Today we close this brief series on Elisha and I want to focus on the parallels between Elisha being a disciple of Elijah (obviously God) and our being disciples of Jesus. Some may say, “Yeah but I’m not called to be a prophet or evangelist, or church planter or miracle worker”. And that may be true, but what is also true is that if you are a true believer you have been given this amazing gift of the Holy Spirit, God living in you. And the main point I want us to meditate on is the idea that there is really no difference in capability between us, Elisha, or the early disciples of Jesus.
Elisha does miracles with the widow and the Shunemite woman in our text today. Elijah his mentor did basically the exact same miracles in a slightly different way back in 1 Kings, but let’s hear what happens in the first miracle 2 Kings chapter 4… widow’s oil …Very similar to what Elijah did with the flour and oil. We know God has a special place in his heart for widows and children. He wants us all to take care of them, and if that means performing miracles through us, so be it.
But the main thing I want you to see here in all these miracles, is the incredible faith. Let me just ask you, if you and your family were starving to death (I know this is hard for us to even imagine), and there was no one around who had anything to feed you with. You had one can of ravioli in your cupboard and you knew there was no way you would be able to get any more food for a long time, and I told you to go heat up that can of ravioli in a pot, and go out on the sidewalk and sell a couple hundred bowls of it form this one can, to people walking or driving by until you had enough money to buy a months worth of groceries, would you even go do it?
I think you would look at me funny and say why on earth did I go to him for help, that’s one strange benevolence ministry? Maybe if you were so desperate that your kids would be sold off as slaves or you and they would die this week if you didn’t do something, you might give it a try.
But there are three things about a disciple of God that I want to point out from this story.
I. Disciples help those who are truly in need
II. Disciples have to be open to taking strange steps of faith
III. Disciples build faith in others through their faith
Now the next story is even more amazing. Back in 1 Kings 17, Elijah brings a child back from the dead by laying on him, and here in 2 Kings, Elisha brings a child back from the dead by stretching himself over the child (Read/summarize).
If you were trying to raise someone from the dead (something most of us would not even try), is that how you would go about it? I think what we see in both of these raising miracles is the prophet giving his life to the child. Most of us if we were willing to try would probably lay our hands on the person and start praying like crazy right? We would do what we think is the most logical thing to do based on what we’ve seen.
This is how you heal someone. But for some reason God instructed these prophets to do something kind of strange, and by faith they obeyed the odd request. That is a characteristic of all these miracles, the disciples following a strange command in order to perform a miracle for someone in extreme need. The point is:
I. Disciples obey even when it doesn’t make sense
Even before the healing though, simply having the child was a miracle. And this one is very interesting. Elisha doesn’t really do the miracle, but he has great faith that God will, and he makes a promise that would be really scary. Would you be willing to make the promise that Elisha did to this woman. She even kind of rebukes him. “Please don’t get my hopes up by making a promise you can’t deliver.”
Now I am going to tell you right off that if one of the senior couples in our congregation came up to me and desperately wanted a son, I would probably not promise that God would give them one next year. I believe it happened in the Bible a couple times, I believe God could do it, but I’m not sure I believe he would do it for me if I asked. And I would be very afraid that if I promised it, it might not happen, and my faith and the faith of those around me would be diminished. So I would probably not even try, of course in most cases I doubt it would be God’s will anyway.
The same is often true with healing. Why do we in the church though, hesitate to do biblical things according to God’s promises in an effort to get miracles? We read what Jesus said in John 14 now hear what He said in John 16, “At that time (after the resurrection) you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant you your request because you use my name. You haven’t done this before. Ask using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy”…
“At that time you will ask in my name. I’m not saying I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God”. Two important things there for answered prayer, love and belief. Why do we have trouble believing this promise? Probably because in the past we took a chance on this promise and God didn’t come through right? But did you really believe it would happen when you asked because you have a deep, trusting, love relationship with Jesus? Or were you just giving it a try because the Bible says so.
I believe if we are praying and we would be surprised if the prayer actually gets answered, then we are not praying with complete faith in Jesus name, we are praying with doubt, and God knows this, he sees our heart. He wants us to pray in such a way that we would truly be surprised if he didn’t come through. He wants us to trust Him and know Him that much like He was our own physical parent. When you’re a kid and you go ask your parent for something, you usually know without a doubt that they can give it to you, the only question you have is whether they will at that time or not right?
Think about it from that passage in John. Yeah you have to believe who I am, and He says, God will do it because you have loved me. Stop there, what does that mean noting that it is past tense?
