Elijah and Elisha 19
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Elijah and Elisha 19.
There is a precious verse that you probably all know well: [P] [Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.] It is true, it is God’s Word; and it is a great faith sustainer, especially in the tough times – not that any of you experience those! For many years I taught Sunday School, and we would teach children memory verses. A good thing too! The funny thing is that we think that it is good for the kiddies to learn verses; but we have outgrown such things. No way! So, today we are going to learn a memory verse: (this time from the NASB) [P] [Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.] Then we would get someone to rub out the words and say it again [P]. Memory comes through repetition; so, we would get those who had toast for breakfast [P]. Then those who had cereal for breakfast [P]. Then the super-holy who fasted and had no breakfast, or, were up too late for breakfast [P]. Well, that is not really the message of the passage we are looking at today; [P] but I can’t help feeling that it would have helped – because the woman in the story today faced a crisis! Her world was shaken! You may recall last time we looked at the story of the Shunamite woman who welcomed Elisha, the man of God, into her home. Elisha wanted to do something for her; and in her barrenness, she gave birth to a son. A miracle of God! It was God’s doing! Praise the LORD! Let’s pick up the story in [2 Kings 4:18–37 When the child was grown, [P] the day came that he went out to his father to the reapers. He said to his father, [P] “My head, my head.” And he said to his servant, [P] “Carry him to his mother.” When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, [P] he sat on her lap until noon, and then died. [P] She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door behind him and went out. Then she called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and return.” He said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath.” And she said, “It will be well.” [P] Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, “Drive and go forward; do not slow down the pace for me unless I tell you.” So, she went and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. [P] When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite. “Please run now to meet her and say to her, [P] ‘Is it well with you? (we all do it: “How are you?”) Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’” And she answered, “It is well.” When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. (that is worship) [P] And Gehazi came near to push her away; [P] but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and יהוה has hidden it from me and has not told me.” Then she said, [P] “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?” (in v.16 she said: “do not lie to your maidservant”) Then he said to Gehazi, [P] “Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand and go your way; [P] if you meet any man, do not salute him, and if anyone salutes you, do not answer him; and lay my staff on the lad’s face.” The mother of the lad said, [P] “As יהוה lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” And he arose and followed her. Then Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the lad’s face, but there was no sound or response. So, he returned to meet him and told him, [P] “The lad has not awakened.” When Elisha came into the house, behold the lad was dead and laid on his bed. So, he entered and shut the door behind them both and prayed to יהוה. [P] And he went up and lay on the child and put his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands, and he stretched himself on him; [P] and the flesh of the child became warm. Then he returned and walked in the house once back and forth and went up and stretched himself on him; and the lad sneezed seven times and the lad opened his eyes. [P] He called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So, he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, [P] “Take up your son.” Then she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, (again she worshipped) [P] and she took up her son and went out.] There is the story: God miraculously gave a woman a son. It was from God, was it not? Then the boy dies! Now, I am not in the least minimizing the tragedy that this was. This was undoubtedly a great crisis. But, if God gave the son, as He most patently did; will His work just come to nothing, be for nothing?! Did יהוה start something that He was unable to finish, was He unable to maintain the boy’s life?! Unthinkable! He who started a work will bring it to completion! Yet, as soon as things start to turn belly-up we cry out in despair, give up, blame God, get discouraged. We are all familiar with the story of the Israelites coming out of Egypt and journeying through the wilderness to the Promised Land. And they had their share of crises: they ran out of food, they ran out of water, the Egyptians pursued them, had them trapped by the sea; enemies attacked them, the land was full of giants. Every time there was a crisis they would blame Moses, blame God, say, “Why did יהוה bring us to die in the desert? Let us go back to Egypt where life was good – the leeks, the onions!” Perhaps there were some Welsh amongst them! Remember how good life was in Egypt! They FORGOT! Forgot the slavery, the oppression, the misery; they forgot that יהוה had delivered them with a series of unprecedented miracles, had almighty power, had never let them down. Yes, there had been crises, but He