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"Elijah was a man with a nature like ours,
and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain,
and it did not rain on the earth
for three years and six months"
(James 5:17).
James, younger brother of Jesus, recalls three remarkable features of the ministry of Elijah, the prophet of ancient Israel.
One, Elijah was a man like any other. Elijah's ministry did not begin as the ministries of other prophets began, with a clear call, "And the word of the Lord came to..." Elijah was simply a man who knew the scripture, and the scripture declared that if Israel turned aside and worshiped other gods, God "...will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit" (Deuteronomy 11:16-17). With this scripture as his only credential, Elijah emerged from the wilderness and declared to King Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." Two, Elijah returned home and prayed fervently that it would not rain. (Well, that might have been embarrassing.) Three, God answered Elijah's prayer and it did not rain.
For three years and six months.
For three years and six months, King Ahab and his one and only, Queen Jezebel, tirelessly sought the strange man in the wilderness. For three years and six months, they longed to kill Elijah, upon whom they laid blame for the devastating drought. For three years and six months, God extended provision and protection, and--ultimately--deliverance and vindication for his maverick prophet.
Nearly a thousand years later, Jesus of Nazareth--a man unlike any other--emerged from Galilee and began to preach a gospel of reconciliation and restoration.
For three years and six months.
For three years and six months, Jesus preached the gospel to the poor; he proclaimed release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; he set free those who were oppressed; he proclaimed the favorable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19). For three years and six months, the civil and religious authorities sought to kill Jesus, both jealous and anxious of the people's affection for him. For three years and six months, God extended provision and protection, and--ultimately--deliverance and vindication for his maverick prophet.
Fifty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the aged Apostle John--he alone remained of the apostles--penned a letter of encouragement to the Christians of Asia Minor. Like John--exiled on Patmos, the Alcatraz of his day--these men and women were suffering persecution at the direction of the Caesar of Rome, Domitian. "Endure and overcome," was the theme of John's missive, the letter we now know of as The Revelation.
As he wrote, John sought an image he might use to rally the courage of the oppressed faithful. An image that would reflect a measured and relatively brief time of distress. A figure that would assure his readers of God's extended provision and protection, and--ultimately--deliverance and vindication. He found it in a literary device inspired by Elijah's retreat into the wilderness and first employed by the prophet Daniel.
Three years and six months.
And John, ever the poet, used its numeric equivalents as well: three years and six months; 1,260 days; forty-two months; a time, times, and half a time.
In The Revelation, three years and six months (along with its equivalents) must not be regarded as a literal number. It's a metaphor. How might the number have given hope to the oppressed believers of the first century?
How might you adopt the number as a rally cry to encourage you during relatively brief periods of distress? To encourage you of God's extended provision and protection, and--ultimately--deliverance and vindication.
For those who delight in the cleverness of the divine, John used the number seven to represent God. What's the relationship of three-and-a-half to seven? What's the implication?
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