Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt-sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord he is the God.
I Kings 18:38-39
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
John 20:29
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
It must have been an awesome sight to see the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. What an amazing thing it would have been to have witnessed fire coming down from Heaven and consuming not only the offering on the altar, but also licking up the water around the altar and consuming the stones of the altar itself. I’m sure that a sight like that would invoke a reverential fear in just about anybody that witnessed it. It did cause the Israelites who were there to fall down on their faces and worship God. It caused them to declare that “the Lord, he is the God”. The Israelites believed in Him because of an awe-inspiring display of power.
In John chapter 20, Jesus appears to the disciples after His resurrection and Thomas is unsure. But when Jesus showed him His hands and side, Thomas believed. Thomas believed in Him because he could physically see and touch Him.
We do not have the opportunity to see God literally send down fire from Heaven to consume a burnt offering. We do not have the opportunity to physically see Jesus Christ in the flesh and touch Him. And yet we believe. That is where faith comes in to the picture. Hebrews 11:1 gives us a great and simple definition of faith: “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. Faith is taking God at His word and believing Him even though we may not be able to actually see Him. May He give us great faith to believe in Him!
Justified Freely 