Miracles of Elisha, Message 5 — Ed Miller

Well, good morning, it's wonderful to be able to come up and share with you. When the last words you hear is worthy is the Lamb. Bless God when the king Was on the earth in his humiliation. He was the Lamb now in his glory.

The Lamb is the king. How glorious this is. As we come to the study of God's Word. There's a principle of Bible study. That is absolutely indispensable. And that is total reliance upon God's Holy Spirit.

We need to trust him as we come to the word as we need to trust him for everything. Isn't it wonderful how the Lord? Guided in that children's program every year. He just seems to pull it all together.

And the parts were so perfectly cast. But that's the Lord he does that you know we were praying that the Lord would be able to work that for the children and. And the wisdom that he guided to be able to present all those stories and it's just so super.

How we praise the Lord. And so we come to the study of his word. It's the same thing the same Lord needs to guide us. Before we look into the word. I want to share sort of a burden that I think's on his heart.

Drawing Near to God at His Table

And just a little scripture to illustrate it to get that indispensable principle again before you. Remember in the story of joseph. In the old testament son of jacob. When he wanted so much. To unveil his heart to his brothers come closer and closer to chapter 45.

You get closer and closer to that time where he says i'm joseph as jesus wants to say i'm jesus just to reveal himself. And then fall on each other's neck. What a glorious picture that was. Well, there's a very sad scene.

In chapter 43 of genesis, and it's a sad scene. Because They're still strangers joseph and his brothers. But they're so close. So close and in that scene we won't turn to it. But in that scene They're actually sitting down eating.

And they're in the same room. And the thing that makes it so sad is they're in the same room, but they're at different tables. Joseph's at this table and they're at this table and they're still strangers.

And joseph keeps getting up and coming to their table feeding him going back to his. Going behind the curtain and crying. He's weeping. And then he comes back out and he serves them more food and he goes and cries again.

Brothers and sisters in the lord the whole purpose of our gathering is that god would disclose himself to us. Reveal himself to us. And it would be a shame at the end of ahashua To be that close. And not at the same table.

To be in the same room eating the same food eating the same food from the same hand. He's feeding us. And then walk out. I will come in. He wants you in the same room. He wants you at we'll clinch our time together and bring together all the loose ends as only he can do.

That we might behold him again. Worthy is the lamb. Let's pray father. We thank you again for every part of this weekend how you minister day after day and way after way. And we just glorify your name.

Thank you. And now we ask you lord in the this closing session. That you would take your precious word by your precious. Holy spirit. And enable us to be from above. We pray lord that you would reveal yourself.

So that we could sit down with you at your table. And be fed by you and with you see you. We want to Know you. We want you to show yourself to us. And so we don't trust ourselves for this. We trust you and we now wait.

And we ask you to minister christ in a living way. Give us living light ask in jesus name. I haven't been here all weekend. And we're glad to have you and we are thankful for you and so Just be patient.

I'm, just going to give the the very The broadest view of all in review, but it'll be enough. I I pray To get back into the spirit of what we're looking at. Elisha in the old testament Is like the apostle paul in the new testament.

Elisha as a Picture of the Christian Life

He's god's illustration of the christian life. Elisha is god's illustration in seed form. The apostle paul is god's illustration in fully developed form. Elisha Is the man who went unto his own and his own received him now.

He's the man that wept over jerusalem. He's the man whose name means god is salvation. He's the one who healed the leper who multiplied loaves. Who raised who by his death gave life to others? He looks like jesus.

He's a man that looks like jesus. And we've been studying Elisha as the man who looks like jesus because we want to be people who look like jesus. And by studying these stories We can see god's heart.

He has fossilized Everlasting principles in redemptive history. He's written these great truths in these stories so that we studying the stories Can glean these great? realities of god's heart. And so we've been looking at the man who looks like jesus.

And the message that he has the gospel the message In the hand of the man who looks like jesus. In our first two lessons we focused on the man. In our last two lessons we focused on the message. In our first two lessons we learned these great principles.

The man who looks like jesus Is the man who's been? Called by god god has put his mantle on his shoulders. And he has responded to that call in an unquestioning willful Submission planted in his heart to be god's Representative on the earth and to be open for whatever the lord wants to pour on.

