Sermon Transcript — February 16, 2008
As human beings we tend to be fascinated with the subject of miracles. The Bible is actually full of stories of divine miracles - either those that God performs directly or the ones that God performs through human beings. As God's people we believe that these miracles actually happened, that the Bible is inspired, it is true and accurate and when it says it we believe it. God always has a reason for everything He does. Miracles recorded in the Bible have a reason, have a purpose, in fact probably several purposes. They demonstrate for example what God is like. We learn a lot about God by seeing what He does, what miracles He performs. We see a lot about His character and power. When miracles occur they brought glory and honor to God. They pointed people to God, drawing people's attention toward God. They supported and backed up God's servants. It was obvious where God was working — backed up the messages and gave evidence of God's plan and His work, as well.
Can you imagine what it will be like to have a Bible that includes the truth that we have with no record of any miracles in it? Just the facts, nothing but the facts. A Bible like that for example would contain the fact that God delivered Israel out of Egypt. It would mention nothing about the stories of the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea or anything related. Can you image a Bible for example who will state the facts of how God cared for the Israelites 40 years in the wilderness but mention nothing about the manna or about water coming out of a rock or about shoes that lasted 40 years. Now how much more detail, how much more encouraging it is when we have those accounts, those miracles. In other words there will be no special evidence of, no examples, of God's supernatural intervention. No details given in the history in the lives of human beings but thankfully we have lots of evidence in the form of stories and accounts in the Bible. Thankfully God put a lot of detail in there regarding His intervention in the form of stories and miracles that He performed, evidence that should strengthen our faith and teach us important spiritual lessons that we can apply even in our lives today.
In today's sermon we are going to take some time and review several stories about miracles that God performed through His prophet Elisha. Now why would God see fit to preserve for us miracles performed by Elisha? He was an Old Testament prophet that lived about 3,000 years ago at a time and culture very different from ours. What lessons can we learn from Elisha's life in the miracles that God performed through him? How do we apply those in our lives today? That is what we are going to be considering in today's sermon. We won't have time to look at all the miracles that Elisha performed but we will be looking at a series, or a group of miracles, that demonstrate God's care and His concern and His supernatural help and involvement with His faithful people, people who lived at that time when the nation was very seriously on the decline and turning away from God.
We will be reading a lot from the book of 2 Kings today as it is a way of a background. There is a section of the Life Application Bible, a paragraph or two, that I would like to read. It gives kind of a summary of what was taking place during that time. It says: "In the book of 2 Kings we read of evil rulers, rampant idolatry and a complacent populace certainly pulling downward. The nation had been divided into two Kingdoms; Israel and Judah. The two Kingdoms had begun to slide into idolatry and corruption toward collapse and captivity. Throughout this dark period the Bible mentions 30 prophets who proclaim God's message to the people and their leaders. Most notable of these fearless people of God are Elijah and Elisha. After Elijah had finished his work, Elisha became God's spokesman to the northern Kingdom. Elisha's life was filled with signs, proclamations, warnings and miracles. Then, regarding a group of the faithful people", the Life Application Bible went on to say, "even in the midst of terrible situations God will have His faithful minority, His remnant." That is the end of the quote. The miracles we'll read about today centre on that fact that there was a faithful remnant of God's people that stayed loyal and faithful to Him.
Let's begin in 2 Kings 4. We will name this the first miracle in this group of miracles that we will be looking at. It is not the first miracle Elisha performed but it is the first one we will read for our purposes. These miracles demonstrate God's special care for His people, the kindness and love that God has. We can learn a lot by observing what God did and how He did it. It also shows us Elisha's concern too - his kindness and love for people as well.
When we get into 2 Kings 4, we are going to see the term: Sons of the prophets. We perhaps ought to clarify that a little bit. It is not referring to sons as descendents but rather a group of prophets, or community of prophets, that were being used at that time, that were being trained. There were essentially three different areas where this group of prophets were living and they were apparently being trained and taught at a type of school, for God to use. Once they were trained they were sent out to help deliver God's message to the people of Israel and we will read what happened to one of the families of these men.
2 Kings 4:1A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. In other words, he was a righteous man. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves."
Now the woman was a widow with younger children to support. She had a debt that was not her responsibility. She had not incurred that herself - it was not her fault and apparently she had no family members that she could fall back on for financial assistance and help. So she was all alone facing a frightening problem and she turned to the prophet Elisha for help
verse 2 — So Elisha said to her: "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil." It will be cooking oil.
verse 3 —Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors — emptyvessels; do not gather just a few. In other words: get as many empty containers as you possibly can find.
verse 4 — And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it, the oil from her jar, into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones."
verse 5 — So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out.
verse 6 — Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, "Bring meanother vessel." In other words: another empty container. And he said to her, "There is not another vessel." So the oil ceased.
So here she had one jar of oil that miraculously multiplied. It expanded. It just kept flowing. She filled from this one jar all these empty containers and she still had oil left in her original jar. I don't know if we say the oil multiplies or it grows or what it does, but there was more at the end than there was at the beginning. That's the point.
verse 7 — Then she came and told the man of God. (Elisha) And he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.
