His Place the the History of Redemption

Introduction to the Series and Elisha's Commission

0:03 How will you follow in your own Bibles as I read this evening from the book of 1 Kings, 1 Kings, and chapter 19, 1 Kings, chapter 19.

0:21 Those of you familiar with this portion of the Word of God will remember that God has manifested His power in a very striking way upon Mount Carmel in answer to the prayers of the prophet Elijah. The drought which has plagued the land has been broken, and then the narrative goes on in the first verse of chapter 19, and Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods be with you. And let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to bear Sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree, and requested for himself that he might...

1:32 that he might die, and said, It is enough now, O Lord. Take away my life, for I am not better than my father's. And he lay down and slept under a juniper tree. And behold, an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.

1:52 And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake, bacon on the coals, and a cruise of water. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount of God.

2:23 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword.

2:48 And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by. And a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and break in pieces the rock before Jehovah.

3:12 But Jehovah was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake. But Jehovah was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire.

3:24 But Jehovah was not in the fire. And after the fire a still, small voice. And it was so when Elijah heard it. That he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave.

3:42 And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left.

4:05 And they seek my life. To take it away. And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when thou comest, thou shalt anoint Haziel to be king over Syria.

4:21 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-Meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth from the sword of Haziel shall Jehu slay, and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet will I leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

4:57 So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elisha passed over unto him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elisha, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again, for what have I done to thee?

5:28 And he returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elisha, and ministered unto him.

The Purpose of Old Testament Biography in Redemptive History

5:50 Some weeks ago we completed a series of studies in the book of the prophet Jonah, a book containing the narrative of that strange and fascinating man who was called to a very strange mission, and who was made obedient by some strange dealings of God, who was called to a very strange mission, and who was made obedient by some strange dealings of God, with him, and as I discussed with my fellow elders, and sought to be sensitive to the needs of the congregation with respect to the direction of the Lord's Day evening ministry subsequent to our studies in the book of Jonah, it was their counsel that perhaps some further preaching in Old Testament biographical sections would be in the interest of the edification of the congregation, and I must say that some of the remarks, and some of the young people, and the children, prevailed very much upon my mind, because they intimated that they found the series on Jonah very profitable, and the setting forth of doctrine in the garb of biography is often much more fascinating and interesting, not only to the minds of adults, but to the minds of children as well. And so tonight we begin a series on the life and ministry of the prophet, Elisha.

7:12 Some years ago I brought some thirty, thirty-two messages on the life and ministry of that amazing man, Elijah, the predecessor of this man, Elisha, some of the events of whose life were read in your hearing tonight, and now we move to consider this great man of God, Elisha, the times in which he lived, and the ministry to which God, God called him. And because these events and circumstances covering many chapters, particularly in the book of 2 Kings, fall within the compass of 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, we should approach these chapters and these incidents with the confidence that not only are they the inspired word of God, but that they are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. In the light of such passages as 1 Corinthians chapter 10, we are warranted to take Old Testament history and to extract from that history principles which apply to us as we seek to live under the eye of God in our own generation.

8:33 We are granted to see in that history the mighty work of God, in the history of redemption, that we have not exhausted the God-intended purpose of these portions when we have merely discovered what it is that God is doing in the history of redemption at that point in the narrative, but knowing that the people of God are basically one in every age and that God is the changeless God, we are to extract those principles of God's dealings with his people and his people with himself, which then become the living word of God to our own hearts. And it will be this very activity which I trust will occupy us in the subsequent Lord's Day evenings as we examine together the record of the life and ministry of the prophet Elisha. Now what I propose to do tonight is to set the stage for our examination of some of the details of the life and ministry of this man of God. I will not preach on every incident recorded in the life of Elisha for the simple reason that I do not believe every incident is preachable and would be unto edification. So I will be selective.