So that they can show him radiate manifest him to the world. He's a man That god has given vision focus reality. And not to be distracted no matter what comes into his life. That can pick up the mantle that desire and that surrender and has that focus he picks up the mantle.

And what does such a man look like and what does his message look like? That's what we looked at in our second study. He has a supernatural life. From the moment he picks up the mantle God has guaranteed to open the way before him.

And so he crosses through the jordan and god opens up the way his message look like. Sometime it brings blessing. Sometime it brings a curse. Restoration to those that are seeking the lord. And then we spent two lessons looking at the message of the man of god.

What's the heart what's the essence of the message of that man? It's a person. It's the lord himself. The message that he has that we have that all who look like christ have who is abundant. That's the message that he preaches.

Last night, we broke that down a little. What does the message look like? It's a message of pure grace and his illustration was Forgiveness, what does the message look like? The answer is it's a message of the mighty power of god.

He does it all. Illustrated by christian servant. What's our message look like? It's a message of revelation where god opens our eyes. And his illustration was victory over the enemy it's a message that proclaims that god ever Accomplishes his everlasting purposes to the end watching over and it was illustrated by the restoration Of the woman and her son and all that was theirs that brings us then.

Elisha’s Final Sign and the Unity of Man and Message

To our last look at this wonderful servant of the lord and his message the end of his history revelation of his history. And what I mean by that is this god's not only telling us a story of a man who used to live and die.

He's also writing a bible. And so when he writes the bible. Uh in these final events, we not only have the close of his life. But we have the close of the message. God has written a spiritual truth here and in a climactic way.

In a consummating way god takes everything. He has said about elijah elisha. And he wraps it up in these final events. And so that's what we want to look at god assisting god helping us who like to follow.

Logical connection a simple outline. Here's what i'd like to look at in our final. Look a look at The man done that line for you and looking at all weekend the message we'll be able to separate it. Here's the man Message our last look at the man of god and our last look at the message of god.

It's going to be a summary look message so close to that I can't say all right. Let's rip it apart. Now. Here's the man and here's the message last look will be the man in the message together. United separable you can't take them apart.

And strangely enough in this last illustration that god gives The man and the message are so one you can't separate them. And it's also the illustration That separates the man and the message in the greatest possible distance.

It's an almost un and may god give us eyes To see it this before your heart. I'd like to do just a little bit of The donkey work. I try to do that on my own by myself and not burden you with it. But sometime we need a little bit just to get into the flow.

The Chronological Setting of Elisha’s Final Ministry

Now, let me give you a general Perspective of elisha's life and ministry sort of a timeline. Harry alexander asked me last night if all of the events in elisha's life are in chronological order. And that was raised because here we had last night the leper.

If you go chronologically in the presence of the king. And some say well that can't be so that must have happened before. And if you read all of the arguments. Some people think the kingdom was so far away from the lord.

The king didn't even care about god's law and make it chronological. Others say it happened before. There are four different. I won't go through them, but there's four different events in elisa's life.

That are clearly. Not in chronological order. God has given us the story of elisha in logical order. I can mention one because it's in the text that we're going to look at today in first kings 13 in first kings 13 13 and 14.

In verse 13 joash died in verse 14. He visits elisha the prophet. Now, you know that's not in chronological order. And there are other events. But god has given it in logical order because he's telling the story of redemption.

Let me give you sort of a timeline on this it might surprise you to learn. Or to know that most of the record of what we've been. Seeing in this little play that was here and what we've been talking about.

Most of that took place for five years. After elisha picked up the mantle. When we come to chapter 13. And this final scene of elisha. A lot of time has gone by. Some the the least that was elisha was about 80 years old was 90 years old.

You say how they get these ages? Well, see we know the kings. And we know how long the kings reigned and so they figure out from the kings that were alive when he was ministering. How long he reigned?

And so he was between 80 and 90 years old now elisha was a full-grown man when ahab died way back in first kings. And in this chapter that we're going to look at joash comes to visit elisha on his deathbed.

Sometimes he's called jehoash. Sometimes joash it's the same god you you really have a trouble going through these things. Who's wearing the white hat and who's from judah and who's from israel because.

