2 Kings 4 38 44
Christ and Our Deficiencies* 2 Kings 4:8-37 One of the most memorable surprises for me is the time that I came home for Thanksgiving while I was in college. My sister and brother-in-law got me a ticket to fly into Grand Rapids. Then they drove me to their home in Zeeland, and I snuck in the house through the downstairs. I came up the stairs, and as I was walking up the stairs my dad stopped talking. His eyes were wide in shock, and then he tried to get my mom’s attention. She had her back facing me because she was at the sink prepping something for the meal. “Karla! KARLA!” My mom turned around, saw me and then began to hyperventilate. I think my sister was even saying, “Breathe, mom. Breathe!” We all think back about that time and laugh because it was such a good surprise. Have you ever been surprised? We all have, and many of us like to have those good surprises. But, what about the more sudden surprises that are unwelcomed? Like the time that I woke up one morning, looked outside and discovered that our trampoline disappeared. Then I looked a little more to find it at the tree line next to us. It was still workable, but this year, I thought I’d protect it better. I took off material that you jump on, and almost immediately after I did that the trampoline was still blown and it was upside down in our yard. These are more frustrating surprises. But then, of course, we have the more discouraging surprises. Like the time that my grandpa, when he was around 40, was at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago with his family, and his name was hailed over the speaker system. You see, his mother was hit by a car that day. And, friends of the family knew where my grandpa was at; so, they called the zoo and the people there told my grandpa that his godly mom was dead. Whether the surprises are joyous or whether they are difficult, there is something engraved into the nature of a surprise. Surprises are always memorable. In today’s text, we are going to find some great surprises. And, I find that these surprises include being scared and also being overjoyed. God actually merges pain and joy to create the perfect surprise concoction, which leads to greater joy in Him. In all of this, this message clearly reveals human deficiency and God’s infinite strength. Again, I want to reiterate the importance of seeing Jesus in order to understand the text. It’s a fact that we can’t understand God’s greatness apart from seeing Christ more fully. So, again, I want to reiterate the point that I’ve mentioned almost every week in this series: “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.”1 – Luke 24:44-45 As we work through this message, we will begin to see the glory of God’s infinite strength in the face of Jesus. And, if we see Him, it is by the Spirit’s help. So, let’s pray for God’s grace at this point. Before we move any further into this text, there are also some other points that should be noted; points that connect this story with the preceding stories that we’ve already studied. Starting off chapter four, we learned about an unnamed widow, and we were encouraged that God cares for the unknown and very needy people. Last week, we learned about an unnamed wealthy woman, and that taught us that not only does God care for 1
The New King James Version. 1982 (Lk 24:44–45). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 1|Page
the poor, but He cares for the rich as well. In this story, we are going to see that God also cares for those people who are sacrificing all by being on the front lines in serving Him. This connects with Elijah’s ministry, too. Remember when Elijah disappears from Israel for a while and there are prophets of the LORD left in the nation. A man by the name of Obadiah hides the prophets in two different caves and provides for them. Part of the lesson is that God not only cared for a widow in some other country, but God saw to it that He cared for the prophets who followed after Him. God is doing the same in Elisha’s life as well, again proving that God cares for the widows, the wealthy and the prophets. He will never forsake His own – no matter how difficult the times. The story starts by saying that Elisha goes again to Gilgal. We are told that there is a famine in the land. Now, not all famines are a sign of God’s judgment, but we are safe to assume that many are intended to be understood as judgment by God. As part of God’s covenant curses to Israel, He says: And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins. 2 God’s promise to national Israel was that if they lived in sin, they would experience famine in the land. This is what I think is going on in Elijah’s and Elisha’s days as well. Just like the drought was signifying the absence of God’s mercy; so the famine signifies the same. Yet, notice something here in the story. You find that the famine is probably a result of the covenant curse, and you find that God’s prophets are suffering the effects of the curse, too. How can this be? Why does God work this way? I thought that God was supposed to guarantee that we are free from all pain or suffering, right? No. Absolutely not! Again, we find in the Scriptures that God does not take His children out of the pain. Instead, He puts them right in the midst of it, and promises to give us grace through the valley of the shadow of death. Before you think that this proves that God has at least some type of sadistic tendency, I would say that this is God sovereignly ordaining the concoction of surprise. But, in order for people to grow in their joy in God and truly be in awe (or surprised) in Him, they have to see their weakness and their dire need for Him. Let’s now read the entire text together. . . . In many of the points that I will make this morning, I will focus on both our inadequacy and God’s strength. As we start off this morning, we first see that God redeems the food situation. 1. God redeems the food situation. This miracle may come off as a little too “low” for Elisha to be concerned about. And, why are we hearing about food again? We have oil, provisions of food for people who are poor. Provisions of food for people who are in caves. Then, we have here provisions of food for prophets who are hungry. Food. Food. And, more food! Is God that concerned about providing food? Yes! Think to Jesus’ model pray for the disciples. In that prayer, before we even get to asking for forgiveness, the model prayer calls us to ask for daily provisions of food. Why is God so concerned about food? I think even in asking that question, we reveal what type of society we live in. Many of us gloss over the prayer to pray for food because we take it for granted that we have a plethora of grocery stores to choose from. And, if we really don’t have any money, that’s what Visa is for, right? Think for a moment the type of culture that Elisha lives in. It’s an agrarian culture in which one commentator writes, “It is difficult for modern Western readers to understand what life in an agrarian society at basically subsistence levels meant for the average individual in ancient Israel. Starvation and hard times were never far away. Disruption of the annual rainy season, molds and funguses from too much or too little rain, locust outbreaks, or raiders who confiscated the harvest for their own use or burned the fields in order to force the 2
The New King James Version. 1982 (Le 26:20–21). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 2|Page