9:56 Certain incidents will be extracted and expounded and applied, but we need before we come to any of the details in the narrative concerning this man of God to back off and to see the place of this man and his ministry in the overall purpose and plan of God. And so my one purpose tonight, and if under God this can be accomplished, I shall feel my labors have not been in vain, is to set Elisha in his peculiar place in the history of redemption so that when you leave tonight and think about Elisha, you will be able to place the man and his ministry against the backdrop of that particular segment of God's dealing in history as he is working out his own redemptive purposes. Now this should not be a dry nor a merely academic exercise. For the Scripture tells us in Psalm 111 and verse 2, that the works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. And since redemption is God's greatest work, there should be nothing which affords the Christian greater pleasure than to trace out the mighty work of God in redemption

11:24 as that redemption unfolds in human history. You see, it was precisely this exercise that gave birth to that tremendous expression of praise and adoration in Romans 11, 33 to 36, when the apostle was viewing the work of God in history, dealing with the Jewish nation, fulfilling his purposes for a time through that nation. And then when his purposes were accomplished, setting aside that nation in terms of its peculiar place in redemptive history, and then drawing in the Gentiles and making them the main recipients of his redemptive designs, it was after such a survey of redemptive history that he cries out, O the depth, both of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past tracing out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or being his counselor, who taught him? For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."

12:39 That was the conclusion of a history lesson. He was viewing the work of God in history as God worked out his purposes of redemption. And so I say our study tonight should not be a matter of indifference or of a mere academic exercise. It ought to be an exciting and a thrilling thing to see as we come to view the life of this man of God, that God who is the Lord of history and who is the God of redemption is at work in this historical segment bounded by the life and ministry of Elisha in order to draw from our hearts that same expression of praise. Now where do we begin then? Well, we must always begin with any survey of the life and ministry of any servant of God in the history of redemption with the ugly reality of sin's intrusion into the human race in Genesis chapter 3. No sooner had sin made its uninvited intrusion into human history but God himself comes with the wonderful promise of Genesis 3.15,

Elisha's Place in the Unfolding Drama of Redemption

13:56 I will put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And the promise is given that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent, though in the process the heel of the seed of the woman would be bruised. And in fulfillment of that promise God preserves a godly line through Seth and then through Noah until we come to Genesis chapter 12 and God singles out a man named Abraham. And he gives a promise to that man that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed.

14:38 And then God begins to form from that man a nation. And we know something of that record of the multiplication of that nation, their trial in that lengthy period in Egypt, and then God bringing them forth to the point that we find them now in our Old Testament reading in Deuteronomy. Later on He establishes them in the land under a king, David, a man after his own heart. He continues with what can only be called relentless persistence to nurture that nation because He had given a promise that in Abraham and his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed.

15:23 And it's in the interest of preserving that nation until the seed should come who is Christ and through Him blessing be dispensed to the nation that God as it were pours out all of His attention upon the nation of Israel. When we come to the section of the Old Testament in which we confront this man Elisha, we find this nation through whom that promise is to be realized in a desperate situation although there has been under the man of God Elijah a challenging of Baal worship, a challenging of idolatry and declension. This wicked man Ahab and his consort Jezebel, they are still alive and kicking, still alive and opposing the prophet of God as we read in the narrative tonight. The houses of Baal still stand. And even though many of the prophets of Baal had been slain by the brook Kishon, by the very hand of the prophet Elijah, there was still Baal worship throughout the land.

16:38 And much work of reformation, much work of judgment was yet to be fulfilled. The heathen nations like vultures were ready to pounce upon the flesh of the nation of Israel in its fragmented and declining state and at this point this great man Elijah comes on the scene. Now, what is his peculiar contribution in this great drama of redemption? Remember the promise of Genesis 3.15 that has now found expression in the promise that there would be a nation and through that nation a seed should come to bless the world. This is a matter of human redemption. And if that nation goes into oblivion the seed cannot come. Man would be left in the clutches of his sin.

Elisha's Five Peculiar Contributions to Redemptive History

17:36 No redeemer would come according to promise. So when you dip into Old Testament history and you read of days of declension, times of captivity, don't read that as just so much sordid history of bad people doing bad things. You must read that history with the realization that this is the arch enemy of God seeking to thwart, seeking to frustrate the purposes of that God who said he would bruise his head and he would bring to the world blessing through the seed of Abraham. Well, I suggest that the significant place of Elijah in this whole history of redemption in the ongoing of the purposes of God is beautifully summarized for us in a few verses of this 19th chapter of 1 Kings which was read in your hearing. And I refer particularly to 1 Kings 19, verses 15 through 18. What was Elijah's function in the history of redemption? Well, it is given to us at least in seed form in the words of this portion of Scripture.