The names are the same and sometimes they're the same at the same time reigning. And so you really need that's what I praise the lord for lillian. She loves to do that kind of stuff. And when I come to something like this, I just say iron it out.

And she does and then I meet with her and she straightens me out and this goes here and this is there. And a couple of times she was wrong, but not very often. She's pretty much right on it. But the point i'm trying to make is that joash Didn't come to power till 53 or 54 years after Ahab died.

And what that means practically is this. Is we haven't heard from elisha for at least 45 years. That's what that's all about. On off into obscurity. I have no doubt. He's still ministering somewhere. Knowing this man knowing his heart still bringing life to the needy still available.

Still responding and probably still working miracles. But the bible doesn't tell us about that. 45 years almost half a century. We don't know if he's alive or dead. I call attention to that because that's part of the last picture we get of the man that looks like jesus.

Usually he'll make quite a splash in his entrance. Into ministry launch out and god will greatly use him and he'll have notable miracles and god will call attention to those. But if he's really a man like jesus like the old lamp lighter.

He's going to fade away and the only thing that'll be left behind are the lights. That he lit along the way and cleansing the leper and floating axe heads and raising the dead. As you move on that sort of gives way to spiritual miracles.

Now those are spiritual too. But in other words. Now we see elisha predicting the future. And we see elisha warning about the tactics of the enemy. And we see elisha praying for the servants of god that their eyes would be open.

And we see a story of elisha when he's not even there and someone else is telling his testimony To somebody and god is using that in a mighty way even in the first five years. He's been fading away and fading away and fading away.

And it's only at the end of the story. He appears again. In order that we might have this climactic look at the man that looks like jesus this summary look at the message. That god has entrusted to him and to us as the servants of the lord.

Even in this final symbolic act. He doesn't work a miracle he just think if they're really conformed to christ go on in the lore. Visible as they go on in the lore. And their ministry is going to become more and more dramatic.

As they go on in the lord in christ understand the heart and the ways of god. But he always goes to glory through the way of the cross. And the further you go on in the lord the more you're going to see.

To be a follower of the lamb is not to get more and more public and more and more famous and more and more Accepted. It's the other direction. As you identify with christ in his suffering his rejection and his death.

All across the bible god has written the path of the king. Is the path of the king's servant? We can't expect he's going to illustrate this exciting stories. That we've been talking about. Happened a long time ago at the beginning of elisa's life.

But now as we go on This man is fading and fading away. Now before we look at the final scene I'm going to ask you to go right back to the beginning go back to first kings. And chapter 19 if you would.

Elijah’s Calling of Elisha and God’s Discipline of Israel

If you can stay with me a little bit of the donkey work to get you in the direction of god's heart here verse 14 1st kings 1914. Now these are god's words to elijah not elisha. And the lord said to him go return on your way to the wilderness of damascus.

And when you have arrived you shall anoint hazel king over Aram if you have the king james, it says syria. It's the same thing. And jehu the son of mimshi you shall anoint king over israel and elisha.

The son of shephat of abel mahola you shall anoint as a prophet in your place. Elijah with a j Was commanded by god to anoint hazel over syria. Jehu over israel and elisha as a prophet in his place. Now there's no record in the bible that he ever did that.

Some think when he threw his mantle over elisha. Was the anointing time. A mantle was used for anointing rather than oil. I don't know if that's when he was anointed or not. Some people think that elisha just disobeyed god.

And that he died out of fellowship with god and they got all kinds of proof for that or so they think. And they just say, you know, he didn't obey the lord on that. He didn't do those three things didn't anoint those.

And he was out of fellowship and that's why he had to go to heaven from the wilderness side of jordan. Because he was all messed up by that and he got fired and elisha took his place and so on. I I don't.

I think we ought to give this man the benefit of the doubt just because it's not recorded doesn't mean it's not there. That he didn't do it. The fact that his ministry began by calling down fire from heaven.

And then the first kings one remember three times. He said if i'm a man of god let fire come down. And it ended the same way. And if he was in trouble through his discouragement. He certainly was fully restored at the end.

And so I just and it doesn't bother me if there was a double anointing. Because that's been done in the bible. And so I don't know if he anointed the point i'm making. Is these three men or these two men hazel?

