Elijah and Elisha 28
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Elijah and Elisha 28.
Can we please turn to 2 Kings chapter 13? [P] Last time I spoke we were in 2 Kings 7. We have moved on 6 chapters, and time has moved on also. [P] But there is no intervening mention of Elisha. Well, there is just one mention: in [2 Kings 9:1–3 Now Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Gird up your loins, and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth-gilead. “When you arrive there, search out Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in and bid him arise from among his brothers, and bring him to an inner room. “Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says יהוה, “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’ Then open the door and flee and do not wait.”] The fleeing was important, because you didn’t want to mess with Jehu. Time has moved on; not only is there a different king but a completely different dynasty – the dynasty of Jehu. But he was the one whom יהוה told Elijah to anoint to carry out His judgment on a wayward Israel. I have already dealt with that passage, the anointing of Jehu as king of Israel, when I talked about Elijah’s commission to anoint him. Talking of time [P], this is the time when Elijah ministered [P] – Ahab was king; and this is Elisha’s ministry [P] – you see that it was long. Here is where we were last time, with Aram besieging Samaria [P]. At that time Jehoram, Ahab’s son, was king. Now there is not only is there a different king but a different dynasty. Jehu was an interesting character [P] – the nearest Israel ever had to a godly king. He assassinated Jehoram, who was king during that siege of Samaria, thus ending the dynastry of Omri/Ahab. But Jehu was a bit of a rogue – he was a tough, unyielding, determined, one-eyed and violent man. But he gained יהוה’s approval because of his uncompromising stance against Baal worship. As a reward, יהוה promised him three generations of rule. Jehu ruled 28 years, and we hear nothing of Elisha in that time, maybe because Jehu was zealous for יהוה. Then his son Jehoahaz ruled for 17 years [P]. Presumably Elisha was still at work; but we hear nothing. Now we come to the reign of Jehoahaz’s son: Jehoash [P] or Joash (I will call him the former so that we don’t get him mixed up with the more well-known Joash who was king of Judah to the south). So, we are 45-50 years on since the last story, Elisha was an old man. [P] [2 Kings 13:14–21 When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash (or Jehoash) the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” (He was not a good king, look back in v.11: “2 Kings 13:11 He did evil in the sight of יהוה; he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel sin, but he walked in them.” – he was an idolater. But he seems to have been genuinely upset at Elisha’s disease. He respected him, came to see him and wept. Addressing him as “father” showed his respect and submission to his authority. He looked up to him, recognized that he was under him, that he was the true strength and defence of the nation, not the king and his army. And it was the defence of Israel that was the issue that was on Elisha’s mind. A spiritual man, yet he was concerned with the political situation) Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” [P] So, he took a bow and arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, then Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. He said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “יהוה’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. So, the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.” Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet.] An unusual story. And as I have been saying, the stories of Elisha are stories of salvation [P]. Where is the salvation in what we have read? We have this story of Elisha telling the king to shoot an arrow out the window and then to strike the ground with the remaining arrows. Salvation was certainly what Elisha had in mind. Aram was their perpetual enemy to the north. O.K. it was a symbolic action; but the meaning was fairly clear, even to a dull-head like me, for whom symbolism just flies over my head. I mean, they weren’t shooting at a real target. Elisha’s hands were on the king’s hands as he shot – that is not the way to make an accurate shot! No, this was not for the purpose of hitting something. Here was the man of God with his hands on the king’s hands – it was the Divine hand upon the action of the civil ruler. This was God enabling the king and his forces. I mean, it’s not that obscure. The arrow is a military weapon. It is picturing the Divine hand upon the military action that the king takes. And just in case he was thick; Elisha spells it out: (he said in verse 17 [“יהוה’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them.”]). The arrow is “the arrow of victory over Aram” – it is the military conquest of Aram: “you will defeat the Arameans until you have destroyed them!” It is military victory over Syria/Aram – deliverance from their persistent enemy and thorn in their side. It is salvation. That is what is on Elisha’s mind. Elisha spelled it out; Jehoash understood what it was about. The symbolism was clear, and Elisha had explained the meaning of the action. Then Elisha tells Jehoash to strike the ground with the arrows. What did he do? He struck the ground three times: one, two, three. What do you do if you have an enemy that has persistently dogged and oppressed you, attacked you, taken your land, killed your