population to surrender could rapidly reduce an already hard life to a borderline existence. . . . In modern Western countries, food is a far smaller part of a household budget than it has ever been; the time invested in gathering it is ordinarily limited to how long one spends in a supermarket or convenience store and perhaps a small family garden. Life was very different in ancient Israel. . . . [Providing] daily bread may represent the largest expenditure one makes and may also consume almost every waking moment.” – Dillard 3 So, we see that God is concerned about our daily life and is concerned about providing for our needs, and will provide for us so that we can rest in our toil. In addition to this, God desires that His provision is seen as glorious and good. Therefore, in all of this, we can know that God’s desire is that we live! Yet, how does that fit with the circumstances here? The prophets are living in a time of famine. This famine is affecting everyone, but God proves that He desires to care for the prophets when we hear Elisha say “Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”4 They don’t even have food on the table, but God is revealing His desire to provide and also His promise to provide. This reminds me of the story of a man by the name of George Muller. He was a man of faith-filled prayer, and one time they had no dinner at the table. They called their children down to eat the food and the children (who were quite perceptive) noticed that no food was on the table. Muller proceeded to sit down at the table, and he thanked God for the food that He had provided. After he had said amen, they heard a knock at the door and it was a man who was hauling bread and milk. His cart broke down and it was going to spoil; so, Muller’s family received the blessing! Please know that I’m not saying that this story promises that we will have food at every provision. I’m also not saying that this story promises that Christians will never starve. But, this story does reveal that God’s desire is to provide (even when we are living in times of famine), and when God promises to give food (like he has done here), He will. The fact that the table is empty won’t keep God from putting food there. After Elisha calls for people to start preparing food, you read that a certain man goes out to get ingredients for their stew. As he is out there getting the food, you read that he found some wild gourds. The fact that there were so many of them lying around should have been a clue that this probably isn’t a good idea to pick them. But, he picked them nonetheless. He brings them back to the house and cuts them into the stew. The New King James says that he sliced them into the pot of stew. And, then goes on to say “though they did not know what they were” (v. 39). This phrase could be translated a few ways. If you have a New King James or a King James, you’ll see some words italicized. The italicized words are not found in the original Hebrew language. Translators have added those words to help us understand the flow. Verse 39 more literally ends by saying, “though they did not know.” The translators have put in, “what they were.” But, is that what this verse is suggesting? Obviously, it could be that. But, I think it’s actually suggesting that the other prophets did not know that he had put them in there. If they had known, they would have stopped him. This seems consistent with the fact that there were so many in the wild. Now, the next question is, “What’s the problem here?” There are at least two interpretations that we could take here. The first takes us to the meaning of the word used here. The word for “gourd” here is usually referring to a small yellow melon that acted as a strong laxative (see Davis, pp. 71-72). Eating too much of it could be fatal. That said, we can’t be sure that this is a fatal melon – although it is highly likely in my mind. But, let’s look at the second interpretation: this is merely talking about very distasteful food. Maybe when the prophets say that “death is in the food,” they are exaggerating their disdain for the food. It could mean that it was absolutely disgusting and there was no way they were going to take another bite. Which is it? Given the wording in the text, I lean towards believing that both interpretations probably need to be merged. This is extremely disgusting and there’s a laxative in the stew. Do we really want to eat laxatives that could be fatal? Sure, we could eat some of it and be ok, but in addition to this, it is really disgusting. 3
Dillard, Raymond B (1999). Faith in the Face of Apostacy: The Gospel According to Elijah & Elisha. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, p. 106. 4
The New King James Version. 1982 (2 Ki 4:38). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 3|Page
Either way, Elisha redeems the food. Again, he gives a visible sign to reveal that God has done something to it. He delivers it from the poison and the disgusting flavor of it. What a surprise. And, what a welcomed surprise – and because of the horrors of the soup, they were able to clearly see God’s hand working miraculously on their behalf. But, do we really need to rejoice that God healed the stew? Couldn’t he have just healed the prophets and cleansed their palates? What does it speak about God that the stew was healed? Have you ever had a situation before where you have eaten something that was utterly disgusting to you? I remember a time when I was with Tracy’s family for their Christmas Eve gathering with other family members. There was this nice table with punch and snacks at it. And, I saw bacon. What a superb choice to have at the table. I love bacon. I also saw that bacon wrapped around meat. Even better! So, I grabbed that toothpick and stuck that bacon-wrapped meat in my mouth. Immediately my jaws started salivating as though I was going to throw up. That bacon could not mask the horrors of liver. I had shocked my system, and now I was stuck with something in my mouth that I had to get out. Somehow I managed to throw it away, and ever since, I’m much more careful about what is wrapped in bacon because I now know that bacon doesn’t make everything better. We laugh at that story, but let’s think about that for a moment and let’s think about this miracle. What is the point of miracles? According to the Scriptures, a miracle is meant to display a reversal of the curse and they are always intended to point us forward to a day when God’s Kingdom arrives and reveals complete perfection. In Isaiah 65:22, we read of that future day, “They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” – Isaiah 65:21-22 56 Think about these verses. In this future day, we will eat the fruit of our work joyfully. There’s no pain in work, and there is pleasure in reaping the benefits. Let’s now go back to this story. What if this story is only talking about God healing a soup that was unbearably disgusting? Should we minimize the miracle? Absolutely not. I actually think that it should greatly encourage us! God not only will raise people from the dead. But, He will raise them from the dead and also give them lives of joy. The Kingdom of God is a wondrous Kingdom of which to be a part and where there is no pain. There is no disgust. And, in all seriousness, I will not be forced to even eat bacon-wrapped liver. Instead, in this Kingdom, there will be glorious food for all God’s children to enjoy! Some may say to this, “Well, now you’re just thinking about yourself. Who cares what kind of food we’ll have in Heaven. We have God. Be content.” I would agree with you if we were talking about this world. People who preach that in this life we won’t have trouble, and instead preach a “kind of” Jesus who is like a magic pill who takes away our pain and gives us our every whim are people who don’t know Jesus. But, in rejecting a Jesus who fulfills our every whim, we can fail in our understanding of God when we reject a God who promises paradise to His children in the New Heaven and New Earth. We can’t miss that point because God desires that we know that everything about His presence is perfect. In His presence there is fullness of joy. We also know that even food is meant to lead us to glory in God. And, in the New Heaven and New Earth there is going to be perfect food (it won’t be disgusting and there will be no poison); therefore, with perfect hearts we will then perfectly rejoice in God. That’s what I think this miracle speaks (at least in part). There will be a day when God’s elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands! But, that brings me to a second point. There will be a day when God’s elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. I’m just going to take a few moments to comment on this, but let me just say this: that poor prophet who brought in the gourds! Yet, even though he made a mistake, we see in the healing of the stew that not only does God redeem the stew. God redeems the work of the prophet.