So God made it possible for her to have enough money to live on, until her sons were old enough to support themselves and her. This is an example of a miracle relating to a very practical matter. A very practical situation, but it was an urgent one. She had no means of support. She was about to have her children taken away because of the debt. Obviously this was a deep concern - this was a real burning issue. And we see the way God solves this in a most interesting way because it teaches us that God does care about our physical circumstances - that God was aware, that God sent a solution to help her. God was willing to intervene. Now you see, if God was like that then He certainly is like that now. He is also willing to intervene. I am sure many of you could relate to your own experiences of how God has intervened miraculously in many cases when there was a real need in your life, God intervened and helped.
In our case, when we have financial trials, I don't think we would draw from this that God would do it exactly the same way. He is probably not going to tell us to go collect all the empty crock-pots we can find in Cincinnati and then start pouring oil into them. There will be another way He will solve it, most likely. This was a very effective way in that day of course but God would certainly see us through the trial. He would send a solution. He would listen to our concern. He would be involved.
Notice that even though the widow was in a desperate situation the miracle was done in a most interesting way because it allowed her and her children to be involved in the solution. They had a part in it. It wasn't that God just sent money, a check or cash or silver or gold from heaven, there was something she was involved in as far as helping to solve the problem - something to do. They had to collect empty containers. They had to pour the oil. They had to sell the oil. They had some work to do just as we often have to put out our best effort along with trusting God, to do what we can do for ourselves. It is also pertinent to notice that Elisha did not explain in advance why she was to collect all these empty containers. He didn't explain to her how the solution was going to unfold. He just said: "Do this", and she did it. It must have seemed kind of strange to her. It was unusual; it was peculiar. Now I am sure she must have cocked her head funny and said: "O.K. But what is that going to do? I don't see an answer here."
It does show that many times God does involve Himself, but in ways that we would not predict. In ways we would not necessarily figure out ourselves, but the point is: she obeyed. She was told to do something and she did it and it was only after she had obeyed that God sent a solution, that God intervened. And in the meantime it was a test of her faith because had she not gotten the containers and did as she was told she would not have had a solution to her financial problem. It was a test of her faith. She exercised her faith and as a result she grew in faith and that's many times the purpose of a trial - we do learn from those, and we grow and so it is supposed to work. We end up being up a little further ahead, spiritually, than we were before because we have learnt a lesson. We have grown.
The widow was told to do something that she didn't understand. She didn't know why she was supposed to do what she was. She simply obeyed and that is important because many times God gives us commands and it is our responsibility to obey them, even though we might not always understand why or where it is leading. God essentially told her, as He says to us: "It is for your good, so just do it. Trust Me." An example today: If we are having financial difficulties we may not see how it could possibly work out to pay God faithfully His tithe and to faithfully save festival tithe and still be able to handle our financial responsibilities. Obedience to God sometimes seems impractical. Sometimes it seems even impossible. We are asked to obey God in faith. We trust Him. We do ask God for help, to do what we need to do. By following God's instructions, by obeying Him, God does work with us and bring about a solution.
The first miracle involved a poor woman. Next in 2 Kings 4 we are going to read about a woman, kind of on the other end of the spectrum - a rich woman. God is no respecter of persons and we see an interesting contrast here.
2 Kings 4:8 This is a very touching story. I am sure if you've read it recently you probably were moved by it just as we will be today when we read it. It begins in verse 8 and I will summarize the initial part of it. As Elisha traveled about doing his work he would go through the city of Shunam where there was a wealthy woman and her husband that lived there. The woman regularly would ask Elisha to stay at her house, or their house, so she could feed him. I am sure he appreciated that. Eventually the woman even suggested to her husband that they fix up a part of their house where Elisha could stay any time he was in town, and that is exactly what they did - a private area for Elisha in their home.
The woman had a marvelous attitude of service. She was very considerate, very thoughtful. So to show his appreciation Elisha went to the woman and said: "What can I do in return? What can I do? You've done this for me — a wonderful service. How can I repay you?" She said she really didn't need anything from Elisha, after all, they were prosperous, they were fine. Elisha, talking privately with his servant Gehazi - Gehazi had an idea. He said: "Maybe we can repay the woman's kindness. You see," he said, "she does not have a son and her husband is old." So Elisha called the woman and told her: "About this time next year you are going to hold in your arms a little baby boy; a son."
That is exactly what happened. God intervened. It was another miracle. She had a child, had a son, and undoubtedly this was probably the most wonderful blessing that she could ever have imagined - more than she could have dreamed.
2 Kings 4:18 And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers.
verse 19 — And he said to his father, "My head, my head!" So he, that is the father, said to a servant, "Carry him to his mother."
verse 20 — When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees, that is, the boy sat on his mother's knees ... until noon, and then died.
verse 21 — And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out.