always brought them through. Did He bring them out of Israel with a mighty hand just to let them die in the desert?! Was יהוה incapable of finishing what He started?! This thought was a blot on His Name; and it was the basis of Moses intercession on their behalf when they rebelled and יהוה was going to destroy them: [Numbers 14:15–16 “Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, ‘Because יהוה could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’] It would be a slight on יהוה’s Name and reputation and honour. יהוה would finish what He began. I have told you about my sister and her sewing projects – she was all fired up with enthusiasm but soon lost interest and had all these half-finished dresses in the bottom of the sewing box. God finishes what He starts. Jesus is the Author and Finisher! [Hebrews 12:1–2 Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.] In stark contrast is Abraham. Like this woman, his wife gave birth to a miracle son. Then יהוה told Abraham to sacrifice him! But God said that his offspring would be through Isaac; and Abraham believed that what יהוה said He would do. He would finish the work He set out on. Thus, Abraham believed that if he sacrificed Isaac, then יהוה would raise him from the dead! Such was Abraham’s faith: [Hebrews 11:17–19 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered Isaac, and the one who received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son, with reference to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants will be named,” having reasoned that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which he received him back also as a symbol.] Abraham believed that He who began a good work would be faithful to complete it. This: depending upon God to finish what He started, preserves faith when things look like they are going irretrievably wrong. It keeps our eyes on God, not the crisis of our situation. So, let’s have a look at the response to this crisis that struck. It is a long passage, but let’s just pick out a few points, verse by verse. Here was this happy family, with a miracle son, a special gift from God; undoubtedly, he was extremely precious to his parents. Then tragedy struck – he got ill. His parents were concerned, the dad sent him to his mum, his mum nursed him – but it did no good! He died! [P] Human care was not enough. Human care and compassion are wonderful and good; and I am sure they were very great with these parents. But there are times when it is not enough. You can receive the dreaded news that your spouse has a terminal disease – no matter how much you love them, it cannot change the condition. I am not belittling human care but there are times when it just isn’t enough. What could the Shunamite do? [P] There was nothing more to be done, the boy was dead! It was the end. But was it? You notice that she didn’t lie him on his own bed (v.21) but on the man of God’s bed – Elisha represented God. There was still hope in God! Human efforts were not sufficient, so she ran to God. She left him in God’s hands while she was intent on going to the man of God. She didn’t give up, didn’t despair. Even although the boy was dead she still had hope in God and sought Him in her time of crisis. She was going to “run to the man of God” (v.22). What do we do when it all turns to custard? Run to God and leave things in His hands. Seek Him! Don’t give into despair. Discouragement is the greatest paralyzer of the saints. In Psalm 42 & 43 the repeated refrain comes through: [Psalm 42:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation.] It says in: [1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.] So, the woman told her husband that she wanted to go to see the man of God. She didn’t even tell him that his son was dead. Like most males, he wanted to know the reason – if you know why, the problem can be solved. I remember once watching Brian May fixing his jet boat; he said, “This is the second love of my life, but when there’s something wrong with this one, I can fix it.” Why did she want to go? It wasn’t any special occasion; he probably thought that she should be looking after their sick son. She said, “It will be well”. That is what my Bible says. Actually, she just said one word: “שָׁלוֹם”. There is no verb, just “שָׁלוֹם”. We all know what “שָׁלוֹם” means, so I’ll leave you to translate it. But the thing is “שָׁלוֹם” can mean a variety of things. I remember doing audio-lingual lessons with Dad, there was this Sabra-Israeli who told her mum that she was going out to the shops; she said “שָׁלוֹם” – “Cheerio”. It could simply mean cheerio, or “peace” – don’t worry, or “peace” be quiet; but “שָׁלוֹם” also means “complete”, “whole” hence the sense “well” used in my translation – “It is well”, “It will be well” – was it an expression of faith? Possibly, I don’t know, that is why I leave it up to you to translate. But one thing is clear: that is what she doesn’t say: that their son has died. [P] Her grief was so great that she couldn’t even express it. She couldn’t share her grief, even with the one closest to her. And we can have that – deep sorrow that you cannot express or share. It is the same down in (v.26): “is everything fine?” Yes, “fine”. Gehazi inquired in every area – everything was OK. “שָׁלוֹם” four times in this verse. Sometimes grief is so big, you just can’t speak of it To Gehazi, her answer was “שָׁלוֹם”, she could not speak of her grief to him. Everything is fine and dandy. You come to church: “How are you?” … “Fine.” It is denial, she is not speaking the trouble that is overwhelming her. But Elisha could