And jehu. Anoint them. And they come up again now in elisha's ministry. I assume that elijah anointed them, but now we have another Second kings if you'll turn there, please. And verse 13 and you can't read my mind.

I should told hazel The lord has shown me. You will be king over is syria. Now did that amount to an anointing? I don't know but clearly with jehu chapter 9 verse 1 elisha instructs one of the sons of the prophet.

To take a flask of oil and anoint jehu. And if you'll look down at verse 6, you'll see that it actually happened. Now what's that all about and how does it lead up to the final event? You see elisha was called to be a prophet to israel.

To the 10 tribes in the north. To the idolatrous tribe want to hear those that said no to the lord. And he was faithful to do that he went north. And he gave the message nobody was listening or few were listening.

And they were resisting and rejecting. And to deal with god's people. When the people keep saying no to the lord and no to the lord. And god's going to chase him. Well to chase in them. He's gone going to deal with them from the outside.

And from the inside he decided to use syria. And anoint hazel the king over syria. And he was going to use that foreign land As a whip spank his people and they would come down from the north syria. In order to deal with this rebellious people god's dealings have to do with Chastening from within and so to deal from within he said anoint jehu over israel.

And I don't know if you've ever studied jehu, but this was one wicked man. He was a terrible terrible person. And he was anointed to wipe out the idolatrous house of ahab. And you can read the record.

It'll make your blood curdle When you see how cruel And how heartless this man was how bloodthirsty As he got this anointing from the lord and went through and cleaned house in israel. I don't want to take time to show you All the brutality that the foreign weapon the foreign enemy Gave to israel and I don't want to take time to show the brutality from within.

I want to call attention to the man who looks like jesus. And I think you'll see it if you focus on one verse. If you'll turn to second kings 8 11 anointing hazel. This is the verse. He fixed his gaze steadily on him.

Until he was ashamed. And the man had called him to minister to israel. Who I want my people knowing jehu. And I got a deal with my people roughly. Anoints hazel jesus wept over jerusalem. He saw in advance not one stone left on another.

He knew what was coming. And he knew as he anointed this man what this man was going to do with his army to god's people. And it broke his for 45 years. Don't see the man of god. And the next time we see him He's weeping over jerusalem.

He's weeping because of something he has to do and he hates it. He doesn't want to do this has to do it in the anoint hazel and the man of god Wept then he sends his servants that go out and anoint him and as soon as you put the oil on him.

You run. He didn't even stay. He just poured the oil on him and he ran. And one reason he ran was he was so anxious to start his dirty work. As soon as the oil was dripping from his head. He felt assurance from god that he had the right to do it and he went through and god's people society in this Psychological age.

Well, that's sort of what it was here. He didn't have this attitude. I've been preaching now for almost a half a century and you're not listening to me. Let god judge you. No skin off my nose. You're going to reject my message.

You deserve what you get. That wasn't his attitude at all. He wasn't hard. He was filled with the love of the lord pounding in his heart. And with a broken heart he anoints hazel. He anoints jim. This is one of the great evidences of a man That looks like jesus.

A woman that looks like jesus. He begins to identify with christ in his suffering with christ in his cross. Not only by being rejected. Rejecting who go on to be with the lord and and those who are followers of the lamb.

They're not only rejected the lord. They're also rejecting. Sometimes they have to be but with a broken heart. They have to be severe. Protect. We don't want them to be severely dealt with. But if you're like jesus, you want whatever it takes to bring them around.

I think some christian parents Need to learn from god how to anoint hazel and jehu. I think some elders need to Understand what it means to anoint jehu and hazel with a broken heart. Sometime you gotta be tough.

And sometime you gotta be god's instrument of chastening. We must be willing to let god use us and so this weeping prophet now. After 45 years god brings him back on the scene. He said You want to know what the man that looks like jesus looks like?

Look at him. And he stands there. This is our next look. And he just cries. He just weeps. Because his heart is so burdened. For the people of god, that's our first look at the man. Our first last look at the man.

The Lord’s Arrow of Victory

He's fading away fading away fading away. He comes on the scene and we see him with a broken heart. What's the message look like? Turn if you would to second kings 13. Elisha became sick with the illness with which he was to die.