18:51 And the first and one of the first and primary functions of this man of God was the preservation of the godly remnant. Elisha was greatly used in the preservation of the godly remnant. When the Lord speaks to Elijah and tells him that he is to anoint Elisha in his stead, he concludes the statement with verse 18, And yet will I leave me seven thousand in Israel, all these which have not bowed unto Baal, every mouth which hath not kissed him. If this is to be fulfilled, a godly seed must be preserved. And God's passage, in spite of the presence of painted Jezebel, in spite of the presence of this depraved Ahaz, he has sold himself to iniquity, in spite of the presence of the zeal of the worshippers of Baal and seven thousand. God is saying,

20:16 My purposes cannot, they will not, they shall not be frustrated. But you see, if the godly remnant is to be both called and preserved, the means for their calling and their preservation must be at hand. And the means God has always used for the calling and preservation of his elect remnant is the proclamation of the pure word of God. And so in a very strategic way, the ministry of Elisha, both personally and with respect to this matter of the school of the prophets, was calculated to preserve that godly remnant. The presence of this man of God, for a period of at least fifty years in Israel, was a reminder that God had not for you see, a prophet appointed of God was the living monument that God still cared for his people. God's people, not only words of rebuke and admonition, but words of comfort and promise and of consolation as well. Then as you read the sections in which the life of Elisha is recorded,

21:43 you find him again and again interacting with this group of people called the school of the prophets or the sons of the prophets. For instance, you will find in the record of the home going of his predecessor Elijah in 2 Kings chapter 2, that when Elijah, that when the Lord would take up Elijah by a whirlwind into heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And then you find them coming to Bethel and what meets them there? But a band of these sons of the prophets.

22:24 And then Jericho and Gilgal, at these three places there were these school sons of the prophets. What are they? Well, it's difficult to a precise answer to that question. The most helpful material I've ever found is in Kyle and Daly's commentary on this section.

22:50 They have about six pages in 1 Samuel, I should say, dealing with this matter of the sons of the prophets and the school of the prophets. But one thing is very clear. They were not just a bunch of students who were learning basic disciplines with respect to the work of the ministry. They were actual prophets who bore messages from the living God.

23:15 This is brought out in such passages as 1 Kings 20 and verse 35 where you find an actual message being delivered from one of these sons of the prophets. And then in 2 Kings 9 you find a similar instance. But the very distribution of these sons of the prophets throughout Israel at this time, and they were obviously quite numerous, for in one group there were at least 50 barely characters who were appointed to go on out and try to find the body of the prophet Elijah. So as we think of the situation in Israel at that time, with false religion rife, Baal worship found on every hand, where it would be difficult to find the faithful proclamation of the word, no little part of the ministry of the prophet Elijah was this preservation of the godly remnant, not only by his individual ministry to that remnant. And you find this again and again. It was to an individual woman who felt the pain of a barren womb that a miracle is performed and she gives birth to a son and later that son is raised from the dead. You remember it was a widow, a widow whose husband was one of these sons of the prophet who was in poverty and whose need was met

24:43 by the miracles performed by Elijah. You remember it was in connection with these sons of the prophets that the floating axe incident is recorded. We find him with them, encouraging them in the enlargement of their dormitory quarters. Much of his life is found bound up in these sons of the prophets.

25:04 That's not there by accident. God is telling us something. He is saying that one of the most significant contributions of the prophet Elijah was the nurturing of the ministry of the word of God for the calling out and the preservation of the godly remnant in Israel. But then in the second place, the peculiar function and contribution of Elijah in the history of redemption was one of the continuation of the work of national reformation and judgment.

25:39 What do these words mean in verse 15 of chapter 19 in 1 Kings? When thou comest, thou shalt anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. Jehu, son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abelmeholah, shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.

26:07 And it shall come to pass that him that escapeth from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay. And him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. What is God saying? He's saying to Elijah, Elijah, your ministry will soon be done.

26:29 But my work of judgment and work of reformation is not done. And that work will be carried on under the direction of Elisha. Now, Elisha does not literally take up the sword and slay individuals in the name of the Lord. But it is under the direction and oversight and ministry as we shall see in many of the narratives that tremendous judgments fall upon the apostate nation of Israel.

27:00 Tremendous judgments fall upon some of the enemies of Israel as God designs their preservation. And so this man, Hazael, is instrumental as a scourge in God's hands to punish the sinning nation of Israel. And the record of that is given to us in 2 Kings 8 and verse 12. 2 Kings 8 and verse 12.

