What, exactly, is a still small Voice? As we look at the Hebrew meaning, we see that this voice was peaceful, restful, and calming; it was a quiet voice...all of which Elijah needed at the time. And so it is with us...when we need to be calmed or reassured, Jesus will speak to our hearts, “Peace, be still.” This is the same Word He spoke to the stormy sea of Galilee (Mark 4:39) -- “And Jesus arose, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still.’ And the wind ceased (or relaxed), and there was a great calm.” Peace, as it is used here, means “muteness, involuntary stillness, or the inability to speak; to be calm (as quiet water).”

Jesus did not scream at the wind; He commanded it to be silent or to “relax”, and it did. All too often we think the “louder the better” in regards to our prayers; this is not how Jesus prayed. And, He did not even rebuke the sea; He “spoke to it”, telling it to muzzle itself (for that’s what “to be silent” means). And it did become silent. Now, what is the distinction here? Jesus knew that it was the wind that had caused the waves in the sea to rise and fall, so He focused on the wind, not the sea. If you would like to truly know just what that feels like, being in a boat on stormy waters, do this -- on a peaceful, calm day (when you already know high winds are in the forecast), row a small boat out into a rather large lake. Then notice as the wind does begin to pick up and blow across that lake. Small little waves, growing larger and larger will begin to cover the lake, till you begin to rock back and forth. This is how troubles and turmoils arise in our lives, and many times, in the midst of our turmoil, we do not get an immediate answer to prayer, because we are aiming at the wrong target; when we should be commanding the winds (that are assailing us) to be silent, we are frustratingly screaming at the sea!

Then, as the merciful Lord that He is, Jesus comes along onto the scene, saying “Peace, be still.” And the winds against us begin to cease and relax, and there will be a great calm. “Great calm” here, means “an exceedingly great or tremendous tranquillity”. Jesus can, and does, restore the tranquillity to our lives.

As we discussed last week, there are times in our lives when we are confronted with “apparent” defeats or setbacks. I use the word “apparent”, because not all of the bad or negative things that come our way end up as setbacks and/or defeats. Many result in wonderful learning and growing experiences, or even great victories! Granted, we may not know that at the time, but later we look back and see a tremendous lesson learned or a victory won. Now, concerning apparent setbacks...

...In Part One of this teaching, we talked about the fact that the enemy of our souls is greatly disturbed and distressed as each one of us incorporates a new Truth of the Kingdom of God into our own hearts and lives. Each time we accept a new principle of God’s Great Truth, and we make it a part of our own lives, the enemy feels the crushing weight of Calvary’s Victor (that being the Mighty Heel of Jesus Christ) upon his head. Let us look at a few verses, to fully appreciate what that means.

Genesis 3 -- (14) “And the LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, above every beast of the field, and upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life. (15) And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it (her seed) shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His Heel’.”

Luke 10:19 -- “(And Jesus said) ‘Behold, I give you the power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you’.”

Hebrews 2 -- (14) “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He, Himself, likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (15) and deliver them (us) who through fear of death were all their lives subject to bondage.”

1st John 3 -- (8) “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested: that He might destroy the works of the devil. (9) Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for His Seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (10) In this the children of God are manifest, as well as the children of the devil: Whosoever is unable to live in righteousness is not of God; neither is he that is unable to love his brother. (11) For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that ‘We should love one another’.”

Revelation 12 -- (10) “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now is come Salvation and Strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the Power of His Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night. (11) And they (again, us!) overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (12) Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them. But woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time’.”

And, the final verses
of the Old Testament:

Malachi 4 -- (1) “For, behold, the day is coming that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble. The day that is coming shall burn them up, says the LORD of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. (2) But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with Healing in His Wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (3) And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the LORD of Hosts. (4) Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. (5) Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD, (6) and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

And so, here we see Elijah, once again...but more on this later.

In these preceding verses, we see several things, not the least of which is the Victory wrought by Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. We also see apparent setbacks or defeats. Can you imagine the joy and the relief when the devil and his demons finally killed the Man, Jesus, on the cross? Finally, this troublemaker to the devil’s kingdom and territory is dead! And can you picture the terror and the sheer horror when the devil and his followers saw Him resurrected three days later!!!? What seemed like sure victory for the devil turned into absolute defeat...what appeared to be true defeat for the Son of God resulted in the Greatest Victory of All Time!