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The New King James Version. 1982 (Is 65:25). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. The New King James Version. 1982 (Is 65:21–22, 25b). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 4|Page 6
2. God redeems the work. If my understanding of the last few words of 39 is correct, then you can imagine how this guy must have felt. He was the only one who didn’t realize that these gourds were laxatives. If this prophet were anything like me, he’s stunned and then sitting in the corner thinking, “Duh! No wonder there were so many gourds on the ground. . . . If I had used my brain, I would have realized, ‘There’s a famine in the land. How am I finding food so quickly?’ But, then again, God’s prophet told me to get food; so, should I be surprised to find a lot of food? I really didn’t mean to do this. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. Oh, I’m such an idiot! Use your brain next time.” Aren’t we like this prophet? We give advice to someone that was well-intentioned, but not well thought out and it leads to greater harm. We become zealous about a truth in the Scripture, and instead of lovingly helping others to see it, we plow them over with it. We discipline our children in unrighteous anger instead of in submission to God. Oh how often have we felt good about something, only to repent of it later on? As one commentator writes, “Too often we are the stars in episodes of ‘Christ and our mistakes’. But what relief when we see – as in this text – that the Lord does not allow our errors to derail his kingdom or destroy his people. How many times Christ cushions our folly, redeems our errors, neutralizes our stupidity. What a consolation to have such a Lord” – Davis (pp. 77-78) Listen, our God is sovereign and good! Do you see that in this story? Let me probe deeper. Do you think that God was sovereign over the prophet picking the poisonous gourds? It seems as though the gourds carried a large portion of the stew – given that this prophet had so many that his lap was full of wild gourds. He probably didn’t have anything else in that large of an amount. My question is, “Would there have been stew without the gourds?” I lean towards thinking not. So, here comes the conundrum of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. While it was foolish from an earthly perspective for the man to get the gourds, God was sovereign over the events and wanted the prophets to be fed heartily, ordains the gourds and always had a plan to protect the prophets so they could eat well. In this story, we see glimpses of Romans 8:28, don’t we? “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”7 This story reaches right to us today. We are weak and frail and God is sovereign and good. All things work together for good? How does God do that? I don’t know completely. But, do you know what Paul says two verses earlier? Verse 26 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.” Our weaknesses are redeemed by God – similarly to this prophet’s weaknesses that were redeemed. Therefore, our work on earth is utilized for God’s glory, even when we make huge mistakes and even when we sin. But, why would God be so kind? The apostle Paul gives us the reason, starting in 8:29: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”8 Did you get that? God made a promise to glorify Jesus’ name. And, as a part of glorifying Christ’s name, all those who have been declared righteous (aka – justified) will be conformed to His image. So, Ventura, get this, God is not ever going to give up His work in You and He is committed to glorifying Christ’s name. And, if you are in Christ, God’s going to see to it that Christ’s saving work in you is not wasted. Even your weakness is going to be a display of His strength! And, some day you will be glorified. In that day, you will see and enjoy all things perfectly! 3. God’s redemption rests in an all-sufficient Savior (vv. 42-44).
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The New King James Version. 1982 (Ro 8:28). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. The New King James Version. 1982 (Ro 8:29–30). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 5|Page 8
How can this be the case? How do we actually have such a deep and abiding hope to enjoy all things someday in utter perfection? I think we get more answers in this next story, and we can only fully understand the depth of this story as we look to Jesus and His teaching. In these next few verses, we see that the redemption and provision of the food and the work all rest in an all-sufficient Savior. This is something we’ve already talked about from Romans 8, but it is something that will be brought out in further detail in the next few verses. Let’s read verses 42-44 again. Before we go any further, we see a little bit of a repeat of the previous section, but I didn’t comment on these points as much before.
a. God has a promised a remnant which follows after Him. In both the previous story and in this story, we find that Elisha is not the only person who loves the LORD. Of course, we have his servant, Gehazi. But, in the previous verses we see that Elisha is having a meal with prophets. This is in the plural. Sure, there may not be as many prophets of the LORD as there are false prophets, but there are still prophets nonetheless! And, not only that, but I just find it interesting that a man from Baal-shalishah is bringing a firstfruit offering to Elisha here in these verses. Look at the name! There in God’s land where Baal is still worshipped, God is chipping away at the idolatry of the land. He has not rejected Israel. Here we have a man bringing a firstfruit offering to Elisha. But, even that is interesting because a firstfruit offering should be given to the priests, not a prophet. Yet, the only seemingly helpful explanation for this is that the priests had given themselves over to Baal. So, this man wants to obey the Lord and the only place he can turn to is to the man whom he knows is blessed by the Lord. So, he takes the offering to Elisha, thus refusing the hypocrisy of the priests and truly honoring the Lord. What’s something we learn from this man? Do you remember that God had promised Elijah in 1 Kings 19:18 the following: “. . . I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” 9 The prophets with Elisha and this man from Baal-shalishah are a sign that God keeps His promises. And these people are a lesson to us as well. The apostle Paul quotes the story of Elijah saying that he’s the only one, and then Paul says in Romans 11:5, “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.”10 One of the points of the story in seeing that there are believers in Elijah and Elisha’s day is to remind our own hearts that the God of grace still exists today! God is still working today. We may be tempted to despair when we turn on the news and see that neither democrats and republicans can come to feasible and workable plans. We may be angered by the murders that are taking place around us continually in this world. We may become discouraged that there are injustices to such a great degree happening around us. But, if we focus on these things, we’re going to lose heart. Listen, Ventura, there’s something you must always remember. God is working in this world! God is sovereign. If God cares for a pot of soup, God cares for people! God is redeeming people and God is keeping His promise. There are a lot of people who want to say that Christianity is dying out, and atheism or agnosticism is winning. But I see all around me evidences of God’s saving and sanctifying grace. Like Obadiah who was saving prophets right under Ahab’s nose, without his awareness; so God is still today doing similar things. He is saving people right under the noses of the haughty people of this world who think the way of being anti-Christ is the answer. Ventura, never lose hope in the God who has established His throne in the Heavens and does whatever He pleases. He is bringing this to fruition a perfect plan and we should anticipate a reviving and growth around us as well. Let’s pray to that end! b. God continues to provide for His children’s livelihood.