27:29 And Hazael said, Why weepeth my Lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do to the children of Israel. Their strongholds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash in pieces the little ones, and rip up their women with child. You see, when God entered into covenant with His people, He said, This do, and ye shall live.

27:59 This do and blessing will be upon you. This fail to do, and ye shall die. This fail to do, and judgment will come. Well, you see, God had to be true to His word.

28:12 And it was under the ministry of this man of God, Elisha, that there was the continuation of this work of national judgment. But also the judgment that would come upon the house of Ahab was to be fulfilled through this man, Jehu. He would be instrumental to fulfill God's prophecy that none of Ahab's descendants would occupy the throne of Israel. And two of the bloodiest, most cruel, and almost sickening chapters in all of the word of God are 2 Kings chapters 9 and 10.

28:51 The account of the judgments of God through Jehu are sordid. There was the extermination of the 70 sons of Ahab in chapter 10. The extermination of the entire dynasty. The extermination of the Baal worshippers and all the priests in that temple.

29:16 Blood death all the way. And yet this is a strategic ministry that is entrusted to the spiritual oversight of the man of God, Elisha. Because you see, in every generation, God must make it manifest to men that the wages of sin is death. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper.

29:45 And even while God is preserving a godly remnant with a view to bringing the seed who is Christ, and through that seed blessing to the world, as God is with stiff foot and resolute design through history, He will preserve the Godly remnant. And so we find the presence of God to the sons of the prophet. And we find the miracles that the prophet Elisha performs to encourage that remnant that God cares, God will provide, God will meet their needs, but at the same time God must make it manifest that the way of a transgressor is hard. And so under this same prophet of mercy who causes barrels of oil not to fail, who causes borrowed axe heads to float to the surface, who causes barren children, is the prophet under whose direction blood to the waste marching through history will demonstrate that the wages of sin is death. But then there was a third great function of the prophet Elisha in the history of redemption, and it was the extension of the prophetic office itself.

31:11 1 Kings 19 and verse 16. Not only would there be these men of lesser gift and lesser place of authority and influence among the sons of the prophets, but God says to Elijah, thou shalt anoint Elisha to be prophet in thy stead or in thy room. As Elijah whose name means Jehovah, or my God is Jehovah, and whose ministry in a sense was bound up in that name. Who is Jehovah? And the showdown comes, and God brings at least representatively the entire nation to its face when the fire falls and they cry out. Elijah's ministry is vindicated and his own name as it were becomes the capstone of his ministry.

32:24 Now along comes Elisha whose name means God is Savior. And God will manifest that he is the Savior of his people. And though his ministry will be in many ways a more gentle ministry, a less public ministry, he occupies the place of Elijah the fiery prophet who goes to heaven in a chariot of fire. And this man leaves his plow spread to night and becomes the official mouthpiece of God to the nation of Israel.

33:06 You see the presence of the prophet was in a real sense God's continued pressure upon the conscience of his people. He had given them the law. He had given them the covenant. The terms of his marriage to them at Sinai were clearly laid.

33:24 But they forgot again and again their covenant relationship to God. And the prophet was there to call them back to the terms of that covenant. To remind them of the obligations and the privileges of that covenant. And so Elisha becomes then an extension and the perpetuation of the prophetic ministry in Israel.

33:48 And then in the fourth place his ministry is one of preserving under God the nation itself. Turn to 2 Kings chapter 13. Chapter that comes at the end of the life of this great man of God. 2 Kings chapter 13.

34:16 It's the chapter that records the death of this man. Verse 20. And Elisha died and they buried him. And then there is that strange incident of the man being revived when he's thrown into the cave and he touches the bones of the dead prophet.

34:35 But now we read in verse 22. And Haziel king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. But the Lord was gracious unto them and had compassion on them and had respect unto them because of his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and would not destroy them neither cast he them from his presence as yet. And Haziel king of Syria died and Ben-Hadad reigned in his stead.

35:10 You see the emphasis? God if he is justly to preserve his people must preserve sufficient godliness in their midst to warrant the withholding of total annihilation and dispersion. And it was under the ministry then of this great man of God that such mercies are brought to the nation. Early in his ministry as recorded in 2 Kings chapter 3 there is this marvelous deliverance from the Moabites who would have come and utterly slaughtered them.