tell. Unspeakable grief; but Jesus knows. Another thing that comes through is the hurry [P]. In (v.24) the woman says, “Drive and go forward; do not slow down the pace”; in (v.26) Elisha tells his servant, “Please run now to meet her”; and in (v.29) “gird up your loins” don’t greet anyone along the way– there is no sense of panic, but there is an urgency. Finally, the woman meets up with Elisha, we saw that she told Gehazi that everything is OK (v.26) but Elisha knew something was up. Jesus knows. I mean, why did she make this journey? There had to be a reason that she had come in person to him. Elisha could discern that: “her soul is troubled within her; but יהוה has hidden it from me and has not told me” (v.27). [P] I mean Elisha was “the man of God”, he heard from יהוה. Here is crisis indeed; for revelation had failed – God spoke to Elisha, he heard from יהוה – but this time he didn’t! The man of God was not hearing from God! That is when your trouble is greatest, when there is no communication from God. When you are going-though-it, the worst thing is not hearing from God. Elisha knew she was troubled, he discerned her distress despite her saying everything was fine and dandy; but he didn’t know what was wrong. She had to tell him; speak her problem. She had to face her loss. [P] We see that in (v.28); she said “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”– blaming the man of God. Blaming God. In our grief we can. It is said that the first stage in grief is denial, and we saw that. The second is anger, and there is a bit of that here. But she indicates the cause of her grief – it was her son. Did she ask for a son? If she hadn’t had one, she wouldn’t have lost him. Implicit in what she says is that her son is no more. That the loss of her son is the cause of her grief. Perhaps that is why there was no revelation, to cause her to confess her trouble. [P] And Elisha picks this up, grasps the urgency of the situation and sends Gehazi off with his staff. Tells him to hurry and lay the staff on the boy. A “staff” was the symbol of your office, it was your authority. It was with his “staff” that Moses performed the miracles in Egypt. But look down in (v.31) you see that it didn’t work. Not only did revelation fail, but so did Elisha’s authority as prophet. Authority was not enough. What do you do in the crisis? Unspeakable, unbearable grief, revelation fails – God is not speaking. Authority fails – God is not acting, responding. What do you do? [P] Cling to God! (v.30) revelation failed, authority failed – everything was bleak; but she was not going to leave Elisha. She said, “As יהוה lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” There are shades of that wonderful verse in: [Ruth 1:16 “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.] She clung to Elisha, the man of God. In that desperate time, cling to Jesus. When you can’t make sense of anything, there seems no way out of distress; just still cling to Jesus. And it goes on to say: “And he arose and followed her.” Jesus goes with us! Hallelujah! Not that the crisis was over; but God was with her (in the person of His servant). There is a wonderful verse in: [Hebrews 13:5–6 He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”] God is with you – that is all you need! They came to the house, there was the boy, still lying dead on the bed; nothing had changed. So, Elisha goes in to the room and closes the door (v.33). We saw that in with the woman and the pot of oil; God does His deep work in secret. There in the secret place of prayer. And like a good man of God, Elisha prayed to יהוה. And it didn’t work! [P] Prayer was not enough! Here was “the man of God”, the woman had pinned her hopes on him. He heard from God, he spoke to God and God responded. Now he speaks to God; and there is no response! Revelation failed, authority failed, now prayer failed. The Bible uses the picturesque phrase “the heavens seem as brass” – there is no response! How terrible when God doesn’t hear – or at least appears not to; when there is no tangible response. Have you ever been in the place where you cry out in desperation to God; and yet nothing happens. I mean, Elisha prayed and יהוה always acted – it had always worked in the past. What was going on here? Here was a situation when prayer failed. Jesus in the garden prayed: [Luke 22:42–44 “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.] Earnest prayer, yet Jesus went to the cross, and there cried out: [Matthew 27:46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”] It seemed like there was no response but there was: we read in [Hebrews 5:7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.] The prayer was heard, but nothing happened. It very akin to the situation Jesus faced on the cross. What Elisha was facing here was death! [P] This is the ultimate we are dealing with! There is a place when facile prayers and pious platitudes do not cut it. We as Christians are well-meaning but we can sometimes be a bit trite and trivial – someone is going through deep stuff and we say “God bless you”, “I’ll pray for you”, “Just trust God” – sometimes it ain’t enough! I remember Derek Prince saying that as a pastor he counselled several members of his congregation when they were grieving; then ….. he lost his own wife. Then it was no longer pious platitudes and trite words of comfort. He had been face to face with loss himself. The Bible calls “death” the last enemy. [1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.] Elisha was facing the last enemy the great enemy! A simple prayer is not enough, a rod of authority