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The New King James Version. 1982 (1 Ki 19:18). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Ro 11:5). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. 6|Page 10
But the story doesn’t end here. God not only saves, but He again desires to provide. He desires to give life and He desires that the people depend on Him for their livelihood. This is where the connection with Christ is blissfully obvious. Elisha receives the firstfruit offering of some loves and ears of grain. Then Elisha tells his servant to feed the men with this. You would think that his servant would be aware of God’s miracle-working power through Elisha, but like probably any of us in this room would do, the servant says, “How can I set this before a hundred men” (v. 43)? I think that question makes sense. The servant probably thinks, “I have twenty barley loves. There are a hundred people in the room. Do you want me to break the bread into five pieces for each person?” While that’s still something to be grateful in the midst of famine, I doubt that any prophet would have said, “Whoa, a fifth of a barley loaf! I can’t take any more.” But, Elisha responds to the servant, saying, “Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’ ”11 Here’s the confidence that the servant has. The LORD said that they are to eat and they will have so much that there will be leftovers. Does the servant then obey? Yes, he does. God has spoken and what He says always comes to pass! It doesn’t matter if the servant thinks he will run out. God will give beyond what is necessary: “So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.”12 Let me just make one more point on God’s provision of bread. It says here that they ate according to the word of the Lord. They ate because God decreed it. This logic is taught way back with Moses. Through Moses, God spoke to Israel saying that He would provide manna for them. In that daily miracle, God teaches them the point of His provision of bread. In Deuteronomy 8:3, we read, “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”13 God gave bread not merely to have the people to depend on bread, but to have them depend on God’s decree. The reality was that the manna appeared because God decreed it. I hope you see the implications for us today. If we have food at our tables, we ought to be thinking what one commentator wrote, “Well, I see that Yahweh has decided that we should live another day.” And, whether we have stocked refrigerators or we’re eating a barley loaf dinner, we should see that as God’s decree to give us sustenance for the day to enable us to live. That is grace! We don’t live by bread. We live by the God who decreed the bread to be enjoyed. But, if we stop here, we miss the ultimate point of seeing Jesus. As I’ve already stated, God’s redemption points us to an all-sufficient Savior. But, how do these stories specifically point us to the Savior? Well, think about bread and God’s provision through a prophet. Of course, one of the first prophets whom God used to provide bread for people was Moses. It was through Moses that God spoke to Israel that He would provide manna on a daily basis to reveal to Israel that He is their God who rescued them. In Deuteronomy, we read Moses prophecying about a greater prophet to come, saying, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen. . . .”14 After Moses came many prophets – two of whom were Elijah and then Elisha. Were they the ones that Moses was looking forward to? Elijah did do some spectacular miracles and fed a widow. But, of course, he was taken up. What about Elisha? Elisha has surely done a greater miracle than Elijah. He feeds 100 people with this food. But, as we will see later, Elisha dies and the Israelites are left without his presence.
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The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (2 Ki 4:43). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (2 Ki 4:44). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. 13 The New King James Version. 1982 (Dt 8:3). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 14 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Dt 18:15). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. 7|Page 12
Of course, we know the prophet Moses is talking about. Remember in John 1:21, where John the Baptist is asked, “Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 15 John the Baptist is not the historical Elijah coming back to earth. He’s also not “the Prophet.” Isn’t that interesting the second question? After Elijah came Elisha. But they say, “the Prophet.” Again, as John the Baptist and Elijah had many similarities so does Elisha and Jesus carry many similarities. But John the Baptist is not “the” Prophet. And Elisha was not the prophet. Who is “the Prophet” that Moses prophecies? It is Jesus! And, of Jesus we read more extravagant episodes with barley loaves, don’t we? We are told that Jesus feeds 5,000 with only five loaves and two fish. Then we are later told that he feeds 4,000 with seven loaves and a few fish. In the first story, we also have Andrew speaking to Jesus, saying in John 6:9, ““There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” 16 Isn’t that similar to Elisha’s servant’s response? Yet, that doesn’t stop Jesus from blessing and breaking the bread and granting miraculous provision. Then, after all have food, we are also told in both stories that there were leftovers. Don’t even begin to tell me that there aren’t obvious connections with the story of Elisha. And, I think it’s legitimate to imagine that other people who knew their Old Testament began to see the similarities between the prophets of old with Jesus in this glorious provision. He’s giving bread in extreme abundance. He’s giving leftovers in unprecedented amounts. Someone greater than Elisha is here! He is “the Prophet.” And, the Scriptures go on to teach that Jesus tells us that He is the living Word, whom we live by. We also learn that Jesus is the Bread of Life. We hear Jesus calling us to follow Him and He is the living water that never runs dry. Our thirst is quenched in Him. Our hungering is taken care of because of Him. We find that in a spiritual sense, those who trust in Him have grace upon grace and our life is eternal because He can never be exhausted. Jesus is the bread that satisfies. And, it is because of Him that we can come with our weaknesses and sins and present ourselves at His feet for forgiveness and hope. Jesus lived the life that we ought to have lived so that we wouldn’t die. Jesus took our death so that we could have life. Jesus rose again so that we could also rise up and experience an overflow of blessing! So, do you see your human deficiency and God’s glorious strength? I pray so. And I pray that you understand that because God has decreed that all who come to Christ will be rescued from their sinfulness and redeemed, that you would look to Christ and find immeasurable hope in Him. And, if you are a Christian, I hope that you continue to turn to put your rest in Him. This truly is a continually acting out in faith. Don’t look to sin to satisfy. Look to Jesus to satisfy you of your hunger. He is our satisfaction and hope. God has promised. Christ satisfying all God’s children is according to the word of the LORD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. 2.