In Genesis 3:15, we see the serpent’s head being bruised, even as he bruised the Heel of the Seed of the woman. This, of course, occurred at Calvary. Romans 16:20 tells us, “And the God of Peace shall bruise (crush completely, i.e. to shatter) Satan under your feet shortly. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” The word “peace”, used here by Paul, means “quietness, rest, set at one again.” As I have mentioned in another teaching, atonement means, literally, “to be put at one again; to be restored (to that place the serpent had ‘robbed’ Adam and Eve of, in the Garden).” So, when God cursed the serpent, in the Garden, it came true, or was fulfilled, at Calvary. And each day that some saint of God, some believer of His Truth, accepts and incorporates this victory...satan once more feels that Heel upon his head.

Paul’s speaking of “the God of Peace bruising satan under our feet shortly” is in reference to our understanding and accepting this Truth in our lives. This word is actually a “closing” of his letter to the Roman believers; a blessing, as it were. He is encouraging them to know and understand this part of their Salvation: That Jesus Christ did defeat satan and sin and death at the Cross of Calvary.

(Please note: This was written at Easter time, 1998, and re-edited 10/3/99) Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, and while I almost assuredly did not intend to even try to come up with an “Easter Message”, it seems that the Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot avoid it! The resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, destroyed the enemy, his works and his effect on our lives. This is what both Hebrews 2:14, 15 and 1st John 3:8 tells us: Our enemy, satan and all his forces, are destroyed! Why, then, do we still fear them, or (like Elijah) even run away from them? Partly because we may not have learned of the enemy’s tactics; partly because we may not fully “believe it”; also partly because we may not know how to deal with or “rest in” victory.

The answer? Praise Him! Very simply unrestrainedly praise Him! If we could but hear just a very small portion of the sound that Heaven and its angels and occupants made after that Victory at Calvary, we would surely know and understand and appreciate the full power of Praise! And each time a soul comes into the Kingdom of God, Jesus tells us, (7) “I say to you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety-nine just persons, who need no repentance...(10) Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents (Luke 15:7 & 10).”

After victory should come rejoicing...not in our victory, but in His Victory manifested in us and in our lives. Let’s look, once again, at some of these victories we discussed last week:

He Made Peace with Us
He Reconciled Our Lives
He Makes Us Holy, Unblameable, Unreproveable
We Are Circumcised Without Hands (without the law)
We Are Buried with Him in Baptism
We Are Risen with Him through Faith
His Life Quickens & Enlivens Us
We Have Forgiveness of All Our Trespasses
He Blotted Out the Handwriting of Ordinances
He Took Our Sins Out of the Way
He Nailed All Our Sins to His Cross
He Spoiled Principalities and Powers
He Openly Humiliated the Enemy
He Triumphed Over Them in His Cross, Our Victory

But remember what we said...we need to “continue in the faith grounded and settled, and we must not be moved away from the hope of the gospel, which we have heard...”. We also discussed “Three Reasons For Setbacks”, with the first being the “Enemy”. We talked about how he gets mad at us from time to time, especially if and when we have just realized a victory over him. Yes, as we have discussed in this lesson, the Lord Jesus Christ has already won the victory, defeating the devil and his forces at Calvary, but let’s take a look at some other reasons we may falter or faint, or even run from the enemy. Following is the second reason we may have setbacks in our lives, especially after victories.

First -- The Enemy -- which we already discussed
Second -- Our Own Pride
Pride is a strange thing in the Kingdom of God; it does not fit in too well, no matter how hard we may try...no matter how hard we may attempt to justify it. Pride, in the beginning, defeated Lucifer. Even in the Garden of Eden, pride resulted in man’s fall from a perfect union with God. How? Look at Genesis 3:4-6 (4) “And the serpent said to the woman, ‘Surely you shall not die; for (5) God knows that in the day you eat of this tree, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.’ (6) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit and ate, and also gave to her husband with her; and he did eat.” And so begins man’s quick, downward spiral away from the Presence of God, only to be fully and completely restored nearly four thousand years later. So, it is quite easy to see how the angels of heaven could greatly rejoice as each and every one of us comes home to the Father -- they had thousands of years to wait for this wonderful Miracle of God. Have you ever been so excited about something you could just burst? That is how the angels of God must have felt, and they still must feel this rejoicing.