Elisha wasn't staying there at that particular day and it is interesting that she, instead of carrying him out you know, maybe on a donkey or something to where Elisha was, she just put him on Elisha's bed knowing that Elisha was a servant of God. Next, without explaining what she was doing, without explaining to anybody, she hurried off in pursuit of Elisha. Elisha saw her a distance away and he could tell that something was wrong. Possibly by the gait, the pace at which she was hurrying so he sent his servant Gehazi to meet with her to see if he could learn what the problem was, what the issue of concern was. She didn't take time even to explain it to Gehazi. She pressed right on passed him and went right to Elisha.
verse 27 — Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet, now that was a custom that was accepted at that time as a show of respect and honor for God's servant, ...but Gehazi came near to push her away. He may have thought that was inappropriate. But the man of God said, "Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me, and has not told me."
verse 28 — So she said, "Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say, 'Do not deceive me'?"
The woman said: "I didn't ask for a child. I didn't ask for a son. I could hardly believe it when you explained to me that I would have a son and now the son is dead". Elisha told his servant Gehazi to go ahead of them - hurry back to the woman's house, take Elisha's staff and lay it on the face of the boy who is dead. He did that and nothing happened. Elisha and the woman then returned to the house shortly there after and we pick it up in:
verse 32 — When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed.
verse 33 - He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord.
verse 34 — And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm.
This was not a case of artificial respiration. The boy had been dead now for several hours by this time. Twice in this account we are told the boy was dead.
verse 35 — He, (Elisha) returned and walked back and forth in the house, probably praying as he was walking, ... and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
verse 36 — And he called Gehazi and said, "Call this Shunammite woman." So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, "Pick up your son." He is alive! Brought back to life.
verse 37 — So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out.
An incredible miracle. A child had been alive and died and brought back to life. A beautiful story. It does tell us a lot about God, doesn't it? How He is very much in tune with our needs, our situations, our hurts, our sufferings - what is taking place in our lives.
A lesson from this story is that our lives are in God's hands. We all ultimately have an appointment to die. The scripture says that, but God does care about our suffering. He sees our difficulties, our stresses, what we are dealing with, and He is there to help us when we are suffering as we go through life. God is certainly willing and able to heal us and many times He does. If we were to get together at some point and compare stories and pull all the stories of all the healings that occurred in our lives, I am sure we will have a huge record, a log, a giant story of all the things that God has done and how He has intervened.
In fact one of the members, after the morning service, said he was talking with several of the members and he said: "If we can write books so people can remember so we don't forget those things, those incredible miracles that God performs in our lives". And we do look to God for healing just as this Shunammite woman did. In her case she looked to God's prophet, who was Elisha, but of course we don't want to draw wrong conclusions from this account either. We have to be careful that we analyze it properly and don't perhaps draw more from it that was intended.
It would be a mistake though to conclude that a lesson from the story is that any time a loved one dies, we can expect God to bring the person back to life. In fact with this temporary physical life it is not going to happen. Clearly that doesn't happen and I think we can understand God's plan well enough to know that that will not always happen. It is not a promise that it is going to happen every time, but you know, occasionally it does happen. Now, some of you have been in the Church longer than I have but I began attending Church in 1963 and I only knew of one account where this has actually happened, but it has happened.
Recently I was talking to some of the elders in another congregation. They were explaining that an older member, this was some time ago, just a short time ago, an older member came to services and while he was sitting in services, he collapsed. I don't know whether he just fell out of his chair, exactly what happened, but clearly he collapsed. And in this congregation one of the elder's wives was trained as a nurse so she rushed over there while the elders rushed over there as well to him. The elder's wife who had nursing training took the man's pulse and it was very, very weak. He was just lying there on the floor. And a couple of minutes later she took his pulse again and he had no pulse and in her judgment he was dead and the elder who was kneeling right there began to pray for the man and within a very short time the man revived. He began to breath. He sat up. He sat back in his chair. He finished the service. He has been attending church faithfully ever since.
So it can happen, but I have only known of one situation in all those years, but it doesn't always happen. It is not something we can bet on. It is not something we can be sure of. God in His wisdom and judgment determines when He does that sort of thing and when He doesn't but it did, scripturally we see that it did happen, and even once in the Church of God that I am aware of. It literally happened in our era, our time, as well. Nothing is impossible for God. We know that. There are a number of examples in the Bible where God has brought people back to physical life. They died - they came back to a physical life. I'm sure you've read a number of accounts where that is true.
One of the most interesting stories of this happening actually again involved the prophet Elisha. Elisha had died and was buried and something remarkable happened. A group of people was in the process of burying another man who died and there was a sudden raid of Moabites along this area that interrupted the burial proceedings. The people then obviously wanted to get out there in a hurry so they just tossed the body in the same tomb where Elisha's bones were and when the dead man's body touched Elisha's bones, the dead man came back to life. In fact the scripture says he "stood onhis feet", and that is really what the word "resurrection" means: to stand upright again. It was remarkable. It was amazing! I am sure it was a huge shock to everybody who was there. But God did that again for a reason and one of the reasons - I think it is clear - that the Israelites knew that it was God who had worked through Elisha. It wasn't some magical power that Elisha had when he was alive. Even though Elisha had died, God hadn't. God was still alive and had they turned to God and repented God would have continued to work with that nation as well. So in one sense it was a kind of invitation for them to return to God if they chose to do that.