ESV Study Bible (2008). Wheaton, IL: Crossway. Davis, Dale Ralph (2005). 2 Kings: The Power and the Fury. Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, Ltd.
3.
Dillard, Raymond B (1999). Faith in the Face of Apostasy: The Gospel According to Elijah & Elisha. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing. House, Paul R (1995). The New American Commentary: 1 & 2 Kings. Broadman & Holman Publishers
4.
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The New King James Version. 1982 (Jn 1:21). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. The New King James Version. 1982 (Jn 6:9). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 8|Page 16
The New King James Version. 1982 (Lk 24:44–45). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 1|Page
the poor, but He cares for the rich as well. In this story, we are going to see that God also cares for those people who are sacrificing all by being on the front lines in serving Him. This connects with Elijah’s ministry, too. Remember when Elijah disappears from Israel for a while and there are prophets of the LORD left in the nation. A man by the name of Obadiah hides the prophets in two different caves and provides for them. Part of the lesson is that God not only cared for a widow in some other country, but God saw to it that He cared for the prophets who followed after Him. God is doing the same in Elisha’s life as well, again proving that God cares for the widows, the wealthy and the prophets. He will never forsake His own – no matter how difficult the times. The story starts by saying that Elisha goes again to Gilgal. We are told that there is a famine in the land. Now, not all famines are a sign of God’s judgment, but we are safe to assume that many are intended to be understood as judgment by God. As part of God’s covenant curses to Israel, He says: And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins. 2 God’s promise to national Israel was that if they lived in sin, they would experience famine in the land. This is what I think is going on in Elijah’s and Elisha’s days as well. Just like the drought was signifying the absence of God’s mercy; so the famine signifies the same. Yet, notice something here in the story. You find that the famine is probably a result of the covenant curse, and you find that God’s prophets are suffering the effects of the curse, too. How can this be? Why does God work this way? I thought that God was supposed to guarantee that we are free from all pain or suffering, right? No. Absolutely not! Again, we find in the Scriptures that God does not take His children out of the pain. Instead, He puts them right in the midst of it, and promises to give us grace through the valley of the shadow of death. Before you think that this proves that God has at least some type of sadistic tendency, I would say that this is God sovereignly ordaining the concoction of surprise. But, in order for people to grow in their joy in God and truly be in awe (or surprised) in Him, they have to see their weakness and their dire need for Him. Let’s now read the entire text together. . . . In many of the points that I will make this morning, I will focus on both our inadequacy and God’s strength. As we start off this morning, we first see that God redeems the food situation. 1. God redeems the food situation. This miracle may come off as a little too “low” for Elisha to be concerned about. And, why are we hearing about food again? We have oil, provisions of food for people who are poor. Provisions of food for people who are in caves. Then, we have here provisions of food for prophets who are hungry. Food. Food. And, more food! Is God that concerned about providing food? Yes! Think to Jesus’ model pray for the disciples. In that prayer, before we even get to asking for forgiveness, the model prayer calls us to ask for daily provisions of food. Why is God so concerned about food? I think even in asking that question, we reveal what type of society we live in. Many of us gloss over the prayer to pray for food because we take it for granted that we have a plethora of grocery stores to choose from. And, if we really don’t have any money, that’s what Visa is for, right? Think for a moment the type of culture that Elisha lives in. It’s an agrarian culture in which one commentator writes, “It is difficult for modern Western readers to understand what life in an agrarian society at basically subsistence levels meant for the average individual in ancient Israel. Starvation and hard times were never far away. Disruption of the annual rainy season, molds and funguses from too much or too little rain, locust outbreaks, or raiders who confiscated the harvest for their own use or burned the fields in order to force the 2
The New King James Version. 1982 (Le 26:20–21). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 2|Page
population to surrender could rapidly reduce an already hard life to a borderline existence. . . . In modern Western countries, food is a far smaller part of a household budget than it has ever been; the time invested in gathering it is ordinarily limited to how long one spends in a supermarket or convenience store and perhaps a small family garden. Life was very different in ancient Israel. . . . [Providing] daily bread may represent the largest expenditure one makes and may also consume almost every waking moment.” – Dillard 3 So, we see that God is concerned about our daily life and is concerned about providing for our needs, and will provide for us so that we can rest in our toil. In addition to this, God desires that His provision is seen as glorious and good. Therefore, in all of this, we can know that God’s desire is that we live! Yet, how does that fit with the circumstances here? The prophets are living in a time of famine. This famine is affecting everyone, but God proves that He desires to care for the prophets when we hear Elisha say “Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”4 They don’t even have food on the table, but God is revealing His desire to provide and also His promise to provide. This reminds me of the story of a man by the name of George Muller. He was a man of faith-filled prayer, and one time they had no dinner at the table. They called their children down to eat the food and the children (who were quite perceptive) noticed that no food was on the table. Muller proceeded to sit down at the table, and he thanked God for the food that He had provided. After he had said amen, they heard a knock at the door and it was a man who was hauling bread and milk. His cart broke down and it was going to spoil; so, Muller’s family received the blessing! Please know that I’m not saying that this story promises that we will have food at every provision. I’m also not saying that this story promises that Christians will never starve. But, this story does reveal that God’s desire is to provide (even when we are living