35:47 But God performs a miracle through the ministry of Elisha that results in their preservation. And then you remember that almost humorous incident in 2 Kings chapter 6 and 7 when the Syrians could not gain any military advantage and the man says we've got a sneaking suspicion we've got a traitor in our midst. Every time we go to do something somebody there in Israel is anticipating our military maneuvers. Well the somebody of course was the man of God.

36:17 The prophet who was in touch with God and God was revealing the military plans of the Syrians to Elisha and he in turn revealing them to the leaders of Israel. For what purpose? Now why is all of this? Is God just playing games?

36:31 No, no. He made a promise. In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. God had respect to his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

36:47 And so the instrument through which this work of preservation goes on is this man Elisha. And then finally his great contribution in the history of redemption is that of the vindication of Jehovah's name before the heathen. The vindication of Jehovah's name before the heathen. You see one of the great purposes of God for Israel was not only that through that nation the promised seed should come but while she was still a nation existing amidst the heathen in the language of the prophet Isaiah she would be a light to the Gentiles. That there would be in that nation a revelation to heathendom of who the true and the living God was. And it was the vindication of the Lord's name before the heathen that became one of the great functions of the ministry of this man of God. This happened of course individually in the case of this great leader this military leader by the name of Naaman the Syrian.

38:01 He was a pagan. You remember that. He was a heathen. And God vindicates his own name and brings this pagan man to the knowledge of the true God who is Israel's God.

38:15 But not only was this done individually it was done nationally. Second Kings chapter 6 there's that incident of the blindness that comes to the enemies of the people of God and when the prophet could have led them into the camp of Israel to be slain he encouraged them to let them go and to go back by their own way unharmed. And this in turn resulted in a disposition of kindness in the hearts and in the minds of heathen who knew from this something of the difference of Jehovah. Their heathen gods were cruel but here was a God who had manifested compassion. And likewise in the heathen king who seeks advice from the prophet in Second Kings 8 and other incidents as we read through the life of this man we shall see again and again that his ministry leaps over the borders of national Israel and touches the heathen nations and becomes a vindication of Jehovah's name and a revelation of his character to the heathen. These then I suggest are the predominant issues which underscore the peculiar place of the life and ministry of Elisha in the history of redemption.

Application: Behold God's Unfailing Faithfulness

39:42 As we read of his life and his miracles and these individual incidents remember he was raised up at this time in that great ongoing purpose of God to bring a redeemer to the world through the seed of Abraham. He was raised up for the preservation of the godly remnant for the continuation of the work of reformation and judgment for the extension of the prophetic ministry for the preservation of the nation itself and for the vindication of Jehovah's name before the heathen. Now then someone says yes Pastor Martin but what does all of that say to us in this present hour? Well in the remaining moments of our study tonight let me encourage you from this broad overview of Elisha's place in the history of redemption first of all to behold the unfailing faithfulness of God to his people. To behold the unfailing faithfulness of God to his people. You see some of the things that God did through the life of Elisha were fulfillments of promises that went back many many years prophecies made many years before through the life and ministry of his predecessor Elijah. And it seemed as though those prophecies

41:10 and promises were slumbering as though the God who made them had perhaps forgotten. But it was under the ministry of Elisha that many of the prophecies of Elijah both of mercy and judgment are brought to pass. And God is saying I am faithful to fulfill all of my word both in judgment and in mercy. And because our God is the same yesterday, today and forever we as the people of God reading the history of the life of this man of God we should be encouraged to behold the unfailing faithfulness of God to us.

41:52 You see we do not stand at the same point in the history of redemption. The promised seed has come. Christ has been manifested. The nation of Israel has been dispersed.

42:06 God has broken off the natural branches and we wild olive branches have been grafted in. At what point do we stand in the history of redemption? All of the promises concerning the coming seed who had bruised the head of the serpent those promises have been fulfilled. And yet the ultimate fulfillment yet awaits us.

42:29 And we stand between those two great epochs of the seed having come and of that great consummation of redemption. Well what is God doing at this point in redemptive history? Well he is fulfilling the promise of John 12, 32 and I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me. He has been lifted up as the context reveals referring to his death and he is now drawing all men to himself.