The Bible gives us a number of examples of people who were resurrected to physical life: There were those when Christ died - some of the saints were brought back to life. Lazarus was another case where that happened but our focus as Christians should not be so much on expecting God to bring our loved ones or ourselves back to life physically. Our goal, our projection is a far more glorious resurrection than one to physical life. We're anticipating and desiring the first resurrection and that is not to flesh and blood. It is not the flesh, but it is to spirit, to eternal life. That's the one we are anticipating. That is the promise we are given. We're not given a promise that we will be restored to physical life.
We want to notice too that the woman in the first story had no husband. She was widow. The woman in the second story, the Shunammite woman - very little is said about her husband. It appears that she was the stronger of the two in their marriage - much more involved in God's work at that time. God blessed these women and held them in high esteem regardless of the spiritual state of the latter's husband. So in both cases God honored women and their individual faith. He intervened in their lives to make a tremendous difference. He cared for them. He encouraged them and by their examples and their accounts we can draw encouragement as well. We see how God works, how He thinks.
The next miracle: Let's go to 2 Kings 4:38. We will see this was a time of famine. The Old Testament nation had been told by God that if they obeyed Him that they would receive physical blessings including bounteous crops, plenty of rain, plenty of food but if they disobeyed God they would receive curses and a shortage of rain, a shortage of crops and perhaps even famine. This was a time of famine in the nation of Israel and as it so often happens, God's faithful people were also affected by this famine, the general conditions of the land. Faithful people were living through hard times.
2 Kings 4:38 And Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. Now the sons ofthe prophets were sitting before him; probably in a teaching situation ...and he said to his servant,"Put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets." The men were hungry. Elisha realized that they needed to be fed so he said: "Let's get something going here to feed them."
verse 39 — So one went out into the field to gather herbs, or vegetables - they were growing wild ...and found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lapful, maybe an apron full or a robe full of these wild gourds ...and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were.
Now a lot of these were growing - these were plentiful. He harvested them, cut them up, threw them in and hoped that it all worked out. I don't know if this is where "potluck" began, or not. It wasn't ideal, you know. It was the best they could do under the circumstances. I think you understand that. Anything that seemed edible they just threw into the pot - hoped that it was O.K.
verse 40— Then they served it to the men to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, "Man of God, there is death in the pot!" They were not saying: "It is O.K. to eat but it just taste bad". They were saying: "I can tell by the taste this is poison! It is going to kill us! And they could not eat it, the Bible says.
Now we might wonder why didn't they just throw out the whole pot of stew? Why not just dump it all and start over again? Remember it was a time of famine. There wasn't much food. It may have been that they used all of their available food and there were a lot of good ingredients in there as well as the gourds which were not. They may not have had any other food. It was either this or nothing. It was a difficult situation. They were hungry. They needed to be fed.
They needed something to happen. They needed a solution to their problem. Don't you feel sorry for the guy who chewed into the wild gourds, the wild plants? I am sure that it was not his best day and it is interesting that his name is not mentioned. I am sure he is greatly relieved that it is not. I would be.
verse 41 — So he (Elisha) said, "Then bring some flour." And he put it into the pot, and said, "Serve it to the people, that they may eat". It wasn't the flour that made a difference. Flour is certainly not a cure all or a remedy for poison. We understand that, but it was something physical they could see and it did bring a solution. God did heal, as it were. He cleansed, He purified this stew and now was edible. The verse goes on to say "And there was nothing harmful in the pot."
So God changed it. In fact I am sure that God not only changed it, made it edible, but He probably made it delicious. That seems to be the way God does things; if you remember the wine that Christ made at the wedding at Canaan - He didn't just made gallow by the gallon. He made excellent wine, better than they served at first. God does things in a very quality way. It is another demonstration that God cares. This was a little thing in one sense. Food, yes that's important, but they probably could have lived without it but God saw their need. He intervened - He provided a solution. He was very much in touch with what His people were doing - what their needs were.
Verse 42 begins another short account of a miracle with a similar lesson. In all these miracles that we've read so far we see that God did not prevent problems and trials in the lives of His people, but He delivered them out of them. And that seems to be the way God so often works. I am sure there are many things that He prevents that we are not even aware of but in many cases He allows a trial and then He wants us to look to Him for a solution and He delivers us out that situation and we've drawn closer to Him as a result. He promises to intervene in His time and in His way. And it is not always predictable on our part.
verse 42 — Then a man came from Baal Shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain in his knapsack. And he, (Elisha) said, "Give it to the people, that they may eat." Elisha was generous. He realized the needs of other people and he said: "Fine, let us put it out there and let all the folks have food",
probably all the sons of the prophets - all hundred of them.
verse 43 — But his servant said, "What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?" In other words there is not enough food to satisfy a hundred hungry men. He (Elisha) said again, "Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus says the Lord: 'They shall eat and have some left over.'"
God had already communicated supernaturally to Elisha the fact that the hundred men would be fed. They would be satisfied and through a miracle there would be food left over just like there was when Christ fed the 4,000 and the 5,000 in the New Testament time. There was enough to eat and even leftovers.
verse 44— So he set it before them; and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.