Back to our own pride hindering a victory in our lives...as we look back at Elijah, we see he was a little bit proud about his achievements regarding his service to his God. Looking back at 1st Kings 19:14, we hear him declare, “I have been very jealous (or zealous) for the LORD God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and now they seek my life, to take it away’.” He truly felt that he was all alone; “standing in the gap”, so to speak, by himself. He either had forgotten in his great zeal, or he had not been paying too much attention that there were others who served God, and who were faithful to Him. For the LORD God had told him, “I have a Remnant of seven thousand whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and whose mouths have not kissed him’.” (verse 18)

Was Elijah just too blinded by his own zeal and efforts not to have known this? Or was something else at work here? I believe that he got so caught up in his service to the LORD that he began to believe he was the only prophet left, for he had said, in 1st Kings 18:22 “Elijah said to the people, ‘I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men’.” Sometimes in our service to the Lord, even when we are doing great and mighty things in His Name, we tend to get near-sighted or we get tunnel-vision, seeing only that which is in our immediate lives. I believe that’s what happened to Elijah after he had slain the 450 prophets of Baal, and it is probably what happened to the seventy disciples Jesus had sent forth, in Luke 10:17-24: (all parentheses are mine -- G. Crisp)

“And the seventy returned again with joy (they were happy and rejoicing in their victories), saying, ‘Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Your Name’. (18) And He said unto them, ‘I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. (19) Behold, I give to you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (20) Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven (meaning in the Lamb’s Book of Life -- Rev 21:27 - G.Crisp)’. (21) In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, ‘I thank You, O Father, LORD of Heaven and earth, that You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes. You have done this, Father, for it seemed good in Your sight. (22) All things are delivered to Me of My Father, and no man knows Who the Son is, but the Father; and Who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him’. (23) And He turned to His disciples, and said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see, (24) for I tell you, many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them’.”

This is one of my favorite portions of scripture, where Jesus places the emphasis back to where the emphasis needs to be: On Him, His Work, His Father, His Salvation wrought for us! It’s not what we do, or how many demons we subdue, or how many people we lead to the Lord or pray for to get healed, or any other thing we may accomplish. The Bottom Line is: Are our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? And if so, rejoice in that! Jesus rejoiced in that Truth; He went on to tell the disciples how many kings and prophets of Israel would gladly trade places with them right now, to see and hear what the disciples were seeing and hearing. I have a feeling that none of those disciples would have traded places with anyone at this point in their lives. Let us keep our hearts and minds and service focused on Him. Let us be faithful in our service to Him. Let us not worry or compare with others what we may be doing, for what is truly important is that we are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Third -- Counting the Cost

Luke 14:26-35 (26) “Jesus said, ‘If any man comes to Me, and hates not his father, mother, wife, children, brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. (27) And whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple. (28) For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down, counting the cost, whether he has sufficient to finish it? (29) Lest haply, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, (30) Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. (31) Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not first sit down, consulting whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand? (32) Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an ambassador, desiring conditions of peace. (33) So likewise, whosoever among you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. (34) Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its savor (or taste), how can it be used to season? (35) It (the salt) is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill, so men cast it out. He that has ears to hear, let him hear’.”

Many times, in our walk with the Lord, we forget this very basic Principle of His Kingdom: Count the Cost. What, though, does this mean? It simply means we need to consider carefully and advisedly what we are about to do. Whatever we are about to do, let us make certain that it is what God desires; what He demands, and not our own wishes or desires. I have seen many Christians go and do something “in the Name of the Lord”, but the results were disastrous. Peter walked on the water -- a feat no other disciple could claim (and it was no small feat!) -- and yet the end result was he began to sink because he feared the waves around him. Many Christians “sink” after an apparent victory, because they fear the “storm around them.” And there will be storms, and we can see one as an Old Testament Type, when Elijah told Ahab, after he had slain the 450 false prophets of Baal, “Get up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain (thunder and lightning; a rumbling, noisy sounding, tumultuous downpour -- 1st Kings 18:41)”. Here we see a type of what happens in our lives -- immediately following a great victory, we hear the “sound” of the abundance of rain, and it may very well be the coming of God’s Blessing, but we still fear it, because we do not understand it or recognize it. While Elijah may not have feared the noise of the rains coming, he certainly did fear the noise of one wicked, evil woman that he knew would be coming...and that was one woman named Jezebel.