Well, his disciples completely left everything behind and devoted their lives to him. It wasn’t so much because they felt love for him (he hadn’t really sacrificed for them yet), but it was because they sacrificially followed him. That is the love Jesus describes in the Bible. Obediently following Him.
So they loved him with action, and they believed that he came from God. Here’s a real key for us. I don’t think many of us have a problem believing in our head that Jesus came from the Father, but I’m not sure we really understand what that means, and believe in our heart that God is who he says he is. We don’t know Him that deeply as our parent.
What do I mean? If God is the creator and sustainer of all things in the universe. If he is really all powerful, and all knowing, then is anything impossible for Him? If Jesus came from the Father, is anything impossible for Him? If we really believe (meaning completely trust) that Jesus came from the Father and the Father is who he says he is, than we can trust everything Jesus said right? Everything!
Now back to John 14. “If you love me, obey everything I say” (because love means following me above all else). He says this three times and makes a promise each time. The promises are that you will receive the Holy Spirit who will never leave you. Do we believe the Holy Spirit is fully God? He says we know him and he will be in us.
Next promise, My Father will love you, and I will love you and reveal myself to you. And the third promise, My Father will love you and we will come and make a home with you. Is he just talking about the second coming here? No, he’s talking about after his resurrection when he will be seen in his glorified body on earth, and comes again after his ascension to live in us through the Holy Spirit before he comes bodily the second time.
The verse we missed there in Jn 14 is important, it says in verse 20, “In that day (what day?) when I am raised to life again and you have received eternal life, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” Logically then, what’s impossible for us with Jesus living in us? Do we have faith that God lives in us? Do we believe everything Jesus said? Yes the disciples had trouble believing all this until the Holy Spirit came. But they didn’t afterwards. And there’s my next point,
II. Disciples believe everything Jesus said
If God doesn’t come through on a prayer when to do so would clearly be in line with His will, is he a liar, or is it more likely something about us? Before his resurrection and ascension, and sending of His Spirit, Jesus rebuked his closest disciples on more than one occasion for their lack of faith.
I don’t want to be one of those people who say that if you don’t get healed it’s because you don’t have enough faith. But if you’re honest, when you prayed those prayers, or had prayers prayed over you, did you really believe God would do what the prayers were asking? Or were you doubtfully kind of hoping he would because you were doing what the Bible said. That is not the relationship He wants.
Belief is different than hope. We hope the doctor cares about us and will give us what we need to heal, but we know (which is what this belief means) that our parent will do anything it takes to help us. Do we hope Jesus is the son of God and that his death and resurrection gave us forgiveness and eternal life, or do we believe it, trust it, know it. I am asking you these questions because I am ask myself these questions and I have to say, my honest answers sometimes disappoint me. I’m not any different from you.
When Elisha made this promise to the Shunemite women, what do you think was his state of mind? “O God, now I’ve done it, please, please don’t make me look like a fool and disappoint this poor woman, why didn’t I keep my mouth shut”.
When he threw himself on the dead boy, was he saying well, “I’ll give this crazy thing a try and see what happens, what have I got to lose, he can’t get any deader?” I don’t think so, and I don’t think that was the attitude of the first century disciples who were performing miracles all over the place. They had extreme confidence in Him and the fact that His Spirit lived in them. That kind of belief is contagious.
Now it’s likely this boy died from a stroke or brain aneurysm, a problem with blood circulation to his brain. His mother was not content with just the servant coming, she wanted Elisha himself to come because she knew he was the man of God, and it was him who promised this son. I guess in a way she was holding him accountable to his promise. She believed God could do this thing through Elisha and she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Elisha closes the door, this is not to be a spectacle, and no one else knew the boy was dead. He lays on the boy as he saw his mentor Elijah do, and feels the circulation come back, the boy’s body gets warm again, he’s alive again. Why did he get up and come back a second time though? We can’t know for sure, but it doesn’t seem like that was his intention from the beginning.
Here’s what I believe. He felt the warmth come back and maybe thought the healing was done, but the boy didn’t regain consciousness, so he got up walked a bit and no doubt prayed some more. He wasn’t ready to give up and tell the mother, “Well the best I could do was make him warm and leave him in a coma”. He likely got another revelation from God to do it again and then the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
This reminds me of one of Jesus healings of the blind man in Mark chapter 8. Jesus spits on the man’s eyes and lays his hands on him, the man opens his eyes, and the man says he can see but the people look like trees walking (those of you who wear glasses can maybe relate). Then Jesus laid his hands on the eyes again, and full sight was restored. What this shows me is that even Jesus was continually getting instruction, and sometimes had to adjust as he was doing something based on the Father’s direction.