Now it appears that this also took place during a time of famine and again the lesson is that God does provide for His people's needs. We live in a prosperous time now and typically God provides for us by allowing us to have jobs to earn money to be able to buy food - go to the grocery store, shops and things, and buy food. Although we understand from Bible prophecy that hard times are coming to our nation, if time gets to the place where we are not able to provide for our necessities and get necessities, maybe they will not be available, we can look to this example and realize that God will provide. If it needs to be supernaturally, He can do that and will do that. It is an encouraging example for us.
Another helpful example actually comes from Mr. Herbert Armstrong's autobiography. He wrote that he and his family went through some very lean financial years. They even went hungry at times. God was humbling Mr. Armstrong. He was working with him, teaching him lessons; preparing him for the responsibilities that He had in mind for him. Here is what Mr. Armstrong wrote about an event that took place in 1930. He had a son who was just a few months old and I am sure some of us will remember this account having read Mr. Armstrong's autobiography, but it is a good account to read. We so often remember stories more than we remember points and hopefully we will be encouraged and reminded as we read this. Here is the account:
Mr. Armstrong writing, "One day I arrived home in mid afternoon. The baby was crying lustily. "Hurry!" exclaimed my wife, "Go to the store and get a quart of milk. The baby has missed one feeding, and it's a whole hour past his second feeding, and I haven't a bit of milk for him." "Well, I'm broke. Give me a dime," I said. She replied "I've been waiting for you — praying for God to hurry you home. I thought you'd have at least a dime." The baby howled louder than ever. We had never established credit at any store. "There is only one thing to do," I said. "We're helpless, of ourselves. There's no human to help us. We'll have to rely on God. He has promised to supply all our need — and this is a need." Jesus said we should enter into our closet, or small room, and pray to our Father in heaven in secret, and He will reward us openly. The only small room of absolute privacy in our home was the bathroom. I locked the bathroom door and knelt beside the bathtub. God had promised to supply our every need, "according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." I believed Him.
But we had to have the answer immediately. I had learned that sometimes God does not answer at once — He sometimes tries our faith in order to develop patience in us. But right now it seemed that little baby needed his milk more urgently than I needed patience. I felt there was not time — or need — of a long prayer. Instantly the 70 th Psalm flashed into my mind. God by His Holy Spirit inspired David to record, as part of the very Word of God, David's prayer wherein he asked God to "Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make hast to help me, O Lord ... I am poor and needy: make haste unto me ... O Lord, make no tarrying." I knew that prayer would not be in God's Word unless it was God's will to answer that same prayer for me. So I asked God boldly to make haste!
I arose, unlocked the door, and walked back toward the kitchen. Before I even reached the kitchen, one of our girls cried out from the living-room window: "Oh Mother, here comes the old rag and bottle man!" "Well, quick!" called out my wife, "run and stop him! We have a lot of old things in the basement we can sell him!" The only entrance to our basement, I remember, was from the outside at the rear of the house. In eager anticipation we led the rag and bottle man down the basement stairs. My wife showed him all kinds of things. We expected to get at least a dollar from him. He only shook his head. "No. Nothing here I want," he said, starting back up the stairs. Our hearts sank. Halfway up the steps he stopped, glanced at a high stack of old magazines beside the stairs. Slowly he turned and retraced his steps, examining the stack of magazines. "I'll give you a dime for these," he said. "This is all I want." I had asked God to send to us a dime — immediately — in haste! When God sent it, within the very minute I asked, we tried to increase it to a dollar or more. But the immediate need was a dime for milk. God has not promised to supply our wants — only our need. The need I had asked was a dime — ten cents! That is what God sent — immediately! We had learned another lesson! We gratefully gave God thanks, as I ran all the way to the store and then back with the milk."
That is a very helpful story and I think it is a good one to review and to remember. It happened in our generation. It didn't happen in the Old Testament, not even the New Testament in the time of the apostles, but it happened in our day. It reminds us that God is willing and able to intervene. God hears our prayers. He sees our needs. He finds a solution. It is not always painless, it is not always immediate, it is not always simple, but they are solutions. God is willing to intervene and able to help in our day as much as He was in Elisha's day.
Let's go back to 2 Kings 5. This is an inset chapter of sorts. It is not a story about a particular miracle on behalf of God's faithful people as the others we've read but this describes a miracle that took place to a non-Israelite. It is the story of the healing of Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army. We won't take time to recount the entire story. I think it is one you are fairly familiar with. Naaman was an important man but he had a terrible health problem. He had leprosy. He went to Elisha for healing. Elisha told him to wash seven times in the Jordan River and he would be healed. At first Naaman didn't like those instructions. He didn't think it would do anything, any good, but later on his servant convinced him he had nothing to loose, he might as well try it and when he did he was completely healed.
There are two things we want to notice today about that particular story in chapter 5. First of all, do you remember how it was that Naaman learned that Elisha in Israel could heal him? How did he know it? Israel was an enemy nation. Why would he go to an enemy nation to be healed?
2 Kings 5:1 Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.
verse 2— And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman's wife.
verse 3— then she said to her mistress, "If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy."
verse 4 — And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, "Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel."
We could read that the young, or certainly deduce and see from this account that the young girl, the Israelite girl was the hero in this story. In actual fact we know that God was the hero but humanly speaking the girl played a primary role in this account. It was her that mentioned it to Naaman that there was healing possible with Elisha in Israel.