Joash the king of israel came down to him and wept over him and said my father. My father the chariots of israel and its horsemen. Elisha said to him take a bow and arrows. So he took a bow and arrows.

And he said to the king of israel put your hand on the bow. And he put his hand on it and elisha laid his hand on the king's hand. He said open the window toward the east. And he opened it. And elisha said shoot.

And he shot. And he said the lord's arrow of victory. Even the arrow of victory over syria. You'll defeat the syrians at aphek until you've destroyed them. Then he said take the arrows and he took that.

And he said to the king of israel strike the ground. And he struck it three times and stopped. The man of god was angry with him. He said you should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck aram or syria until you would have destroyed it.

But now you shall strike syria only three times or don't you work and we'll get to the heart of the lord. Symbolic act in two parts. Shoot the arrow. Strike the ground. What's that all about? Let me give you the political background here and it's in the earlier chapters anointing of hazel and jhu.

Quite a bit of time has passed. And i'll tell you israel is syria. Inside jhu has gone through and he has done a terrible work on the inside. More than 20 years have passed. And israel has been beaten badly.

This is the chastening of the lord the king who came to visit Elisha here joe ash or jehoash grandson of jhu. Quite a few years have passed. After jhu did his cleansing his son Jehoahaz took over and after jehoahaz then now comes his grandson.

So joash is now the king in israel. Hazel of syria. That the lord used to chasten him from the outside. He's also gone. At this time syria was the number one political enemy of israel. They had Enacted a series of invasions.

First they had gone from the north all the way to the south. Chapter 12 describes it victory after victory as syria moves on and and takes. The philistines down at the in the south and then they turn toward judah.

As they're coming up north. Chapter 12 verse 17 Talks about their move toward judah. And they kept closing in and tightening the net as they attacked god's people. You look in chapter 12 verse 17 and 18 and you'll see to stay alive.

Judah paid a great tribute. Just to stay alive. They took all the sacred things and the gold out of the temple of the lord and just paid them off just to stay alive. And then syria made its move toward jerusalem.

Chapter 13 3 Shows how over and over again god kept giving syria victory after victory. Until the army of israel is reduced. Look at it chapter 13 7. He left to jehoahaz. Of the army not more than 50 horsemen.

10 chariots 10 ,000 footmen. For the king of syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust of threshing. Don't read this history. La la la. Enter into it picture it of the as the united states.

What if our armed forces? To 10 chariots reduced to 10 chariots. 10 ,000 foot soldiers. That's the whole army. I'll tell you the situation was bad when joash became king. Don't get the idea that joash is seeking the lord because he goes to the prophet's house.

He's not seeking the lord. This is an ungodly man. He could care less about the lord. Look at verse 11 chapter 13. He did evil in the sight of the lord. He did not turn away from all the sins of jeroboam.

This guy's an idolater. This guy's a wicked man. His purpose for coming to elisha was all selfishness. He's a king and he looks at his army. He's got 10 chariots left that's his whole army. And syria's closing in.

And they're still wounded from the civil war that took place on the inside. This is a mess in israel and this king Is now reduced his whole army just got a paucity of troops. He doesn't know what to do.

He's devastated. And his idea is this he's up there in the oval office and he looks out and he sees his army and and it's all bad. News and syria keeps coming and coming and coming. And he thinks about the prophet.

You know how people turn to religion when they're in trouble these foxhole christians. And or somebody uh, we're in trouble now. Maybe the lord's going to help us. And that's where he was. This was his last hope.

There's not one drop of evidence knew Elisha was sick sick prophet. He heard he was sick and maybe gonna pay him a little call. No way. That's his last hope. Maybe elisha can call on god or something because we're in trouble.

We have no army. We're gonna be wiped out. And so he goes down there because that's his last hope. And what happens when a man that knocks at the door. And he finds out that his last hope is dying is dying.

And that's why he went to this prophet's house. He didn't know what to do. And now his last hope is dying. The last time a king Knocked out this prophet's door was in chapter 6 32. Again, if you would at verses 14 to 19 Two parts to this object lesson shoot the arrow verse 17 verse 18.