43:04 Drawing them from every kindred tribe and tongue and nation. Or as we read in John 10 this morning other sheep I have them also I must bring. We live in the period of the imperative of the seeking shepherd. I must bring them.

43:24 And they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold one shepherd or in the language of Matthew 16, 18 I build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Or in the language of 2 Peter 3, 15 account that the long suffering of God is salvation. What point are we in redemptive history? We are at the point where these great promises have been fulfilled.

43:56 But that great promise of the consummation will not be fulfilled until the church is built and the living stone is laid. And then he who loved us and died for us will come. And what a wonderful thing to know that is we must live as did Elisha in the midst of Baal worship in the midst of idolatry in the midst of deadness and religious declension. In which the visible church in great measures is unfaithful to its calling when there is no God. And he will be our God and our guide even unto death. Alexander White whose works on Bible characters are considered a classic or classics speaking to this very point regarding the ministry of Elisha and its message to us today says the world and the church live and thrive and grow from generation to generation under the guiding and the upholding hand of God. All the time that Elijah

45:19 was repining and meditating death under a juniper tree God was preparing the young plowman of Abel-Meholah to wear Elijah's mantle and carry forward Elijah's work. And when we are making our predictions about the collapse of the world and the collapse of the church when this man and that man is taken home to be with the Lord all the time God has his hidden servants quite well known to him and quite ready to take up this man and that man's great office when they shall lay it down. Then he goes on to say that there may be in this remote part of Scotland or England someone upon whom God's hand is resting and then he concludes with saying that I would have you all keep your dejected hearts in perfect peace sure of this that God will look after both the church and the world far better than the most anxious-minded and censorious-minded of his people. God will look after the church and the world far better than all of his anxious saints. And so we behold in the life and ministry of the prophet Elijah this unfailing faithfulness of God. God interprets his life at the end of it saying

46:46 he did not yet destroy his people for he remembered and had respect to his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There are even in orthodox and evangelical circles those who frighten the people of God by lectures on the Illuminati and the international bankers conspiracy and on the international communist conspiracy which is controlled by the bankers and they frighten people with hairy stories about this conspiracy and that conspiracy and this movement and that movement and what do they do? They fill the people of God with a carnal paranoia. You talk about conspiracies when old painted Jezebel sat up there in the tower with the king plotting the death of the prophet. And could point to the existence of the temples of Baal worship all over Israel. What could look blacker than all of that? God is a plow boy and he says I'm going to do something through him.

48:00 And when it's my time to do it Ahab, Jezebel, step aside. And it isn't long before the dogs are licking the blood that spills from the carriage of that wicked man. And then you remember that wicked woman is thrown down from a tower and the dogs also eat her until there's left nothing but a few bones. Oh dear child of God don't be nervous about the state of the church.

48:28 Jesus has taken that task upon himself. I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall prevail against it. And we are to behold in the life of this man in the ministry of this man the unfailing faithfulness of the living God.

Application: God's Faithfulness in Judgment and Manifold Wisdom

48:54 But you see this is not only a positive word for believers it's a frightening word to you who are sinners. Yet in your sins God is faithful not only in mercy but he's faithful in judgment. He made some prophecies about the ultimate end of Ahab and of Jezebel and it seemed as though God had forgotten and it seems as though they were to be let loose to carry on their wicked designs. But God had his appointed hour.

49:27 And my friend you may think that all the threats of God to you as an impenitent sinner are so much hot air but though God's word slumbers it never fails. He cannot lie and he has said the soul that sinneth it shall die and the wicked shall be turned into hell and except ye repent ye shall perish. And the wicked believeth not shall be damned. We shall read some frightening incidents in the life of Elisha that are monuments not only of the faithfulness of God in mercy but the faithfulness of God in judgment.