I think that for all our children and teenagers, this is one of many examples in the scriptures where God recognizes and honors the faith of children - with good attitudes, good character, the young people in the Church. I can't help but be impressed with this girl. She'd gone through an awful experience — it is hard to imagine. She was captured as a young girl by the enemy army. Perhaps her parents and family were all killed. We are not told the details, but she was taken away from her home, from all of her familiar surroundings. She was not only a slave in Syria, but she happened to be the slave of the General, the leader of the Syrian army that was conducting all these raids, attacking Israel and she would have had every reason in the world to have been angry and put out and disgusted and not involved with her master, but she cared about her master. She had genuine concern for him and she had not lost her faith in God's capacity to heal. She had not forgotten the true God.
A second thing we are going to want to review from this account is that there was a bad example as part of this account as well. A sad story of Elisha's servant Gehazi. The young girl was a servant and had remarkable character. Gehazi was also a servant but he did not have remarkable character. In fact, his character was quite a concern. As Naaman was healed of his leprosy he went back to the prophet Elisha, I am sure to thank him, but to also offer him some money. He said: "Please, let me give you some money." He practically begged Elisha to take some money out of his gratitude and appreciation for being healed, but Elisha refused and Naaman understood that, accepted that, and he started home. But Gehazi, Elisha's servant, wanted the money. We pick up the story in verse 21.
2 Kings 5:21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and said, "Is all well?" Is there a problem here?
verse 22 — And he said, "All is well," but notice next that Gehazi boldly lied to Naaman. He said: "My master has sent me," which wasn't true, ..."saying, 'Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.'"
Now this doesn't sound like a lot; a bag of silver and a couple of changes of clothes. Do you know how much a talent of silver is? Seventy five pounds. Do you know how much seventy five pounds of silver is worth in our market today? Twenty thousand dollars. Seventeen dollars an ounce. He offered him twenty thousand dollars and I don't know what the clothes would cost, but clothes in addition.
verse 23 — So Naaman said, "Please, take two talents". They are small. Take two talents of silver -twice as much. ...And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver... that is a hundred and fifty pounds ... in two bags, with two changes of garments, and handed them to two of his servants; and they carried them on ahead of him.
I wondered why you would need two servants to carry two bags of coins and two changes of clothes but they were carrying 150 pounds of silver. Each one would have had 75 pounds of silver and the total would be worth about $40,000 today. When Gehazi got back home he hid the money and the clothes.
verse 25 — Now he (Gehazi) went in and stood before his master, as though nothing had happened. Elisha said to him, "Where did you go, Gehazi? And he said, "Your servant did not go anywhere." He had lied again.
verse 26 — Then he said to him, "Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants?
Elisha said of course: "Do you think that God would not reveal to me what you were doing? Do you think that you can fool God? God knows what you wanted to do with that money."
verse 27 — Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever." And he went out from his presence leprous, as white as snow.
Naaman had been healed of leprosy and Gehazi is now cursed with leprosy. One author described this in a humorous way although obviously the situation wasn't humorous. This author said: "A great medical miracle took place. The world's first leprosy transplant." But isn't this a telling story of human nature. What a telling commentary. Gehazi had been with Elisha, we don't know for how long, but he certainly would have seen God perform many miracles through Elisha. You would think that would have had an impact on Gehazi. Those experiences did not change Gehazi's heart for the better.
Does this experience of seeing God perform miracles automatically make a person a better person, a stronger person with more faith? Does it make us more zealous, more converted? Does it have a lasting impact, positive impact, on us? Not necessarily. Miracles are wonderful things. They can be very inspiring but they are not a panacea or a cure all for spiritual growth and strength. It did not have a positive effect on Gehazi. In fact, sin was a more powerful force in his life than all these miracles he had seen. The same was true for the Israelites when they left Egypt. Remember the ten miracles that occurred - dramatic, impressive miracles. It had no lasting effect on the Israelites. It did not affect their lives positively at all. They saw those things; they lived through those things and still did not have faith in God.
Let's turn to 2 Kings 6. This is the last miracle that we will be looking at and talking about today.
2 Kings 6:1 And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "See now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us.
They had outgrown their facilities. They needed to build something larger.
verse 2 — Please, let us go to the Jordan, and let every man take a beam from there, and let us make there a place where we may dwell." So he answered, "Go."
verse 3 — Then one said, "Please consent to go with your servants." And he answered, "I will go."
verse 4 — So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.
verse 5 — But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; As the man was cutting down a tree to build this new facility - the ax head flew off. If you ever split a lot of wood with an ax you realize that unless that head of the ax is on there very securely when you're pounding away, especially on wood that is very hard, it can loosen up and sometimes it can go flying off. I've heard of situations where the head has flown off and even hit a person and wounded them or injured them. So it can be dangerous. Those things happen. And what had happened was, it fell off and it fell into the river and sunk into the mud, apparently. They could not find it. ...and he cried out and said, "Alas, master! For it was borrowed."
