2 Kings 4:32-35 KJV And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. [33] He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the LORD. [34] And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. [35] Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
l. THE STORY SURROUNDING 2 KINGS 4
-There is a Scripture that appears very early in this story that sets the tone for this lady’s impact on her family.
2 Kings 4:8 -- “8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.”
-The writer inserts a word there when describing this woman. He says that she was a “great” woman.
-What was it that made this woman great? She discovered the ability to not allow her surroundings to dictate to her where the real source of greatness came from. Even in a life that was no doubt very busy, she never allowed the little duties of her life to relegate her to being little.
-She was gifted with a kind heart that while her focus was centered on her home, she reached out to a world that needed her beyond her four walls.
-As one reads the story laid out to us in 2 Kings 4, we find that this great woman had an incredible sense of self-control. How quiet she was in all the tests of life that came to here. It stands as an excellent display of her inner character. But there would come a day in her life in which every fiber of her soul would be tested.
A. The History of the Child
-We find that the prophet Elisha was traveling through the land of Shunem one day and having stopped in at this little home, he was given a great meal by this little lady. Soon it became a ritual that as he came through the country, he would stop in and have a meal with this family from Shunem. There were just two in this little family, the great woman and her husband.
-After several visits, Elisha returned and found himself very surprised that this family had built a small little room for the wandering prophet. When he came to visit, he would not only find a table to eat but also a room for rest and comfort.
-So the man of God determined one day to return blessing for blessing. His request came: What can I do for this family? It was then that the answer came almost as a lightning bolt from heaven, this couple was childless and so Elisha pronounced a promise that a child would soon grace their home.
-And so it was that some time later, a small baby entered the home. As the years rapidly flew by, I am sure that as Elisha traveled through Shunem that over the course of the years he had come to enjoy the friendship of this young man. But as one reads in 2 Kings 4:18, this young man went out one day to work with the reapers.
-There are times when everything goes on smoothly, and one day is like another. Again, there are times when changes come, and whole years of joy and sorrow may be concentrated into a single day. So it was in the house at Shunem. When Elisha came (v. 8) it was a joyous time. When the child was born (v. 17) it was a joyous time. But the most memorable of all those days was that day when the only son was lost and found; was dead, and received back to life again.
-It took no more than a moment for the brightest day to become suddenly clouded with disaster. The day was quickly darkened by sorrow and the shadow of death.
-There came a cry in the middle of innocent work in the field. Life was progressing well. Yet surrounded here seemingly in a safe environment trouble struck. Working in the simplicity and purity of the farm in the countryside a major problem occurred.
-The young man had left home that morning running full on life but was brought in from the fields nearly cold and lifeless.
-Only one complaint had issued from the young man’s mouth: My head, My head!!!
-The Bible tells us that her only child died. 2 Kings 4:21 states that even after the child died that her response was almost unfathomable in the moment of grief. But even in the midst of her trouble this woman was a great woman. This woman, great in her lot in life and also great in her ability to handle trouble.
-I ask you:
• Find the man who has walked across the hot Sahara desert, when you find him, you will find blisters on his feet.
• Find the man who has carried a burden of grief, when you find him, you will find his shoulders bent from his burden.
• Find the man who has sailed the seas in the great ships, when you find him, he will tell of the storms that he has weathered in life.
-There is no garden of comfort here in this world. Every garden of comfort soon finds that trouble will hitch up a muscular team of oxen and tear up and turn over the land with a burning plow of disaster.
-If we think that we can hoard our lives away from hurt and difficulty, we are only living in a pipe dream. Trouble forces it’s way into every man’s life regardless of where he sits.
-Suddenly the promise was dead.
• The promise had been alive last week.
• The promise had been well yesterday.
• The promise had appeared healthy at breakfast.
• The promise had walked into the fields.
-But now the promise was dead. The very light of this woman’s life was now dead. Now what she had gained from the Lord was gone. In the very budding of this young man’s life, all was suddenly lost.
-The severest problems may come. With their entry into our lives, the sudden visitation of a trial can change every plan and course of action that we may have. The place where reason and logic are completely destroyed.
-Now what had been prophetically promised was dead. What do you do when your promise is dead?
B. The Call For the Prophet
-This great woman in her distress knew of only one thing to do: pray and send for the prophet. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.
-So for the first time the room of the prophet becomes the chamber of death. Her sorrow was great and her grief palpable.
In the old days, an artist invited a close friend to come to his studio to see a painting just completed. He came at the time appointed but instead of being ushered into the studio, he was placed in a very dark room. He waited for fifteen minutes and when his friend returned, he greeted him cordially and then took him to his art gallery. Before the man left, the artist spoke to him and said, “I suppose you think it very strange that I took you to the dark room and left you for so long. But I knew that with the glare of the street in your eyes you could not appreciate the fine colors within the picture. So I left you in the dark room until your eyes could adjust and the glare had been worn out of your eyes.”
-So it is that God sometimes puts His children in the dark rooms of life so that we may be able to see the beauty of heavenly things that are otherwise often hidden from our lives.
-This lady rode a donkey to mount Carmel to find the prophet. Now her dead promise becomes the prophet’s dead promise.
ll. THE PROPHET’S ACTIONS
-When Elisha came in contact with this severe grief from this Shunamite he was deeply moved. With this knowledge of the dead child a series of events began to appear with the prophet.
-What do you do when something that you have prophesied into being dies? The now dead child was something that Elisha had received from God. The anguish and loss of a dead promise is often the most difficult cross to bear.
• A dead dream.
• A dead vision.
• A dead hope.
-Have you ever felt something so near to you that had seemingly died?