50:08 But then secondly by way of application behold in this broad overview that we've engaged in tonight the manifold wisdom of God do not only behold his faithfulness but behold his wisdom. What did he do in his wisdom? He formed and shaped a man suited to the times when Baal worship was unchallenged. The need was for this strange anti-social man this man Elijah who burst into the scene out of nowhere stands before the king throws down the gauntlet and says, heaven is locked up in my pocket and he turns on his heel and he walks out. A man of a great breadth of feeling dejected wants to die exhilarated runs before a chariot he's suited to the times and now during this time of more gentle consolidation of the remnant infiltration as it were of truth by the sons of the prophets he's much more sociable who's at home with widows

51:37 and with families who loves children who gets along well with young preacher boys you see the wisdom of God in suiting the man for the particular times of the ministry to which God was calling him and it should fill us with amazement in caring for the needs of his church and then finally as we think of this broad overview and the matters laid before you tonight behold not only God's faithfulness and his wisdom but behold the unchanging method of God when God would work to carry on his redemptive designs preserving the nation until the seed come to whom the promises were made and in whom all the promises center what is God's method God's method is a man God's method is a man and God lays hold of a man whom he has shaped and molded and formed and disciplined into his serpent what was true then is true in every age though there is a sense in which the church indwelt by the spirit

Application: God's Unchanging Method of Raising Up Men

53:04 every believer constituted prophet, priest and king has a dimension of ministry that perhaps is not warranted or paralleled in the old testament saint or in the average member of the old testament community we must never forget that the new testament is just as clear that the work of God is carried on in great measure with power and success to the degree that God raises up men of God as our Lord beheld the harvest he said pray ye the Lord of the harvest to thrust forth laborers into the harvest he didn't say go around and stir people up to grab a sickle they must be men whom God has molded whom God has sent forth and so in these years of raising up of Elisha we behold God's unchanging method to equip men and to endure them with his spirit and to send them forth to meet their generation with the message that is so desperately needed and of course you can readily see the application I want to make on behalf of the labor that goes on

54:31 in our own academy I hope none of you ever get weary of these admonitions that any of you think well those boys you're the pets of the pastor I'll find it hard not to hand your head to you my friend you need to go to a few places like I do and see hungry hearted people who sit and take an hour and fifteen minutes of preaching and never so much as blink once and that is given out in many places in the name of preaching it's not that we've got some pets in these young men but by the grace of God we long to see hungry sheep fed and God's method is men and men are molded in shape in answer to prayer and under the strange and combined disciplines which only God himself can make effectual to the making of a man of God when we come to consider the call of Elisha we're going to see some of the wonderful principles that were operative in preparing him for his mission

56:01 and we'll hear more of that then but suffice it to say at this point when the nation needs that furthering work of encouragement, consolidation the carrying on of judgment and of mercy, the preservation of the godly remnant the vindication of God's name God says those purposes will be realized through a man oh may God grant that we shall be found deeply exercised that God will raise up men not clever men but holy men not men with super duper charismatic personalities but men with the hidden face who've had a vision of the glory of God whose hearts burn with love for Christ, whose hearts beat with holy zeal to see his name extolled whose spirits are stirred by call as they see the idolatry of our generation worshipping at the shrine of materialism and sex and humanism who long to see God's name vindicated in this generation well may God use our studies in the life of this man of God to provoke this holy admiration of his unfailing faithfulness

57:29 to provoke in us admiration for his wisdom to provoke in us a fresh concern that his method of framing men will be the great burden of our hearts may I commend to you a careful reading of particularly 2nd Kings chapters 2 through 8 if you can read all the way through to chapter 13 fine but at least those chapters in preparation for our subsequent studies in the life of this great man of God let us pray together our father how we thank you for your relentlessness in fulfilling your own divine purposes we marvel that with man so sinful and the devil so powerful that your promises to bruise the head of the serpent were ever fulfilled your promise to preserve that nation until the seed should come to whom the promises

58:49 were made we thank you we worship you we do not worship the man Elisha but we worship you his God and we pray as we study his life and ministry that again and again we will be led to fall at your feet in praise and adoration of your own grace and power manifest in this man of God Lord may we learn lessons that will help us to serve our own generation better may we learn lessons that will help us to know what it is in practical terms to be men and women and boys and girls who seek with all our hearts to honor you in our day we pray that you will seal to our hearts the word of God that has been proclaimed this day blow upon the chaff of any thoughts that have not been true to your word and may the pure seed of the word of God germinate and spring forth in the fruits of righteousness thirty sixty a hundredfold all to the praise of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ hear then our prayer receive the praises we offer be with us as we face the coming week be with those who must leave immediately

60:18 upon the conclusion of this hour bless your people who will remain to enter into matters of mutual concern and burden and receive our thanks for another Lord's day the privilege oh God of being found amongst your people and of knowing your felt presence we give you our praise receive it we pray through the Lord Jesus Christ Amen