in times of famine), and when God promises to give food (like he has done here), He will. The fact that the table is empty won’t keep God from putting food there. After Elisha calls for people to start preparing food, you read that a certain man goes out to get ingredients for their stew. As he is out there getting the food, you read that he found some wild gourds. The fact that there were so many of them lying around should have been a clue that this probably isn’t a good idea to pick them. But, he picked them nonetheless. He brings them back to the house and cuts them into the stew. The New King James says that he sliced them into the pot of stew. And, then goes on to say “though they did not know what they were” (v. 39). This phrase could be translated a few ways. If you have a New King James or a King James, you’ll see some words italicized. The italicized words are not found in the original Hebrew language. Translators have added those words to help us understand the flow. Verse 39 more literally ends by saying, “though they did not know.” The translators have put in, “what they were.” But, is that what this verse is suggesting? Obviously, it could be that. But, I think it’s actually suggesting that the other prophets did not know that he had put them in there. If they had known, they would have stopped him. This seems consistent with the fact that there were so many in the wild. Now, the next question is, “What’s the problem here?” There are at least two interpretations that we could take here. The first takes us to the meaning of the word used here. The word for “gourd” here is usually referring to a small yellow melon that acted as a strong laxative (see Davis, pp. 71-72). Eating too much of it could be fatal. That said, we can’t be sure that this is a fatal melon – although it is highly likely in my mind. But, let’s look at the second interpretation: this is merely talking about very distasteful food. Maybe when the prophets say that “death is in the food,” they are exaggerating their disdain for the food. It could mean that it was absolutely disgusting and there was no way they were going to take another bite. Which is it? Given the wording in the text, I lean towards believing that both interpretations probably need to be merged. This is extremely disgusting and there’s a laxative in the stew. Do we really want to eat laxatives that could be fatal? Sure, we could eat some of it and be ok, but in addition to this, it is really disgusting. 3
Dillard, Raymond B (1999). Faith in the Face of Apostacy: The Gospel According to Elijah & Elisha. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, p. 106. 4
The New King James Version. 1982 (2 Ki 4:38). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 3|Page
Either way, Elisha redeems the food. Again, he gives a visible sign to reveal that God has done something to it. He delivers it from the poison and the disgusting flavor of it. What a surprise. And, what a welcomed surprise – and because of the horrors of the soup, they were able to clearly see God’s hand working miraculously on their behalf. But, do we really need to rejoice that God healed the stew? Couldn’t he have just healed the prophets and cleansed their palates? What does it speak about God that the stew was healed? Have you ever had a situation before where you have eaten something that was utterly disgusting to you? I remember a time when I was with Tracy’s family for their Christmas Eve gathering with other family members. There was this nice table with punch and snacks at it. And, I saw bacon. What a superb choice to have at the table. I love bacon. I also saw that bacon wrapped around meat. Even better! So, I grabbed that toothpick and stuck that bacon-wrapped meat in my mouth. Immediately my jaws started salivating as though I was going to throw up. That bacon could not mask the horrors of liver. I had shocked my system, and now I was stuck with something in my mouth that I had to get out. Somehow I managed to throw it away, and ever since, I’m much more careful about what is wrapped in bacon because I now know that bacon doesn’t make everything better. We laugh at that story, but let’s think about that for a moment and let’s think about this miracle. What is the point of miracles? According to the Scriptures, a miracle is meant to display a reversal of the curse and they are always intended to point us forward to a day when God’s Kingdom arrives and reveals complete perfection. In Isaiah 65:22, we read of that future day, “They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” – Isaiah 65:21-22 56 Think about these verses. In this future day, we will eat the fruit of our work joyfully. There’s no pain in work, and there is pleasure in reaping the benefits. Let’s now go back to this story. What if this story is only talking about God healing a soup that was unbearably disgusting? Should we minimize the miracle? Absolutely not. I actually think that it should greatly encourage us! God not only will raise people from the dead. But, He will raise them from the dead and also give them lives of joy. The Kingdom of God is a wondrous Kingdom of which to be a part and where there is no pain. There is no disgust. And, in all seriousness, I will not be forced to even eat bacon-wrapped liver. Instead, in this Kingdom, there will be glorious food for all God’s children to enjoy! Some may say to this, “Well, now you’re just thinking about yourself. Who cares what kind of food we’ll have in Heaven. We have God. Be content.” I would agree with you if we were talking about this world. People who preach that in this life we won’t have trouble, and instead preach a “kind of” Jesus who is like a magic pill who takes away our pain and gives us our every whim are people who don’t know Jesus. But, in rejecting a Jesus who fulfills our every whim, we can fail in our understanding of God when we reject a God who promises paradise to His children in the New Heaven and New Earth. We can’t miss that point because God desires that we know that everything about His presence is perfect. In His presence there is fullness of joy. We also know that even food is meant to lead us to glory in God. And, in the New Heaven and New Earth there is going to be perfect food (it won’t be disgusting and there will be no poison); therefore, with perfect hearts we will then perfectly rejoice in God. That’s what I think this miracle speaks (at least in part). There will be a day when God’s elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands! But, that brings me to a second point. There will be a day when God’s elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. I’m just going to take a few moments to comment on this, but let me just say this: that poor prophet who brought in the gourds! Yet, even though he made a mistake, we see in the healing of the stew that not only does God redeem the stew. God redeems the work of the prophet.
