Elijah and John the Baptist both ministered when a drought was sent on the land

Part one of twelve…1 Kings 17:1-7

Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “And if you are willing to receive it, [John the Baptist] is Elijah who is to come.” Matthew 11:14

Elijah’s ministry began when neither dew nor rain would be on the land except by his word. This lack of dew and rain represents the lack of the word of God. The ministry of John the Baptist began when there was a lack of faith in the Living God and only by his word were people being watered with faith in the Living God. This is spoken of John, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.” Luke 3:4 Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of this lack of dew and rain when He spoke against the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes for corrupting the word of God, as read in Matthew 23:4-39.

The Lord had Elijah to get away from mainstream society to live by the brook that flowed into the Jordan. It was there where Elijah would drink water from that brook and be fed by the ravens. The Lord also led John the Baptist into the desert wilderness where he lived by the Jordan river, where he baptized everyone who wanted to reconcile with God. John drank from those waters, was fed wild locusts and honey, and was clothed in camel’s hair and a leather belt, “John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins… Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.” Mark 1:4, 6

Eventually, the brook where Elijah was drinking from dried up due to a lack of rain in the land. This symbolizes a severe drought that prevented the ability to nourish the soul with the word of God. John the Baptist did not have a source from where he could be nourished from the word of God. His nourishment came from within himself through the Holy Spirit. The ministry of John was outside the corrupt teaching and preaching of the church leaders of that day, and nourishment for the soul had dried up.

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“And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.“

So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

1 Kings 17:1-7