people? You want rid of this oppressor, this enemy! God is telling you to strike it. What do you do? You strike, and you strike, and you strike – you keep on striking until the tormentor is no more. You want rid of this evil that has so devastated you and your people and your nation. But Jehoash only struck three times! Did he not get it? Did he not understand the picture he was acting out? I am convinced he did. Elisha was angry: [2 Kings 13:19 So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.”] It was a symbolic action, with prophetic meaning. Elisha knew that, the king knew that; yet he only struck three times. Did he not understand what he was doing? Of course, he did! The question is: did he want salvation? [P] Do you actually want salvation? Elisha certainly did. Here he was on his death-bed. When you are about to die, you speak of the things that matter, the things that are vital to pass on before you go. And what was on Elisha’s heart? The salvation of Israel from her enemy. But what about the king? Was he just apathetic? [P] That may well have been the problem. You know, he just wasn’t that bothered. Maybe it just wasn’t an issue for him. Maybe he had other concerns on his mind: building projects, the economy, the security of his throne? We don’t know; but, let me tell you, that you will never defeat the enemy if you are apathetic. It takes focus and determination. Yes, the victory is from יהוה, His hand is on the bow; but we still have to fire the bow! We still have to strike the enemy and keep on striking until he is destroyed. יהוה will give the victory, but only if we take action – are persistent, consistent, determined. James said: [James 4:7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.] Peter said something similar: [1 Peter 5:8–9 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, (not apathetic) knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.] Paul had the same message: [Ephesians 4:27 do not give the devil an opportunity. Ephesians 6:11–12 Put on the full armour of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.] We have Divine armour; but still we have a struggle against the enemy. You will not stand your ground against the enemy if you are apathetic. But Aram was a persistent problem to Israel. Jehu’s line were men of military action – I don’t think that the issue actually was apathy. Many have pointed out that, although Aram was a threat, there was developing a greater threat: that of Assyria. Assyria was no mere nation; it was an empire! It had massive military might, it was cruel and ruthless. It has been pointed out that Jehoash actually was being quite canny. He was well-aware of the developing threat even further to the north. And although Aram was a pain, they served as a buffer between Israel and Assyria. Assyria had to get past Aram before they could get to Israel. Perhaps Jehoash wanted to keep Aram there. Yes, he wanted a few victories to get Aram off his back; but Elisha had said: [2 Kings 13:17 He said, “יהוה’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them.”] And he did not want them destroyed! He had worked it out, he needed Aram between him and the bigger enemy. This is far worse than apathy! This is accommodating the enemy [P]. יהוה wanted to give him salvation! And he said, “No thanks. I’d rather live with the enemy I know.” And tragically, we can do the same! I think Jehoash knew exactly what he was doing when he struck the ground three times. He had it all worked out! יהוה wanted his enemy to be destroyed, promised him the Divine enablement to do so; and he did not want it! Did not want salvation! Oh yes, he was quite happy to use God - sort of a divine genie who you call upon for a bit of supernatural help to enable your own scheme to work; for a bit of clout to carry out your own plan, but you control the strategy! You don’t use God! You don’t control God! He is not a power to be tapped into, to use to your own ends! This is the humanistic “god” of our age – who exists for the happiness of man: “God is there to do me good”. God is not there to make your plans succeed! We are here for His plans and purposes, created for His glory! יהוה wanted Aram destroyed, that was His plan and purpose; but clever Jehoash thought that he knew better! How often we think that we know better than God – that is why when we pray, we tell Him what He should be doing!! He who is the sovereign of the universe, the One with all wisdom and knowledge and we think that we know better! Do this, do that, heal this person – we are forever telling God what to do. Who rules?! Our prayers imply that we know better than God! Jehoash thought that he understood the political situation better than יהוה! Aram was a pain; but he could live with it! And we, and I speak for myself, tolerate what know to be wrong and evil. We come to a living arrangement with it! There is a story in the New Testament that gets to me: it is the story of Legion: [Mark 5:1–17 They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. (this guy was tormented, in a terrible state. He was scary. I mean, you did not want to meet up with this guy. How would you like him for a neighbour?!) Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a loud voice, he said, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” (he wasn’t kidding! By the number of pigs possessed by those within him, we know that it was at least 2,000!) And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. The demons implored Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.” Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea. Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the “legion” (Hallelujah! He was delivered! Saved! In his right mind, no longer oppressed and tormented! But get the reaction of the people!); and they became frightened. (More frightened of him being normal, than raving around the graveyard?! They had got accustomed to evil. They found the absence of it frightening! They were terrified of righteousness, of evil being expelled because they were used to living with it!) Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. And they began imploring Him to leave their region.] They didn’t want Jesus! They didn’t want salvation! They would rather live with evil among them. Rather be tormented than have God in their midst. They could not tolerate absolute purity! Have we grown accustomed to evil in our midst? When someone speaks out or takes action against it, are we uncomfortable? Have we come to arrangement whereby we have got used to living with evil?! The religion of New Zealand is humanism – it doesn’t have many principles, but one that it does have is: TOLERATION – that is the virtue! We are to tolerate all faiths (read: heresies), all sexual preferences (read: moral perversion). Toleration is mentioned in the Bible, Jesus is speaking: [Revelation 2:20 ‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.] – heresy, immorality, idolatry! And they tolerated it! The church in Thyatira was tolerating evil. A church, but they had accommodated the enemy. The best way for the enemy to overcome us is to convince us that he is not our enemy; to assimilate. That was the constant problem with Israel – the Canaanites wanted to live among them, you know, be their friends: intermarry, join with them, participate in their religion. When we accommodate the evil, it is not long before we are assimilated with it, it becomes part of us. We come to tolerate, then it becomes the norm and then we love it. Salvation is striking the enemy until it is destroyed, not just giving a few blows so that we have got it “under control”. יהוה’s intention is to destroy satan and his works: [1 John 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.] Do you know my biggest problem with sin? I like it! We have to be ruthless to have no toleration for evil in our midst. Do not accommodate the enemy! Here was Elisha about to die, offering a way of salvation; and Jehoash didn’t want it. Here was Jesus about to die, offering a way of salvation; and His own people did not want it! He said: [Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.] They did not want the salvation that was offered and available. We all know the dire warning: [Hebrews 2:1–3 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, [P] how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?] Let us move on. There is this short and rather curious incident: [2 Kings 13:20–21 Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet.] Just a little reminder of what we have seen before: Jesus said in [Matthew 11:14 And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.] He said that John the Baptist is Elijah. After Elijah came Elisha; and after John came Jesus. So, Elisha represents Jesus – Elisha means: “God saves”; Jesus means: “יהוה saves”. Now what happened to Elisha in this passage? [2 Kings 13:20 Elisha died, and they buried him.] Not particularly startling – most people do die at some time and after that they are usually buried. So why bother recording it? We saw that Elisha knew that he was about to die, and his concern just before he went was deliverance of Israel from their longstanding enemy – salvation from their enemy. [P] He knew he was going to die, and he knew that salvation would come after he did. Now in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul tells us what is the most important thing there is: [P] [1 Corinthians 15:3–4 For I delivered to you as of [P] first importance what I also received, that Christ [P] died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was [P] buried, and that He was [P] raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,] Death, burial, resurrection – the three key elements of the Gospel that Paul preached. This was of first importance, utmost importance! Why? Because it is the way of salvation. How was the enemy of our souls defeated? Through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Of course, Elisha did not rise from the dead – he was not sinless like Jesus was. Jesus was raised to life as vindication of His sinlessness – that is how He conquered death: through perfect, spotless, absolute righteousness! PERFECTION! The only One who did not merit the death penalty. But although Elisha himself did not rise from the dead, there was resurrection through his death: [2 Kings 13:21 As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet.] Resurrection! [P] So in these two verses we have death burial and resurrection: the Gospel! The way of Salvation! That is what every story of Elisha has been about: salvation! When Jesus died, what happened? [Matthew 27:50–53 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. (that is He died. What happened then?) And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.] Just as in this story of Elisha, when Jesus died people came out of the tombs, raised to life and walked around! Through the death of Jesus there is LIFE! Hallelujah! Resurrection is an amazing thing! You don’t encounter it very often. Has anybody here witnessed a resurrection? Even in the Bible it doesn’t occur frequently. I only know of three in the