But why does it say this boy sneezed seven times and then opened his eyes? Why does that have to be in there? This is just conjecture on my part but I know that one of the things a person should do if they are having a heart attack is cough. Apparently this helps open the vessels around the heart with the pressure that it creates.
Well here Elisha feels the circulation come back to the body, but there is no consciousness, so could it be possible that when he laid back down on the boy God caused the boy to sneeze to help get the blood flowing in the brain after this stroke or aneurysm? Seven times just being that great perfect number that suggests complete healing?
By the way, did you know that after Elisha died their was a battle and a dead soldier got accidentally thrown into Elisha’s grave, and as soon as he touched Elisha’s bones he came back to life and stood up? Elisha raised the dead even after he died. Is that a symbol of Jesus or what?
The final point,
III. Disciples persevere in faith
And clearly they must continually be in close fellowship with God to hear his voice as he gives ongoing commands. So it made me wonder. If Jesus says God will answer any prayer in Jesus name, then these other truths that Jesus himself told us also must be in the formula. We must completely believe everything Jesus says, and continually obey everything he says even when it doesn’t make sense to us.
Is this possible? Maybe that’s not the right question because it brings doubt into the equation right away. Maybe the question should be, does God have an obligation to answer our prayers if we don’t believe Him and don’t obey Him? Again he is not a fairy godfather who wants us to always have what we want. And people will die physically, he doesn’t raise everybody physically from the dead until the end.
He is the mighty creator of the universe and holder of all truth and life, whose will is the only thing that really matters. He bought us at a terrible price out of undeserved love and mercy, and owes us absolutely nothing. Should we expect any more out of Him, especially if we are so-so in our belief and obedience?
But let’s ask it anyway. Is it possible to believe everything Jesus says, and obey everything he commands? The answer has to logically be yes. If he says we can and commands us to do so, why would it not be possible? Can we be sinless in our heart, no, can we be perfect, no, but can we believe and be obedient, of course we can. Just because we don’t doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Behaviour is always a product of our will, so it’s a decision whether we are going to follow God’s behavioural commands or not.
If you really want to cook something from a great recipe, will you follow the recipe to a tee? If you want to harvest a successful crop will you prepare the soil, plant the seed, apply the necessary chemicals, and attempt to harvest the crop with minimal waste? Of course. When we really want something, it’s no problem to believe the instructions and the stated outcome, and obey those instructions to get that outcome.
Elisha is a great disciple and miracle worker and prophet why? Because he is perfect and sinless? No, only Jesus can claim that. It is because he saw God work as he apprenticed and was discipled by Elijah, because he believed what God said, and he was obedient to God’s instructions even when they didn’t make sense. If you look at every other successful disciple in the Bible you can say the same thing about them.
Jesus gives us commands through the Bible but we must remember that he is also living in us through the Holy Spirit and he clearly gives us instructions in a personal way that we must follow as well.
Let me close with a quick example. A few weeks before Easter we had a very emotional service and I felt that I should give a call for people to come up for prayer. As the last song was playing, I clearly sensed that I shouldn’t do it that week but next the week instead. That didn’t make sense, everyone seemed to be in the appropriate emotional state right then and this would a perfect time in my mind. But I didn’t do it and instead told the congregation I would give that opportunity the following week.
Well, I did and I couldn’t believe it when people started coming up in numbers I didn’t expect at all. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had given the call the previous week. Maybe some of the people who came up weren’t there that Sunday. Maybe some people who came up wouldn’t have had the courage that previous Sunday, I don’t know. All I know is that I did what I sensed God was telling me against what my feelings and thoughts were telling me made more sense. That’s usually when I know its God because it doesn’t make sense to me. And that Sunday 11 people came up for prayer and some got healed, and I’m sure others are on their way.
The reason we need to know the Word of God and be around other active mature believers on a regular basis, is so that we can know God’s heart, know his revealed commands, and see Him at work even in other people’s lives. Then when we hear a word from God, we can be confident that it is Him and that he will come through. That is faith, believing, knowing, trusting, and acting upon that believing, knowing, and trusting. Faith activates God to keep His promises, because he made the promises, but so did we when we claimed the blood of Christ, didn’t we? Let’s make sure we keep our promises if we expect Him to keep His.