Lesson that symbolic act very summarizes the entire message of the man that looks like jesus. What's the truth behind? The expression shoot the arrow verse 17. It's explained the lord's arrow of victory.

There's the explanation for that one and so the first part of the object lesson is this. Victory belongs to the lord. It's the lord's arrow of victory look to the lord when he shot out east. I thought why doesn't he shoot north?

That's where syria is. What's he doing shooting out the east window? Well, he's shooting east because of if you read the record. Uh, that's where syria as they're moving up. That was the scene of their last victory.

So they're shooting in the direction of syria. And it's the lord's victory. God was saying that's always been my message victory. It's him. It's the lord. That was the first part of his message. What's the?

Message behind strike the ground. Now folks that are percent certain how this happened some people think that he had a handful of arrows from his quiver and and The command was strike the ground. So he took the arrows in his hand and strike the ground.

Others say no that doesn't fit the hebrew. The hebrew in there strike the ground smite. The ground has to do with shooting an arrow. And as he shot out toward the east the arrow of the lord's victory.

He was to lean out the window and shoot into the ground. Not at an enemy but straight down into the ground. Well, whether smite the ground means hit them with arrows or shoot arrows into the ground the principle doesn't change.

It's the same principle whichever position you take you say. What is represented by that. I think The earth strike the earth represents. I can't get too deep on these things. I think it's The earth. I think it's the world.

I think it's words. We talk about the flesh. And the world and that kind of thing. I think what he was saying is and smite the earth. Don't trust yourself. He's saying if the world just represents the earth the world this this world smite that that needs to be smitten.

You need to trust the lord and stop trusting man. Put your trust in the lord and have no confidence in man. Are you familiar with the very center verse of the bible? The very middle verse of the bible right in the middle of the bible.

It's psalm 118 verse 8 and 9. If you count verses before and after exactly equal now, I know verses came later. I'm not saying this is inspired but listen Psalm 118 8 and 9 the center verse of the bible.

It's better to take refuge in the lord Than to trust in man. It's better to take refuge in the lord Than to trust in princes. Well that happens to be the center verse of the bible. I know it's the central message of the bible.

And I think it's the object lesson that elisha's doing here trust in the lord. Don't put any confidence in man. Verse 16 when He told him to shoot the arrow out the window. This sick old prophet got up out of his bed and he went over and as the man pulled the string He the prophet put his hand on his hand.

And his hand on the string. So now you got two people. I remember trying to teach lillian to play golf. And she would hold the club. Of course. I was courtner at the time. And so I had to teach her how to hold the club.

First time I ever took her golfing I had a brand new driver. I never used it never brand spanking new spaulding driver. And she threw it in the reservoir. She took a swing and it was gone. And there went my driver.

Some say that the prophet put his hand on the prophets on the king's hand in order to illustrate that the king was in a Situation where he had to put himself under the authority of the prophet. And now the prophet is the one calling the shot.

And he can't shoot until the prophet says shoot and he can't let go until the prophet says let go and this idea. It's amazing how many commentaries hold that. But I think it goes against the character of this man.

It implies that he's putting himself under the submission of the man of god. And there's nothing in the record. This is a wicked man and There's no repentance that I can see in his heart in his life. And I can't believe he's submitting onto this man of god at all.

Uh, I don't doubt when he said in verse 14 my father my father. The chariots of israel and its horsemen. I think he recognized That the strength of a nation lies in its spiritual leadership. And when he saw his last hope dying, he just went.

Oh, no. Now, what am I going to do now? Even the prophet is dying. I think he recognized that but I don't think for a moment That this wicked king put himself under the submission. What was intended by elisha putting his hand on that.

I can't be a hundred percent on this, but here's what I think it is. Elisha is saying listen for 50 years i've been ministering in this nation. And for 50 years i've only had one mate one message. Trust the lord and smite the earth.

That's been my whole message. Trust the lord. Don't trust man. Trust the lord. Don't trust yourself. And now here we go again at the end you want to hear the message again, all right trust the lord and don't.

And smite the earth and as he held it, I think what he was saying. He didn't use these words. But I think what he was saying is this. You're not always going to have the man of god around to hold your hand.