Old Testament. Here, man had been on earth over 3,000 years with no mention of anyone coming alive from the dead! It will be some 700 years before anyone else does! Then suddenly, within the space of a few years there are three of them: Elijah raised the widow of Zarephath’s son; then Elisha raised the Shunamite woman’s son; and now the third one raised when his body touched Elisha’s bones. It was not until Jesus came that we encounter resurrection again. He raised three people from the dead: the widow of Nain’s son (interesting that it was a widow’s son again), then there was Jairus’ daughter, and lastly Lazarus. As I mentioned, there were those raised at Jesus’s death. Jesus commanded His disciples to raise the dead: [Matthew 10:8 “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.] And Peter raised Dorcus; then Paul raised Eutychus who fell out the window while he was preaching. That it is all we have recorded in Scripture. And yet there is this concentration of them around this time. It is significant that this only occurrence of resurrection happened around the time of Elisha’s ministry, and nowhere else. There is resurrection life in Jesus and no one else! In Jesus there is SALVATION! [P] Hallelujah! Through death there came life. Jehoash did not want the salvation that was available; but this anonymous man found life even although He was dead. That is the Gospel of SALVATION! Salvation is available! [P] Praise the LORD! Salvation from death. Death get us all. It is satan’s all powerful weapon. It gets us all. Satan is the accuser and demands the death penalty because he accuses each of us, quite justly, of capital crimes. We all deserve death! When satan accuses you (and that is what his name means: “accuser”) you do not have a leg to stand on. You are guilty! Why do none of us see resurrection? Because everyone of us deserves to die! We all know the verses: [Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, (that is what we earn) but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.] Death is what we deserve, but life is what God gives! Bless His name; and He gives it in Jesus Christ. [Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2:4–5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ]. We are made alive together with Christ. He died, was buried and rose again. It is when we, touch His bones, die with Him that we are raised with Him: [P] [2 Timothy 2:11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we [P] died with Him, we will also [P] live with Him;] Here is a principle that we can count on! But it is a conditional statement: it is the way to life, salvation from death that holds each of us captive, but it is only IF [P] we die. That is what this incident showed: there is salvation, [P] there is life! But was through death, burial, then resurrection. [P] I have shared this revelation before, and I cannot emphasize what a revelation it was to me – that only the dead get resurrected. We need life, and all the while we cling to our life, we will never find it! Jesus said: [Luke 17:33 “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.] You need to die. Die with Christ – it is the only way to be raised to life: [Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, (your life has to come to an end, before you will receive the resurrection life of Christ) but Christ lives in me; (Jesus’ resurrection life!) and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.] Resurrection is through Jesus: [P] [John 11:25–26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, (live when you die? – that means resurrection!) and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”] It is a well-known verse, often read at funerals, even when the person does not believe in Jesus. The resurrection is only for the one who has faith in Jesus, His death and resurrection. There is life in Jesus: [John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.] But to find that life first you must die – that is cease living your life. After death, the corpse must be buried – I talked about that in the story of Naaman: being buried in baptism. Only when we are buried does the resurrection come. You may recall that I testified to how that happened to me; it was years before I finally was baptized – and when I was there was a miraculous transformation, the resurrection life of Jesus Himself transformed me! Glory to His Name! So I have seen resurrection! It happened to me! Look, each of us tries to get on with his life, get ahead – we encounter frustration and dissatisfaction – what we need is new life, the life of Jesus Himself: [2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come!] Praise the LORD! It is the resurrection life of Christ! But it is only when we die and are buried with Him. Only then comes resurrection! This is salvation! Salvation from the ultimate enemy: DEATH! And resurrection is the defeat of this last enemy: [1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.] Jesus has defeated it by His resurrection but there is also a resurrection to come when death is finally abolished: [John 6:39–40 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”] Jesus has triumphed over death! Hallelujah! [Revelation 1:18 I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, (was dead, now alive – that is resurrected!) and I have the keys of death and of Hades.] All is subject to Him, even death itself. There is life in Him but only IF [P] we die, touch His bones enter his grave, are buried with Him [2 Timothy 2:11 if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;]