasy

It was getting very dark. But into this darkness God shone a great light. God’s answer in a time of apostasy is to raise up a man whose passion is to bring the Lord to view again. Elijah knew that the only power great enough to turn things around again would be the appearing of the Lord to the hearts of His people. There was to be a great contest between Jehovah’s replacement (Baal) and the Lord Himself. Elijah knew that it was at the altar and what happened there, that God would reveal who He was. This is God’s answer in a day of apostasy. He gets hold of a man who knows God’s full unveiling of Himself is at the altar. He seeks to bring to view again this ‘God of the altar.’ Elijah knew that it was only when the people of God see the God who is revealed at the altar, that their hearts would turn in repentance. Through Elijah, God secured a ministry that would call the nation to turn from “Jehovah’s replacement” back to God, whose full nature is revealed at the altar. So, when apostasy comes, God seeks to lay hold of a man at the altar of the Lord.