does not work. Something more was required. Look! The ultimate and last enemy is death. It is the greatest enemy! It gets us all! None of us can get around it. [1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die!] We are all in Adam. We are all descended from that one man. He was a sinner, and that sin is inherent in all his offspring. [Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one;] And the consequence of sin is death: [Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death.] Everyone dies, because everyone has sinned. We cannot get around it. You can educate yourself, you can earn lots of money, take out life insurance, you can climb to the top of the ladder, you can gain power, you can conquer the world, like Alexander the Great did. But you will die! Death is the most powerful enemy there is because it gets us all, without exception. That is what Elisha was facing here! The boy was DEAD! It was a corpse lying on his bed! His staff, that had always worked in the past, did not work. Prayer, which had never failed him before, made no difference. Something more was required. What did Elisha do? Look at [2 Kings 4:34 And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands, and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child became warm.] This was a corpse! Mouth on its mouth! Eyes on its eyes! Hand on its hands! Stretched himself out on it! Complete identification with the corpse. He was one with it! Face to face with death (v.34-35) It is getting your hands dirty, getting involved. Not pious prayers and platitudes from a distance. But getting in there: eye to eye, hand to hand, mouth to mouth – intimately involved and connected. This is Jesus! Complete identification with man. What happens to all men? They die. He identified completely with what we all go through. He died our death. Not in symbol, stretching Himself out on a body, but in reality! Actually tasting death for us: [Hebrews 2:9–10 We do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the Author of their salvation through sufferings.] Jesus had to taste death in order to release us from it. He identified completely with us down to getting Himself dirty: [2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.] Complete identification! Right to laying aside His glory and becoming a human being, right to becoming sin, suffering the consequences of sin, dying a cursed death on a cross. Mouth to mouth, eye to eye, hand to hand – total identification. Only by dying could Jesus conquer it. Jesus identified completely with man, right to the death that we all die: [Romans 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all;] A death on behalf of us all. We die as the payment, the wage, for the sin that we have committed, but Jesus never sinned, had no sin; He was righteous, just: [1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, (He is righteous, we are unrighteous) so that He might bring us to God.] Because He had no sin, death had no claim on Him, thus God vindicated Him and raised Him from the dead there was [P] Life from death! (v.36) Resurrection. That is what happened here! Elisha by identifying with the dead, brought life. The corpse came alive! Jesus through dying on our behalf and being raised, brought life to those relying upon His death and resurrection. [Romans 6:5–11 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. (He conquered it!) For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.] Only through being stretched out on the corpse, complete identification with us in our humanity, in our death was Jesus able to conquer death. He rose and brought life to all those who believe in Him. We were dead, Jesus brought life. [Ephesians 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ]. I quoted: [Romans 6:23 For the compensation due sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.] Jesus was raised from death – He conquered it! Hallelujah! [1 Corinthians 15:54–57 “Death is swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!] The boy was given back to his mother and what was her response? [P] (v.37): “she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground.” The response to receiving life is worship. The boy was dead, now he was alive! This is GOD! Only God bring life from the dead! Glory to His Name! We were dead in our dead in our trespasses and sins now we are alive in Christ! The only appropriate response is worship! That was Mary’s response to the resurrection: all hope had gone, “Where have you laid Him?” Then there He was alive! He met the women: [Matthew 28:9 And behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped Him.] Twelve points! Far too much for a sermon. So, let’s simplify it a bit: [P] human care was not enough, revelation failed, authority failed, prayer was not enough, there was unspeakable grief and no way out! [P] It was a crisis situation! So, in the morass of the situation, [P] what do you do in the time of crisis? [P] It seemed that all was lost, all hope gone; but remember! … He who began a good work will bring it to completion! Hallelujah! [P] Run to God! Cling to Jesus, even when there is nothing else. He will bring life from the dead! Praise His Name! Respond in worship; and thus, He will be glorified through the situation. Cling to Jesus through the crisis, trust Him to complete what He has started; because He who believes will not be put to shame. [P] [Romans 10:11 For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”] He who began a good work will be faithful to bring it to completion.
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.