It is one thing to loose something that is your own but it is worse when you loose something that belongs to somebody else. Now he has to find some way to repay the man that he borrowed the ax from. The man no longer had a workable tool. All he had was a handle with no head on it. To make matters worse, he was thinking: How am I ever going to get the money to repay what I have lost? The man did not know what to do. He couldn't find the ax head - could not see it, could not reach it. The water may have been too muddy. It may have slipped into the mud - it is hard to tell, but whatever the reason was he couldn't retrieve it by his own efforts.
verse 6 — So the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" And he showed him the place. So he cut offa stick, and threw it in there; just threw the stick into the river ....and he made the iron float.
This was a miracle. Iron is typically heavier than water. I've never seen any iron that wasn't heavier than water and iron doesn't naturally float on water, but this did. This was a miracle.
verse 7 — Therefore he said, "Pick it up for yourself." So he reached out his hand and took it.
This was a miracle, no question about it. A marvelous miracle but it is interesting what a small point in comparison it is, showing that God obviously was involved, was concerned, even about the small things in our lives. God could have miraculously have built the whole building for them. He didn't do that but he simply restored the tools that they needed for them to be able to build their own building. Skeptics say that Elisha knew exactly where the ax-head was, where it had landed in the water, and he took this long stick and he kind of poked around until he got it stuck in the hole and then he just lifted it out. It is not what the Bible says. It says Elisha threw the stick in and the ax-head came to the water surface and they reached down and picked it up. The skeptics don't want the Bible to make sense. They want to find fault with it. But nothing is too hard for God.
Why did God preserve in the Bible a story about a lost ax-head? You would think He would be more involved in bigger details, bigger stories, bigger instances. Something happened 3,000 years ago and we talk about - what would an ax-head cost today? Maybe $10 at the most? I suppose, something like that. Little thing in comparison, but the miracle teaches us that God is concerned and is willing to meet our needs even in the small areas of life. There is nothing too small that we can ask God's help with and involvement in especially when it comes to the work that God has given us to do.
I remember something that happened to a woman in the Church probably about 20 years ago, now. She was an excellent seamstress and she made beautiful clothing. She earned money for her family by making clothes for other people. One of her customers had traveled overseas and had bought some very beautiful and very expensive material and wanted her to make an outfit. Maybe a blouse or a dress, or something. I don't remember the specifics. So she cut it out, assembled it and she was just about to finish it - she was giving it the final pressing, the final ironing and somehow, I don't know how it happened, but she seriously scorched the material. Some material I realize is easier scorched than others. I am not a professional ironer. My mother taught me to iron before I went to college so at least I could iron this part of a shirt, the only part that was exposed, so it would look presentable but I am not a professional by any means. But some materials, I understand, are easier to scorch than others and this - I mean she was a professional — and she still accidentally scorched this material. She was very upset; distraught. She tried every trick that she knew off and they didn't have access to the internet at that time, but many books will tell you: Try this, try that, do this, do that and you can minimize and maybe disguise the scorch mark but there was nothing that worked. She tried everything — nothing worked. She away and prayed and asked God for a miracle. She asked God: "Help me with this. I can't solve this problem". She came back a short time later and the scorch mark was gone! It wasn't there. You could not find it. There was no evidence of it all. I believe God performed a miracle. I don't believe that ever happened to her before nor did anything like that ever happen again that I am aware off but in that particular case God performed a miracle.
I was talking with one of the folks from the morning church and he mentioned that something very similar happened to his wife. Again, never before and never after but on one particular occasion God just dramatically intervened to perform a miracle that was humanly impossible to handle. There was no way that you could solve that. Now I am sure God does periodically intervene and probably many of us have had an experience like that and it does encourage us. It is very positive when that happens.
You know God could have solved that problem for the member in a number of ways. He didn't have to just remove the scorch mark. He could have given her favor so that when she explained it to the owner of the material that the owner could have said: "Not a problem. I've got more of the material at home. Make me another one". That could have been a solution. The member could have come into some money so she could have replaced the material with something similar, but the way God solved the problem of the scorch mark was an incredible miracle and one I think, that was probably the most dramatic, the most memorable, the most unforgettable that He could have done. Now I believe part of His reason for doing that was to do that very thing — to make it indelible so she would never forget what God had done.
We have read five stories about the life of Elisha. There are many lessons we could draw, many principles we could draw, but today I like to close with essentially one primary lesson from all of this, and this one lesson has two parts: The lesson is the lesson of faith, a trust in God.
Faith has two legs: One leg is what we believe and know to be true about God and Hischaracter. We have read enough of the Bible. We are familiar enough with how God thinks and responds and answers. We know what God is like. We have faith that He loves us, that He always is with us, that He is willing to help us and intervene in supernatural ways to solve our problems for us. Obviously according to His will in the way that He knows best in any given situation, any time. As we read in Bible it is obvious that God goes to great lengths to handle even small issues in our lives as well as big and that helps build our faith. If we see God intervene and solve one problem, what does that do for us? We are inclined to think: Well, if God handled that, maybe God can also handle the next one. It makes it possible for us to relax a little bit in His care; not to be so worried, not so uptight, not so fearful, not so restless. We have more confidence, more trust in God.
