Elijah and John the Baptist were both marked for death and both found refuge in the desert wilderness

Part 7...1 Kings 19:1-10 

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

Ahab was the corrupt king of Israel who went to his wife Jezebel and informed her of everything that Elijah had done, such as defeating all of their false prophets, as written in Part 6. Jezebel had already massacred every true Prophet of God that she could hunt down, and now vowed to do the same to Elijah. Like Elijah, the life of John the Baptist was threatened by the wife of Herod, whose name was Herodias. She did not like how John preached against her marriage to Herod as being a corrupt union and not in the will of God. At the request of Herodias, Herod did indeed have John beheaded and handed it to her on a platter, as described in John 6:14-29.

When Elijah saw Ahab informing Jezebel, he knew his life was in danger and ran a day’s journey into the wilderness. Like Elijah, John the Baptist knew his life would be in danger. He was initially raised in faithfulness to the teaching of the Pharisees, as his father [Zacharias] was a priest and held important and prestigious duties in the temple, “So it was, that while [Zacharias] was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.” Luke 1:8-9 A time came when John, as a young and Holy Spirit filled man, realized that the teachings of the Pharisees were not in tune to the teachings of the scriptures. John’s views of the scriptures would be considered rebellious, and blasphemous to the established order of things. As a result, John fled from the murderous heart of the Pharisees into the wilderness, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’” Mark 1:3

While Elijah was in the wilderness, he sat under a “broom” tree and prayed that he might die, as quoted, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” a picture of the “broom” tree is seen below. This tree grows in dry and harsh environments where other plants struggle to survive and is a reliable source of shade. Because Jesus said that John the Baptist was Elijah, we can see how John had his time of wanting to die and not feeling any more worthy to God than his Jewish ancestors. This is a time when John was isolated from the mainstream Jewish culture and was feeling like an unwanted outcast. Even then, John felt the comfort of the shade of the Holy Spirit and John himself was able to live for God in a dry and harsh spiritual environment. John was able to survive in His faithfulness to the Living God while others were struggling to survive.

While Elijah was sleeping under a “broom” tree, an angel of the Lord touched him and said, “Arise and eat.” The angel provided Elijah bread and water. For “forty days and forty nights“, Elijah went on a journey in the strength of one cake of bread and one jar of water. Elijah went as far as to “…the mountain of God.” Like Elijah, John the Baptist also had a bare minimum of resources to live on in the desert wilderness, “Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.” Matthew 3 More than that, John had a bare minimum of the Bread and Water of Life, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, John was able to live faithfully to God throughout his ministry. John journeyed as far as the “…the mountain of God,” which is the Holiest of place.

While at the mountain of God, Elijah went into a cave and spent the night. That is when the word of the Lord was spoken to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” Like Elijah, John the Baptist was in a “cave” as far as being a recluse from the corruption of the Pharisees and most of the Jewish culture. Like Elijah, when God asked him what he was doing there, John would have replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” This describes John the Baptist, his ministry, and his faithfulness to God very accurately.

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“And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 

And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

1 Kings 19:1-10