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The New King James Version. 1982 (Is 65:25). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. The New King James Version. 1982 (Is 65:21–22, 25b). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 4|Page 6
2. God redeems the work. If my understanding of the last few words of 39 is correct, then you can imagine how this guy must have felt. He was the only one who didn’t realize that these gourds were laxatives. If this prophet were anything like me, he’s stunned and then sitting in the corner thinking, “Duh! No wonder there were so many gourds on the ground. . . . If I had used my brain, I would have realized, ‘There’s a famine in the land. How am I finding food so quickly?’ But, then again, God’s prophet told me to get food; so, should I be surprised to find a lot of food? I really didn’t mean to do this. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. Oh, I’m such an idiot! Use your brain next time.” Aren’t we like this prophet? We give advice to someone that was well-intentioned, but not well thought out and it leads to greater harm. We become zealous about a truth in the Scripture, and instead of lovingly helping others to see it, we plow them over with it. We discipline our children in unrighteous anger instead of in submission to God. Oh how often have we felt good about something, only to repent of it later on? As one commentator writes, “Too often we are the stars in episodes of ‘Christ and our mistakes’. But what relief when we see – as in this text – that the Lord does not allow our errors to derail his kingdom or destroy his people. How many times Christ cushions our folly, redeems our errors, neutralizes our stupidity. What a consolation to have such a Lord” – Davis (pp. 77-78) Listen, our God is sovereign and good! Do you see that in this story? Let me probe deeper. Do you think that God was sovereign over the prophet picking the poisonous gourds? It seems as though the gourds carried a large portion of the stew – given that this prophet had so many that his lap was full of wild gourds. He probably didn’t have anything else in that large of an amount. My question is, “Would there have been stew without the gourds?” I lean towards thinking not. So, here comes the conundrum of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. While it was foolish from an earthly perspective for the man to get the gourds, God was sovereign over the events and wanted the prophets to be fed heartily, ordains the gourds and always had a plan to protect the prophets so they could eat well. In this story, we see glimpses of Romans 8:28, don’t we? “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”7 This story reaches right to us today. We are weak and frail and God is sovereign and good. All things work together for good? How does God do that? I don’t know completely. But, do you know what Paul says two verses earlier? Verse 26 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.” Our weaknesses are redeemed by God – similarly to this prophet’s weaknesses that were redeemed. Therefore, our work on earth is utilized for God’s glory, even when we make huge mistakes and even when we sin. But, why would God be so kind? The apostle Paul gives us the reason, starting in 8:29: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”8 Did you get that? God made a promise to glorify Jesus’ name. And, as a part of glorifying Christ’s name, all those who have been declared righteous (aka – justified) will be conformed to His image. So, Ventura, get this, God is not ever going to give up His work in You and He is committed to glorifying Christ’s name. And, if you are in Christ, God’s going to see to it that Christ’s saving work in you is not wasted. Even your weakness is going to be a display of His strength! And, some day you will be glorified. In that day, you will see and enjoy all things perfectly! 3. God’s redemption rests in an all-sufficient Savior (vv. 42-44).
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The New King James Version. 1982 (Ro 8:28). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. The New King James Version. 1982 (Ro 8:29–30). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 5|Page 8
How can this be the case? How do we actually have such a deep and abiding hope to enjoy all things someday in utter perfection? I think we get more answers in this next story, and we can only fully understand the depth of this story as we look to Jesus and His teaching. In these next few verses, we see that the redemption and provision of the food and the work all rest in an all-sufficient Savior. This is something we’ve already talked about from Romans 8, but it is something that will be brought out in further detail in the next few verses. Let’s read verses 42-44 again. Before we go any further, we see a little bit of a repeat of the previous section, but I didn’t comment on these points as much before.
a. God has a promised a remnant which follows after Him. In both the previous story and in this story, we find that Elisha is not the only person who loves the LORD. Of course, we have his servant, Gehazi. But, in the previous verses we see that Elisha is having a meal with prophets. This is in the plural. Sure, there may not be as many prophets of the LORD as there are false prophets, but there are still prophets nonetheless! And, not only that, but I just find it interesting that a man from Baal-shalishah is bringing a firstfruit offering to Elisha here in these verses. Look at the name! There in God’s land where Baal is still worshipped, God is chipping away at the idolatry of the land. He has not rejected Israel. Here we have a man bringing a firstfruit offering to Elisha. But, even that is interesting because a firstfruit offering should be given to the priests, not a prophet. Yet, the only seemingly helpful explanation for this is that the priests had given themselves over to Baal. So, this man wants to obey the Lord and the only place he can turn to is to the man whom he knows is blessed by the Lord. So, he takes the offering to Elisha, thus refusing the hypocrisy of the priests and truly honoring the Lord. What’s something we learn from this man? Do you remember that God had promised Elijah in 1 Kings 19:18 the following: “. . . I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” 9 The prophets with Elisha and this man from Baal-shalishah are a sign that God keeps His promises. And these people are a lesson to us as well. The apostle Paul quotes the story of Elijah saying that he’s the only one, and then Paul says in Romans 11:5, “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.”10 One of the points of the story in seeing that there are believers in Elijah and Elisha’s day is to remind our own hearts that the God of grace still exists today! God is still working today. We may be tempted to despair when we turn on the news and see that neither democrats and republicans can come to feasible and workable plans. We may be angered by the murders that are taking place around us continually in this world. We may become discouraged that there are injustices to such a great degree happening around us. But, if we focus on these things, we’re going to lose heart. Listen, Ventura, there’s something you must always remember. God is working in this world! God is sovereign. If God cares for a pot of soup, God cares for people! God is redeeming people and God is keeping His promise. There are a lot of people who want to say that Christianity is dying out, and atheism or agnosticism is winning. But I see all around me evidences of God’s saving and sanctifying grace. Like Obadiah who was saving prophets right under Ahab’s nose, without his awareness; so God is still today doing similar things. He is saving people right under the noses of the haughty people of this world who think the way of being anti-Christ is the answer. Ventura, never lose hope in the God who has established His throne in the Heavens and does whatever He pleases. He is bringing this to fruition a perfect plan and we should anticipate a reviving and growth around us as well. Let’s pray to that end! b. God continues to provide for His children’s livelihood.