The other leg so to speak, of our faith, is believing in all the commands and instructions that He gives us - believing so much that we actually obey and live by these commands. If we don't have enough faith in God's commands to actually do them, then that cripples our faith. When we look at our human bodies we realize that we need both legs in order to be able to walk, that is, walk well. If we loose one of our legs it would be impossible to walk unless we have crutches. Or if one leg would be perhaps 12 inches longer than the other leg it would make walking very, very difficult. Just as our body needs two legs our faith also needs two legs. Trust in God's loving care but also trust in all His commands. If one leg of our faith is missing or out of balance we won't walk effectively in the Christian walk of life.
Let's turn to Hebrews1:1. We will see something about the way God instructs His church, His people, today. This will not be new to us but just reiterating the fact that the way God primarily communicates to us is described here in Hebrews.
Hebrews 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
I think the New Revised Standard Version is even a better translation. It says: Long ago, God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets.
Earlier we read several examples of how the prophet Elisha communicated instructions and teachings to the Israelites who lived long ago. Because they obeyed these commands God miraculously intervened in their lives.
verse 2 — has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
God's Son, Jesus Christ, is called the Word. The Word of God. We have His words in a book on our laps today: The Bible. God give us commands, instructions, through the written pages of the Bible. God's commands are spiritual laws and they are in operation at all times. They are eternal principles that work, that produce good results. They lead to eternal life. Do you and I have so much faith in God's commands and instructions that we base our lives on them? Do we live by them regardless of our circumstances? We can rest secure in God's words, in His miraculous help if we do what God says to do. The condition is always: doing what He says, not just knowing what He says. For example: we know the scripture tells us to seek first theKingdom of God and His righteousness. Do we have enough faith in that spiritual principle to apply it, to put it into practice? Do we make prayer and Bible Study and meditation a daily priority, every day? Do we regularly fast to stay close to God? Do we have unshakable trust in this command, do we trust that living by this command is the only way that brings the kind of results that Christians want to have in their lives?
There is another example. Let's turn over to Proverbs 16:7 I am sure when you get there and when you begin to read this proverb, it will sound very familiar to you because it is one that probably many of us have committed to memory.
Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways please the Lord, now that is one-legged faith — enough faith in God's commands to actually do them ...He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
There is the other leg of faith — what God is like and what He is willing to do for us.
To cause our enemies to be at peace with us involves a miracle. It involves God working in the minds of our enemies. That is a miracle. God has power to deliver us from our enemies. That is for sure. We believe that, we put our hope in that. It is a wonderful revelation of what God can do for us but then we have to ask ourselves about the other leg of our faith. Do we obey all of God's commands including His written instructions on how we should treat an enemy? Such as: "But I say to you love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." Do we do that?
Proverbs 24:17 gives us another command in regard to our enemies. This is perhaps a little more complex, a little more challenging, but it is a good reminder for us.
Proverbs 24:17 Do not rejoice... or gloat ...when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;
verse 18 — Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him.
The implication is that God would turn His anger away from your enemy and toward you! God would then have two people to correct: your enemy and you. He will have to correct you because you have hate in your heart against this other person. After all we can hate sin but we cannot hate the sinner.
I chose this as an example of biblical command because it fits so well into the story of the young Israelite girl who was Naaman's servant. She could have hated Naaman for leading the Syrian army to raid her country, to drag her back into a foreign country. She could have been bitter and angry and hostile. She could have gloated over the fact that now Naaman had leprosy. She could have thought in her little mind: You deserve it for what you did. We would have understood that. That is a pretty natural response. What is so remarkable about this girl was that it was not her attitude. In fact, it is the very opposite of that. She exemplified this principle: Do not rejoice, don't gloat when your enemy falls or in this case, is afflicted with leprosy. Do not let you heart be glad when he stumbles;
She sincerely wanted Naaman to be healed and she pointed him in the direction of healing. She wanted him to be healthy and well in spite of how he may have made her life miserable. I think that is remarkable. After she had done what she did, pointing Naaman toward Elisha and Israel to be healed, it makes me wonder what Naaman did when he got back home, for the girl. If he was that willing to give Elisha all kinds of silver and changes of clothing and reward him so much, it makes me think that he wanted to also reward the girl when he got back home and I wonder, although the Bible doesn't record this, but I wonder if maybe he would have given her her freedom. Interesting to think about it.
We are coming into the time of year when we begin to think about the spring festivals. We are already making plans for The Night to be Much Observed. We are talking about - where are we going for the Holy Days, Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, that sort of thing.
Wrapped up in the meaning of these days are both legs of faith: The fact that God is wonderful and loving and all the tremendous things He has already done for us but also our commitment to live by every word of God. They are both involved in the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. We can be asking ourselves: Does my faith, in the value of every command and principle of God's word, does it equal the faith that I have in God's loving character? Are both of those clear and important?
We've had the opportunity today to review some miracles that took place during the life of the prophet Elisha. I do hope that the lessons from those stories and those miracles will have an impact on us. That we will remember those stories, will be able to draw strength from them, that it will actually strengthen our faith and remind us that God is willing to do what we need when we need it, that He is available but He also expects us to keep all of His commandments.