A. A Substitute and A Subordinate – 2 Kings 4:29
2 Kings 4:29 KJV Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.
-So Elisha decided that the thing to do was to send Gehazi on ahead with the staff to lay on the dead promise. When the staff was laid upon this young boy, Elisha expected healing to occur. But it was not to be.
-There is something about a substitutes and subordinates in our lives that will never work. If you do not believe that, look no further than Nadab and Abihu in the book of Leviticus. They decided to offer strange fire on the altar, that which was not authentic and it cost them their lives.
-There are yet others who were willing to try with substitutes and subordinates:
• Satan began the trial in the Garden of Eden by attempting to modify God’s commandments.
• Cain followed up the idea and substituted the fruit of his own labor for the designated lamb as a sinner’s offering.
• Saul was anointed king over Israel but forfeited that honor when he offered a forbidden sacrifice.
-Each of these proved to be a curse as well as a failure.
-Elisha’s command to Gehazi to lay the staff on the child caused the miracle to miscarry.
-Part of the problem was with the man who held the staff. Gehazi was a far less man than the prophet Elisha. The bad man spoils whatever he touches. In the hands of Gehazi, Elisha’s staff became nothing more than a common stick.
-Nothing happened.
B. A Stretched Out Prophet – 2 Kings 4:34
2 Kings 4:34 KJV And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.
-Next the prophet, stretched himself out on the boy. He covered what was dead and reached out until nothing was left. If we are to impact our world, we will have to cover what is dead and reach out with every fiber within us.
-It was uncomfortable. It was unorthodox. It was awkward. But it was what God wanted to begin the stages of an incredible miracle.
-When the prophet covered the dead body of the child there was something that began to happen. The Bible declares that warmth began to spread into the body of the dead child.
-The living Church has not yet stretched herself, Elisha-like, on the dead body whom she is praying for. She is going to have to grope into the alleys and avenues of the city. She is going to have to wade into broken families. She is going to have to go down into the garages of the mechanics. She is going to have to go into the construction of the carpenters. She is going to have to stretch toward the merchants in the shops. She is needed to extend into the fields of the farmers. She is to go wherever there are people who are lost.
-There is something powerful that happens when a covering is involved. Numerous examples in the Bible give us this understanding.
• Job 40:22 – The covering became a place of refreshing.
• Psalm 91:4 – The covering became a place of protection.
• Psalm 109:29 – The covering became a place of confusion for the enemies of God.
• 1 Peter 4:8 – The covering of love cleanses a multitude of sins.
• 1 Corinthians 11 – A covering of hair brings the power of angels.
-One can also understand:
• A covering of grace.
• A covering of mercy.
• A covering of God’s goodness.
• A covering of healing.
• A covering of deliverance.
• A covering of power.
• A covering of blood.
-The covering began to bring warmth back into the dead promise. And yet that still was not enough.
1. God’s Nothings
-Still after this covering there was nothing. You have to live through God’s “nothings” to get something.
• The woman with the issue of blood had 11 years, 364 days of nothings before she touched the hem of the garment.
• The servant of the prophet went six trips of nothing before the last trip when he found a cloud the size of a man’s hand.
• The man Namaan had six dips of nothing before that seventh dip that cleansed him.
-There are times that it seems like that the miracle is stalling out and it will not come to pass but the glory of God can cover this earth and so much can happen when we will go again and be persistent enough about what we desire for God to do.
-Before that dead promise is going to be restored to life, there has to be a stubborn persistence that says like the old song, “I would not be denied, till Jesus came and made me whole.”
C. The Second Stretching – 2 Kings 4:35
2 Kings 4:35 KJV Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
-The old prophet prayed and stretched himself out again on this dead promise. There are moments that we all want to abandon hope and give up, but I urge you to go at it one more time, because there is something going on at a level under the surface that you cannot see.
-There is a certain warmth that is beginning to ease back into the soul. With that warmth there is going to be a recall of life again.
-It was the most minute of responses but it was something that had not been experienced before. It was a sneeze. It did not look like a miracle. It did not sound like a miracle. It did not smell like a miracle. But it was a miracle anyway.
-Men do not define miracles, God does. It was a sneeze.
• It was not a wall falling.
• It was not a river parting.
• It was not manna falling from heaven.
• It was not wine coming from water.
• It was not a stone being hurled from a sling.
• It was not a gate being carried away.
• It was not the sun standing still.
• It was not the sundial being reversed.
-It was a simple sneeze, in fact it was seven simple sneezes.
• It was very simple. Nothing is more simple than a sneeze. A sneeze is so involuntary. As a rule we sneeze not because we will it but because we must. No education, talent, or instruction is needed.
• It was not very musical but it was enough.
• It was not much but the sound was enough for Elisha that it signified life restored.
-The dead promise was once again living and breathing. It once again was going to have purpose breathed back into it again.
lll. CONCLUSION
-Fast forward 11 years and you will find an incident in 2 Kings 9. Elisha needs someone to anoint a king.
-Tradition states and some Rabbinical teachings hold (The Pulpit Commentary, The Biblical Illustrator, and Keil and Delitsch) that this young man whom was chosen by the prophet to anoint the new king is the same young man whom life had been restored to in 2 Kings 4.
-A dead promise now brings a living anointing to a new king.
-That king will destroy one of Israel’s most difficult problems: Jezebel.
-This scenario opens up a huge window of insight into the sovereignty of God and His purpose for the earth.
-It does not matter that 20 years may have passed since the prophecy of Jezebel’s demise has been foretold. When God gets ready, He can awaken and dead promise and bring a living anointing to every portion of our lives.
-This knowledge should cause a work of faith to leap within our own souls. It is very apparent to me that what God starts, He is well able to finish.
Philip Harrelson
January 25, 2004
barnabas14@juno.com
