A confrontation on Mount Carmel made this conflict unmistakable. Before all Israel, Elijah rebuilt the broken altar of the LORD, soaked the sacrifice with water, and prayed a simple prayer that God would make Himself known. Fire fell from heaven, consuming the offering, the wood, the stones, and even the water in the trench. The people fell on their faces and confessed, “The LORD, He is the God.” The prophets of Baal were put to flight, and judgment fell upon them.

The people of Israel had come again to the wilderness of Zin.It was hot. It was dry. It was discouraging. They had been here before — forty years earlier, when God had first brought water out of the rock at Rephidim (Exodus 17). Now, at the end of their wandering, they thirst again. And just as before, God was present with them — not as an idea or a symbol, but as a Person. The Rock that followed them was Christ.