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The New King James Version. 1982 (1 Ki 19:18). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Ro 11:5). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. 6|Page 10
But the story doesn’t end here. God not only saves, but He again desires to provide. He desires to give life and He desires that the people depend on Him for their livelihood. This is where the connection with Christ is blissfully obvious. Elisha receives the firstfruit offering of some loves and ears of grain. Then Elisha tells his servant to feed the men with this. You would think that his servant would be aware of God’s miracle-working power through Elisha, but like probably any of us in this room would do, the servant says, “How can I set this before a hundred men” (v. 43)? I think that question makes sense. The servant probably thinks, “I have twenty barley loves. There are a hundred people in the room. Do you want me to break the bread into five pieces for each person?” While that’s still something to be grateful in the midst of famine, I doubt that any prophet would have said, “Whoa, a fifth of a barley loaf! I can’t take any more.” But, Elisha responds to the servant, saying, “Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’ ”11 Here’s the confidence that the servant has. The LORD said that they are to eat and they will have so much that there will be leftovers. Does the servant then obey? Yes, he does. God has spoken and what He says always comes to pass! It doesn’t matter if the servant thinks he will run out. God will give beyond what is necessary: “So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.”12 Let me just make one more point on God’s provision of bread. It says here that they ate according to the word of the Lord. They ate because God decreed it. This logic is taught way back with Moses. Through Moses, God spoke to Israel saying that He would provide manna for them. In that daily miracle, God teaches them the point of His provision of bread. In Deuteronomy 8:3, we read, “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”13 God gave bread not merely to have the people to depend on bread, but to have them depend on God’s decree. The reality was that the manna appeared because God decreed it. I hope you see the implications for us today. If we have food at our tables, we ought to be thinking what one commentator wrote, “Well, I see that Yahweh has decided that we should live another day.” And, whether we have stocked refrigerators or we’re eating a barley loaf dinner, we should see that as God’s decree to give us sustenance for the day to enable us to live. That is grace! We don’t live by bread. We live by the God who decreed the bread to be enjoyed. But, if we stop here, we miss the ultimate point of seeing Jesus. As I’ve already stated, God’s redemption points us to an all-sufficient Savior. But, how do these stories specifically point us to the Savior? Well, think about bread and God’s provision through a prophet. Of course, one of the first prophets whom God used to provide bread for people was Moses. It was through Moses that God spoke to Israel that He would provide manna on a daily basis to reveal to Israel that He is their God who rescued them. In Deuteronomy, we read Moses prophecying about a greater prophet to come, saying, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen. . . .”14 After Moses came many prophets – two of whom were Elijah and then Elisha. Were they the ones that Moses was looking forward to? Elijah did do some spectacular miracles and fed a widow. But, of course, he was taken up. What about Elisha? Elisha has surely done a greater miracle than Elijah. He feeds 100 people with this food. But, as we will see later, Elisha dies and the Israelites are left without his presence.
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The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (2 Ki 4:43). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (2 Ki 4:44). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. 13 The New King James Version. 1982 (Dt 8:3). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 14 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Dt 18:15). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. 7|Page 12
Of course, we know the prophet Moses is talking about. Remember in John 1:21, where John the Baptist is asked, “Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 15 John the Baptist is not the historical Elijah coming back to earth. He’s also not “the Prophet.” Isn’t that interesting the second question? After Elijah came Elisha. But they say, “the Prophet.” Again, as John the Baptist and Elijah had many similarities so does Elisha and Jesus carry many similarities. But John the Baptist is not “the” Prophet. And Elisha was not the prophet. Who is “the Prophet” that Moses prophecies? It is Jesus! And, of Jesus we read more extravagant episodes with barley loaves, don’t we? We are told that Jesus feeds 5,000 with only five loaves and two fish. Then we are later told that he feeds 4,000 with seven loaves and a few fish. In the first story, we also have Andrew speaking to Jesus, saying in John 6:9, ““There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” 16 Isn’t that similar to Elisha’s servant’s response? Yet, that doesn’t stop Jesus from blessing and breaking the bread and granting miraculous provision. Then, after all have food, we are also told in both stories that there were leftovers. Don’t even begin to tell me that there aren’t obvious connections with the story of Elisha. And, I think it’s legitimate to imagine that other people who knew their Old Testament began to see the similarities between the prophets of old with Jesus in this glorious provision. He’s giving bread in extreme abundance. He’s giving leftovers in unprecedented amounts. Someone greater than Elisha is here! He is “the Prophet.” And, the Scriptures go on to teach that Jesus tells us that He is the living Word, whom we live by. We also learn that Jesus is the Bread of Life. We hear Jesus calling us to follow Him and He is the living water that never runs dry. Our thirst is quenched in Him. Our hungering is taken care of because of Him. We find that in a spiritual sense, those who trust in Him have grace upon grace and our life is eternal because He can never be exhausted. Jesus is the bread that satisfies. And, it is because of Him that we can come with our weaknesses and sins and present ourselves at His feet for forgiveness and hope. Jesus lived the life that we ought to have lived so that we wouldn’t die. Jesus took our death so that we could have life. Jesus rose again so that we could also rise up and experience an overflow of blessing! So, do you see your human deficiency and God’s glorious strength? I pray so. And I pray that you understand that because God has decreed that all who come to Christ will be rescued from their sinfulness and redeemed, that you would look to Christ and find immeasurable hope in Him. And, if you are a Christian, I hope that you continue to turn to put your rest in Him. This truly is a continually acting out in faith. Don’t look to sin to satisfy. Look to Jesus to satisfy you of your hunger. He is our satisfaction and hope. God has promised. Christ satisfying all God’s children is according to the word of the LORD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. 2.
ESV Study Bible (2008). Wheaton, IL: Crossway. Davis, Dale Ralph (2005). 2 Kings: The Power and the Fury. Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, Ltd.
3.
Dillard, Raymond B (1999). Faith in the Face of Apostasy: The Gospel According to Elijah & Elisha. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing. House, Paul R (1995). The New American Commentary: 1 & 2 Kings. Broadman & Holman Publishers
4.
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